Tanks new enclosure help!

[Ksk]

Hello everyone! This is Tank. We got him about a month ago. We are not sure of the age but he/she is about 4inch. Right now he lives in our garage in an enclosure where the humidity stays at 80 and the temperature on the cool side never drops below 80 at night, during the day the cool side is around 85 ish. We are currently building him a large indoor enclosure in our basement for when it gets to cold in the garage. I just have one problem and thought maybe someone here could help me out with. I got the basement to a humidity range of 79 to 80. But with the ac on in the house right now and even with all vents covered the temp is staying at 72 degrees. He does have a house with a ceramic heat light that stays at 82 all day and night and he will have his basking spot at 95-100 and we are putting another house in that does not have any heat in it. So my question is would it be way to cold for him if he wonders around the enclosure away from his heat lights ? Should I cover the whole enclosure for now to keep it warmer in the whole enclosure? Or would he be OK with 72 degrees as long as he has his heated house and basking spot? I don't want him to get sick at all or be to cold to move around. Any help is greatly appreciated!!

I will add a picture of his new enclosure. He will have 4 UVB lights (one directly over his basking area) 3 are already put in.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

@Tom can be more specific, but you shouldn't let the temperatures drop below 80 F.

 

[RandyTortoise]

Hello everyone! This is Tank. We got him about a month ago. We are not sure of the age but he/she is about 4inch. Right now he lives in our garage in an enclosure where the humidity stays at 80 and the temperature on the cool side never drops below 80 at night, during the day the cool side is around 85 ish. We are currently building him a large indoor enclosure in our basement for when it gets to cold in the garage. I just have one problem and thought maybe someone here could help me out with. I got the basement to a humidity range of 79 to 80. But with the ac on in the house right now and even with all vents covered the temp is staying at 72 degrees. He does have a house with a ceramic heat light that stays at 82 all day and night and he will have his basking spot at 95-100 and we are putting another house in that does not have any heat in it. So my question is would it be way to cold for him if he wonders around the enclosure away from his heat lights ? Should I cover the whole enclosure for now to keep it warmer in the whole enclosure? Or would he be OK with 72 degrees as long as he has his heated house and basking spot? I don't want him to get sick at all or be to cold to move around. Any help is greatly appreciated!!

I will add a picture of his new enclosure. He will have 4 UVB lights (one directly over his basking area) 3 are already put in.

Seems like you are doing a great job so far!

 

[Tom]

Hello everyone! This is Tank. We got him about a month ago. We are not sure of the age but he/she is about 4inch. Right now he lives in our garage in an enclosure where the humidity stays at 80 and the temperature on the cool side never drops below 80 at night, during the day the cool side is around 85 ish. We are currently building him a large indoor enclosure in our basement for when it gets to cold in the garage. I just have one problem and thought maybe someone here could help me out with. I got the basement to a humidity range of 79 to 80. But with the ac on in the house right now and even with all vents covered the temp is staying at 72 degrees. He does have a house with a ceramic heat light that stays at 82 all day and night and he will have his basking spot at 95-100 and we are putting another house in that does not have any heat in it. So my question is would it be way to cold for him if he wonders around the enclosure away from his heat lights ? Should I cover the whole enclosure for now to keep it warmer in the whole enclosure? Or would he be OK with 72 degrees as long as he has his heated house and basking spot? I don't want him to get sick at all or be to cold to move around. Any help is greatly appreciated!!

I will add a picture of his new enclosure. He will have 4 UVB lights (one directly over his basking area) 3 are already put in.

Temperature needs to stay above 80 all the time. It's easiest to do this in a large closed chamber. This will also help the new growth come in smoother since this one is already pyramiding a lot.

There should only be one UV source and it should be a HO type tube set at the correct height and set on a timer for a few hours mid day. The rest of the lighting should come from LEDs and the basking bulb.

Once the tortoise reached about 9-10 inches, it will be time to stop using basking lamps and CHEs and move on to other heat sources that will adequately warm the tortoises core, but not cook the top of the shell.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hopefully these links help with tweaks to your set up, I’d look into a different substrate, it looks to be a reptisoil or top soil, neither are appropriate.

This is Toms care sheet:

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. Babies hatch during the...

tortoiseforum.org

I made this thread based on the forums care information and added visual aids, it covers correct equipment(uvb, heating bulbs, lighting etc, double check the basking bulb type), correct levels, importance of a closed chamber for younger tortoises(only way to maintain the humidity you need), appropriately maintaining the humidity, safe substrates, there’s lots of visual examples for everything, and a really handy diet link to check out! I’ll add some more ideas below for closed chambers

Leopard/sulcata starter

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information below on how I’d personally tackle an indoor starter set up for a leopard/sulcata until they’re bigger. Hopefully it helps give people some ideas!” I know it looks like a lot to go over, I like to make sure all bases are covered...

tortoiseforum.org

This includes different closed chamber options, some better than others

Visual inspiration

Hi guys! I’ve had some lovely messages complimenting me on my care sheets I made for all the visuals they include! That makes me so happy because as a visual learner myself, that was my goal🥰 I’ve recently had some requests for some more visual inspiration for set ups that can house babies/...

tortoiseforum.org

Lastly, this one here is good to go over and keep on hand, it’ll help you avoid the wrong bulbs, substrates, housing etc, I always encourage double checking purchases on the forum too before buying

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

Hope they come in helpful!