Will this enclosure do?

[Thomas tortoise]

Just wondering if this will work for my tortoises I keep him in a circular plastic pool 60" 60" inch and put a small mesh fence around it and got a big plastic sheet for 10$ online and zip tie it to the fence and on top! like so! And I just went with the flow. Took some measurements and kinda made a door. I am still trying to get the humidity right though. Right now the humidity is 57. And right under the heat lamp is around 90 degrees F. And out near his hide is 71 F.

 

[Maro2Bear]

Greetings. I’m guessing, by your avatar, that this arrangement is for a young Sulcata? It’s a good start, but I’m guessing not near warm enough. That’s a large space to heat up, but you are off to a good start. So, think about maintaining minimum 80 F 24/7. Your substrate looks kind of like organic garden soil of sorts. What’s your substrate?

Anyhow, good luck. Work on your overall heating & humidity.

 

[wellington]

If it's a tiny tortoise you need to measure temps at his level. On top of the hide thing is the size of a tortoise that is much older.
The 90 basking temp is fine. Now get the other temps at least to 80 no lower. Add another heat source if needed. Once you get the temp right then dampen the substrate with warm water. Must get temps up. A cold wet tortoise is a sick or dead one.
Be sure the plastic totally encloses the whole area.

 

[Thomas tortoise]

Greetings. I’m guessing, by your avatar, that this arrangement is for a young Sulcata? It’s a good start, but I’m guessing not near warm enough. That’s a large space to heat up, but you are off to a good start. So, think about maintaining minimum 80 F 24/7. Your substrate looks kind of like organic garden soil of sorts. What’s your substrate?

Anyhow, good luck. Work on your overall heating & humidity.

Thank you! Yeah I have a 1 year old sulcata tortoise. And I use organic timberline topsoil! 100% organic!

 

[Thomas tortoise]

If it's a tiny tortoise you need to measure temps at his level. On top of the hide thing is the size of a tortoise that is much older.
The 90 basking temp is fine. Now get the other temps at least to 80 no lower. Add another heat source if needed. Once you get the temp right then dampen the substrate with warm water. Must get temps up. A cold wet tortoise is a sick or dead one.
Be sure the plastic totally encloses the whole area.

Why the whole area? I know I need to keep humidity but if I keep it all closed it holds like 77 humidity and I heard he could get a disease if it holds more than 55. And what size of hut should I use the one I'm using now is a gallon ice cream bucket.

 

[Thomas tortoise]

And I heard tortoises need complete darkness at night. so how am I suppose to keep his heat up at night with no light?

 

[Maro2Bear]

And I heard tortoises need complete darkness at night. so how am I suppose to keep his heat up at night with no light?

Check out Ceramic Heat Elements (CHEs). They produce heat but no visible light. A CHE hooked up via a thermostat (with a temp probe) will help create your ambient enclosure temperature.

 

[Thomas tortoise]

Check out Ceramic Heat Elements (CHEs). They produce heat but no visible light. A CHE hooked up via a thermostat (with a temp probe) will help create your ambient enclosure temperature.

This??

 

[wellington]

Why the whole area? I know I need to keep humidity but if I keep it all closed it holds like 77 humidity and I heard he could get a disease if it holds more than 55. And what size of hut should I use the one I'm using now is a gallon ice cream bucket.

The whole area needs to be closed as we have been telling you over several threads. Not sure who you heard the disease thing from but that's not true from a closed chamber with proper heat and 80% humidity!
Again read the threads about closed chamber and the sulcata care sheets.
The hide you are using is fine. Its the gauge on top of it that needs to be placed at tortoise level.

 

[Thomas tortoise]

The whole area needs to be closed as we have been telling you over several threads. Not sure who you heard the disease thing from but that's not true from a closed chamber with proper heat and 80% humidity!
Again read the threads about closed chamber and the sulcata care sheets.
The hide you are using is fine. Its the gauge on top of it that needs to be placed at tortoise level.

Okay thank you so much!!!! I am a new member so before I learned everything on Google and it said I needed 50% humidity and any higher would get my tortoise a disease! But thank you for clearing my mind!?

 

[Lyn W]

The clamps you are using for your lamps have been known to fail and cause fires and/or burn torts. Your lamps would be much safer if hung and you can then adjust temps by raising or lowering them.

 

[Lyn W]

I don't know if you've already been given this but forget google - this is the most up to date caresheet you need

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

Many tort health problems are caused by things we do or don't do for them so please read and follow that as closely as possible for your tort to thrive and ask as many questions as you like to clarify anything.

 

[wellington]

Okay thank you so much!!!! I am a new member so before I learned everything on Google and it said I needed 50% humidity and any higher would get my tortoise a disease! But thank you for clearing my mind!?

Forget everything you Googled and don't pass any of that info on. It's likely wrong!
Stick to the info on this forum. The work had been done to find the best ways.