Timi the sulcata is a yearling! Advice on improved enclosures requested.

[Trishk]

Hello all. Today November 4th is the one year anniversary of the day my large dog alerted me to the fact there was a tiny intruder in the backyard. Luckily the dog was afraid of it, haha!
Thanks to this forum I learned she was a one and a half ounce sulcata hatchling. She still had her yolk sac absorbing and her egg tooth.
She is now 17 ounces (482 grams).
I only have her in a 40 gallon glass terrarium but
I have saved up money for a much more suitable home. I am clearing out a former guest/storage room that is 9 by 11 feet.
She very likes to be in the 4 by 5 foot cage I built outside. But the weather is cooling. Please see attached photos and advise me on how to go forward. I am planning a much bigger outside enclosure at least 12 by 15 feet in the area beyond the current cage by the back fence. That’s the only place sunny enough. How to run
electricity to it? What about rain?
I keep her indoor terrarium over 80 degrees and mist it a lot but you can see she has pyramiding. It is covered in foil with two overhead heat lamps so keeping humidity above
80 recent is a challenge.
She has a hardy appetite and eats grass, lettuce, opuntia, dandelions, clover, rose petals among other things. I have to sneak in crushed up mazuri pellets. She munches on cuttle fish bones for calcium. She gets her daily warm soaks and poos and pees normally.
Sorry for the long post and thank you for all the great advice I’ve gotten so far!

Trish

 

[wellington]

If you can get the lights and heat under the foil that should help a lot with holding humidity better and heat. You are losing a lot by having lights outside the enclosure.
The temp and humidity gauge should be at tortoise height not above it.
Also dampen the substrate not just misting. The substrate should be wet but without water pooling.
Beautiful sully though.

 

[Trishk]

If you can get the lights and heat under the foil that should help a lot with holding humidity better and heat. You are losing a lot by having lights outside the enclosure.
The temp and humidity gauge should be at tortoise height not above it.
Also dampen the substrate not just misting. The substrate should be wet but without water pooling.
Beautiful sully though.

Thanks for your reply. I will keep the substrate, which is coco coir and orchid bark more moist.