wow (new enclosure)

[wellington]

They need constant heat, Alex means if you’re going to use an incandescent floodlight, to limit the time they bask under it. Their enclosure shouldn’t be going below 80 ideally.
I think you’ll find it easier switching to ceramics for your heat and led for you ambient lighting. Again all in more detail on my first reply

Temps should be going below 80?
This is wrong. Day and night the temp should be 84.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Temps should be going below 80?
This is wrong. Day and night the temp should be 84.

Sorry that was a mistake! It was meant to say shouldn’t!

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Sorry that was a mistake! It was meant to say shouldn’t!

Oh wait it does say shouldn’t.. did you mis read @wellington ?

 

[wellington]

I really think you should be listening to the advice given. Stop treating it like a human. They are not like your other reptiles, they are their own species and the people trying to help you has the experience you don't!
There are many threads and reasons your tort should not be roaming the floors. First, they aren't warm enough. Temp should be 84 not lower and the floor will be colder as cool air falls and hot air rises.
Forget what the pet store told you and open yourself up to learning the proper ways. You are on a forum to learn hopefully and this forum has well over thirty years of experienced members and over a 100 years combined. You don't have that experience and neither does the pet store or your family member that hasn't had tortoises.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

I really think you should be listening to the advice given. Stop treating it like a human. They are not like your other reptiles, they are their own species and the people trying to help you has the experience you don't!
There are many threads and reasons your tort should not be roaming the floors. First, they aren't warm enough. Temp should be 84 not lower and the floor will be colder as cool air falls and hot air rises.
Forget what the pet store told you and open yourself up to learning the proper ways. You are on a forum to learn hopefully and this forum has well over thirty years of experienced members and over a 100 years combined. You don't have that experience and neither does the pet store or your family member that hasn't had tortoises.

Just to clarify op, when I say shouldn’t be going below 80 I meant once your floodlight goes off, an ambient of 82-84 24/7 is optimal, I think you’ll find this easiest to achieve by running CHEs 24/7 on a thermostat and ditching the floodlight
Always have your enclosure in the 80-86 temperature range 24/7!

 

[Tom]

oh yes i tried telling my girl we should redo room downstairs

they dont need a basking lamp? i have a uva and uvb balb and a ceramic baulb and wanted to combine them and when i say free range i mean as long as im in the house shes more then welcome to run arownd if i leave the house take a shower go outside work or bed shes in her cage and temp i keepp my house 75 all year arownd i should move to the south bc vt is to cold for me lol if my girl would let me have the heat at 90 i would lol but we all can say stuff like human food is bad for your dog. witch is well wrong ask a vet people food is just as good for your dog as you like my rabbit people told me he couldnt be free range with out chowing wires basebords pissing and pooping everywere here i am 1 year later fully house broken rabbit he has free range 24/7 did he chew every wire on my reef tank yes did he pee yes but we did it togather im fine going that extra mile my birds are working on harnis training so from there we can start to learn free flight outside i just need to know how to do it safly like before my tortoise runs aroownd floors are moped and dryed so i know shes not eating anything yes pet safe cleaners i dont mess arownd when it comes to my animales i dont under stand let her outside to run but arownd the house is wrong i fell like if im arownd she should have option to run arownd my aunt owns a pet store my brother owens prob 30 diffrent reptiles i grow up with just about any animel you can imagine exept turtels bcmy parents said they stink but now im 35 and a tortoise well i wish i had gotton one years ago she is so funny

First, please form sentences. Your posts are very difficult to follow and we want to help.

The bulb the pet store sold you is bad. Please take a moment to read the thread I left for you. This and so much more is explained there.

Tortoises are not rabbits. Free-ranging literally kills tortoises. We see it here several times a year, and those are just the ones brave enough to post what happened in public. I see many more cases privately, and so do my vet friends. They are constantly sending me x-rays of all sorts of strange ingested items, and sharing the creative ways loose tortoises find to kill themselves. Just don't do it. They shouldn't be free-ranging outside either. All sorts of bad things happen that way too. They need enclosures that are properly designed and built for them. The enclosure can be huge and fun, but they need a dedicated enclosure, indoors and out.

75 is too cold for a RF. 75 is fine for a temperate species, not for a tropical rainforest species. And if its 75 at human eye level, its 10-15 degrees cooler down on the floor. This is not good for your species. Its really not good for any species.

Misters or not, you can't keep the enclosure properly warm and humid with an open top. That's like trying to heat your house in winter with no roof on it. Your heater can run all night, but it won't do a thing because all the warmed air will simply drift up and away into the night sky. Same with your tortoise enclosure. Misters create evaporation. Evaporation cools the enclosure. Cooler temps require more electric heat. More electric heat dries everything out faster. More dryness means you have to add more moisture. Its a never ending downward spiral. Its just physics. You can't win. Contain the heat and humidity in a closed chamber. Its the only way that works.

Try to understand that we are trying to help you. Let's say we are seasoned motorcycle racers and we are at our home track. You are new to this track. All the locals know that new comers always crash in turn 2 and turn 12, and there is a nasty bump on the right after turn 4. We, the locals, see what is coming, and we are trying to warn you BEFORE you crash and burn. Please listen. We aren't telling you these things because we find it fun to argue with new people on the forum. We are trying to save you from commonly seen disasters. You don't have to learn the hard way at your tortoise's expense.

 

[poppop]

First, please form sentences. Your posts are very difficult to follow and we want to help.

The bulb the pet store sold you is bad. Please take a moment to read the thread I left for you. This and so much more is explained there.

Tortoises are not rabbits. Free-ranging literally kills tortoises. We see it here several times a year, and those are just the ones brave enough to post what happened in public. I see many more cases privately, and so do my vet friends. They are constantly sending me x-rays of all sorts of strange ingested items, and sharing the creative ways loose tortoises find to kill themselves. Just don't do it. They shouldn't be free-ranging outside either. All sorts of bad things happen that way too. They need enclosures that are properly designed and built for them. The enclosure can be huge and fun, but they need a dedicated enclosure, indoors and out.

75 is too cold for a RF. 75 is fine for a temperate species, not for a tropical rainforest species. And if its 75 at human eye level, its 10-15 degrees cooler down on the floor. This is not good for your species. Its really not good for any species.

Misters or not, you can't keep the enclosure properly warm and humid with an open top. That's like trying to heat your house in winter with no roof on it. Your heater can run all night, but it won't do a thing because all the warmed air will simply drift up and away into the night sky. Same with your tortoise enclosure. Misters create evaporation. Evaporation cools the enclosure. Cooler temps require more electric heat. More electric heat dries everything out faster. More dryness means you have to add more moisture. Its a never ending downward spiral. Its just physics. You can't win. Contain the heat and humidity in a closed chamber. Its the only way that works.

Try to understand that we are trying to help you. Let's say we are seasoned motorcycle racers and we are at our home track. You are new to this track. All the locals know that new comers always crash in turn 2 and turn 12, and there is a nasty bump on the right after turn 4. We, the locals, see what is coming, and we are trying to warn you BEFORE you crash and burn. Please listen. We aren't telling you these things because we find it fun to argue with new people on the forum. We are trying to save you from commonly seen disasters. You don't have to learn the hard way at your tortoise's expense.

quick question aloe plant i have a few and need repoting internet says im all good to put with jelly bean but am i actually good? if she eats it im ok

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

You can put it with your tortoise, but if he eats too much I would take it away. It has a laxative effect: https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/plant-database/viewplants/?plant=7&c=3