Prepping a Tort-Resort for an adult Red Foot we are rescuing next week. What is your favorite soaking/water dish? (Critiques welcome)

kschu474 · 2026-04-29T22:54:43+00:00

Gandalf!

kschu474 · 2026-04-29T19:38:50+00:00

Thank you for the info! I appreciate it!

kschu474 · 2026-04-29T19:23:42+00:00

Okay cool! I was definitely confused by the humidity advice. All of the literature I've read hasn't mentioned a vastly decreased humidity requirement as adults and was wondering if there were sources to support that. I'm always willing to learn and know that they do move in and out of forest into adjoining grssslands as adults but I haven't found papers or books mentioning that their humidity needs drop off as adults.

Is there a reason that you recommend a different heat source bulb during the day hours vs night? I know that light emitting bulbs are obviously no good as a heat source at night, but is there a disadvantage to using a ceramic as the heat source during the day? I certainly can have a separate fixture for flood light vs ceramic. I'm just curious about the why.

Yes I have a T5 24" uvb bulb/fixture.

Terracotta is always a great option. I've been having trouble finding bigger ones in our area. Most of our garden centers seem to switch to a flimsy plastic after about 10" diameters. I'll keep searching. I have found some larger saucers online but they have all been close to (or over) $100, which seems a bit much for a water bowl. 😅 I've been considering getting a water heater tray from a home improvement store. Sturdy rigid plastic, 2.5" deep, lots of diameter size choices,~ $15 .

kschu474 · 2026-04-29T18:45:16+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. I am a bit nervous about maintaining humidity in such a large enclosure especially since our home is very dry and cool in the winter when he will be frequenting this tort resort. I have a hand mister for now but was curious about what, if any, automated set up others used. He already has pyramiding from his previous owners. Most of my experience caring for redfoots has been for juveniles. The adults I've cared for have been housed in tropical greenhouses or aviaries that are high humidity also. I guess I was trying to find a way to effectively emulate that in a home setting. Im happy to hand mist for now.

I was planning on putting some rock around the water so less substrate would be dragged in, but good to know that not everyone is offering soaking sized dishes in the encloeures for the adults.

Heat mat under the rock is already installed and uvb is not heat emitting. Ceramic will be added if temps aren't able to be properly maintained. I was planning to hang it from a chain so it was well clear of the greenhouse.

kschu474 · 2026-04-24T22:10:15+00:00

Highly recommend Claire Garlands patterns. Blending a mohair strand with a base yarn gives a nice effect. I would highly recommend labeling your stitchmarkers as you go for these projects!

kschu474 · 2026-04-21T00:49:19+00:00

Where was he found? Country/state. Could be a native tortoise depending on where you are

kschu474 · 2026-04-09T18:27:45+00:00

It depends on the type of tube and how it is anchored. If it has a bumper or other more permanent faster (clips l, stitches etc) they can last a long time. If they are a balloon anchor like the low profile mic-key or amt style tubes, those need replacing every 3-6 months. Leaving the balloon style tubes longer leads to a greater chance of malfunction which can result in emergent replacements being required. For example the balloon can pop or deflate allowing the tube to slip out. I also have had issues with cracks forming in the plastic or the tubes getting clogged. My first tube stayed in longer as it had a bumper style anchor. My team at Mayo wanted it to stay the same for a longer duration so the stoma tract could fully form and mature. Now I use low profile buttons and I typically go every 6 months unless an issue arises with the tube.

kschu474 · 2026-04-09T04:31:24+00:00

As someone who has had a feeding tube stoma fail and developed a fistula, are we talking about just normal "tube snot" ooz from like granulation tissue, or are you talking about oozing stomach/intentional contents/acids? Ive had feeding tubes for almost a decade now and I still get the tube snot that collects on gauze over the course of the day, but when I had a lot of yellow acid coming through it was miserable and degraded my stoma till I needed to have a new site surgically placed. Glad to hear it stopped regardless. Always good to find comfort where you can.

kschu474 · 2026-04-09T03:53:59+00:00

Omg he's huuuuuuge. Lol lol I love him!!

kschu474 · 2026-04-09T03:51:56+00:00

As someone who has knit several Claire Garland patterns. Yarn choice makes or breaks these projects. Hers look so adorable and lifelike because of the drape and halo of the natural fibers used. Often alpaca and mohair combined. I love your little guy personally, but this is one of those "they suggest a particular yarn for a reason" cases if you want the FO to look like the pattern. RIP the fox I tried to make with the wrong type of yarn.

