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RE: misting system for redfoot

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Posted by: gabycher at Thu Jun 8 07:11:41 2006  [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by gabycher ]  
   

Thanks for your nice words about the enclosure!
Unfortunately almost all the plants I have in the enclosure are fake. After working myself through many toxic and edible plant lists I still found too much controversy to take a chance. On top the tropical plants are available at our nurseries often don't have a tag with a latin name and so are difficult to identify for me. I might know the species but not the cultivar, and I am not sure if a whole species is edible or just the cultivars in these lists.
I added some bromeliads since the picture I posted was taken, which I fixed on the various grape vines, so the tortoises can't eat them. But when one fell it was a welcome snack (but at least I know that these shouldn't harm them).

I am very happy with the misting system (realized I have had it for 2 and a half years now). The nozzles have to be cleaned (we use coffee maker decalcifier solution) and / or replaced at times. We have found it helpful to tie a few layers of linen over the water intake hose to somewhat reduce the buildup of mineral deposits in the hose and on the nozzles.
From my experience (and following physical laws) humidity is difficult to trap in an open top enclosure. You might want to consider a partly closed one or hiding places that are enclosed enough to trap humidity when kept moist.
I have been a big fan of spaghnum moss, which I also had distributed on top of the cypress mulch and which acts like a sponge. This in combination with hand misting or the misting system was a lot more efficient than the cypress mulch only medium I use now. The reason why I switched was, that my tortoises seemed to develop very slightly rough plastrons. An experienced friend of mine was suggesting, that the pH of the moist spaghnum, which is very low, might cause this slight corrosion. In the meantime the plastrons are very nice again, but in terms of humidity levels I am not able to reach what I used to reach anymore. And this has caused the carapaces to develop a bit less smoothly than before.
It looks like if, no matter how hard I try, I always have to settle for compromises...

Good luck with yours,
Gaby



   

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<< Previous Message:  RE: misting system for redfoot - derrdiggs, Wed Jun 7 23:09:41 2006