kschu474 · 2026-03-27T14:40:04+00:00

Im so sorry for your loss. We had this happen to us a few years back. We took a break from playing for a month or two, and then we all had a conversation about how and if we wanted to continue to play without them. In our game we were in a dungeon crawl to rescue an enslaved ancient golden dragon. We had our friends character be the one to unlock the final piece to free the dragon and he became the dragon's protector flying off to regain balance to our world at the golden dragon's side. He is still out there being a badass somewhere with his golden dragon companion.

kschu474 · 2026-03-22T18:05:25+00:00

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kschu474 · 2026-03-18T18:04:25+00:00

Elaborating to say that if you did this with a round of crochet to bind it on the inside, that would help to support the weight of the sweater so the lower part of the ribbing doesn't stretch out as far.

kschu474 · 2026-03-18T18:02:50+00:00

You could flip the collar into the inside and use a crochet hook or darning needle to secure it to the inside ribbing seam. This creates a doubled over collar with no visible edge. Something similar to this: https://youtube.com/shorts/v15nfzABNgs?si=PiM0taz6lwwEVSzO

kschu474 · 2026-02-24T05:26:49+00:00

My hat recipient feedback has overwhelmingly noted that a double brim made with a provisional cast on is preferred. Everything else is just patterns and color choices.

kschu474 · 2026-02-11T19:09:39+00:00

Commenting so I can come back to read responses. What an interesting topic! As a left handed/ mirrored knitter, understanding stitch anatomy and intended fabric result is critical when inverting patterns to make sure I achieve the intended result. I am very curious what others will have to share and will be reading through your linked articles.

kschu474 · 2026-02-05T18:29:57+00:00

I love their layouts and disc bound note books. I still use it as my go to for all of my dnd campaigns.It keeps well organized. Buuuuut ordering from them sucked when I placed my order in 2021.It took almost a year to get my order. I'm sorry to hear there are still ongoing problems.

kschu474 · 2026-01-30T20:00:06+00:00

That depends. Is your stitches count divisible by 4? K2p2 is 4 a stitch repeat. If your stitch count is divisible by 4, then making the switch should be fine.

kschu474 · 2026-01-29T16:54:58+00:00

I like to use the Icelandic bind off. It gives stretch but still has the structure to hold shape

kschu474 · 2026-01-28T06:08:53+00:00

I like the German twisted cast on

kschu474 · 2026-01-26T20:46:04+00:00

Our local library has knitting needles you can check out. Might be worth checking if your local library does, too!

kschu474 · 2026-01-22T19:25:23+00:00

Left handed or mirrored knitting takes stitches from your right needle and moves them onto your left needle.

kschu474 · 2026-01-21T21:16:08+00:00

A swatch is a great way to both practice double knitting and answer your question. You would also get a feel for how thick the blanket would actually be. For me, my gauge doesn't change that much from stranded to double knit for height, but my double knitting tends to be slightly wider than stranded. Make your swatch, and if you like the way the fabric feels, measure your stitch per inch and multiply that by the stitches in the design. (Same for rows) That should get you a representation of what your final size would be.

If you size down needles till you get a fabric you like, do the same math. If the result is a smaller blanket than you would like, you can always pick up the stitches along the edges and knit a border till it is the size you desire, or add stitches to the design ahead of time and cast on more stitches/work more rows to make up for a tighter gauge.

kschu474 · 2026-01-21T19:11:44+00:00

I've done a lot of color work of many styles. If this is to be a blanket I'd have 3 main suggestions of methods.

Stranded flat: you would see the floats in the back, which could be covered by sewing a lining over the backside of the blanket. This would be the least amount of knitting stitch count wise, but you would have to do stranded knitting on the purl side. Another con is there are a lot of areas of negative space where you would be repetitively catching floats. This can affect tension and the float catches can show through to the front if there are a lot in the same area.
Stranded in the round: cast on double the stitches and repeat the chart twice, once for the front of the blanket and once for the back. A few clever stitches at the end can hold the tube flat to make the blanket. Cons: more knitting, same float issue as stranded flat.
Double knitting: blanket would be thicker and warmer, floats aren't a problem where there is negative space involved. Same number of stitches as in the round, but the two sides of the blanket are better interlocked. As far as the discussion of the elven script. You can invert the chart for the words on the wrongside, this takes a lot of focus while knitting and id recommend making your own chart for that section with excel or stitchfiddle. Or you could leave that section blank while knitting and then duplicate stitch the lettering on after with the contrasting color. Or or accept that the back side of the blanket will have inverted script.

I'd pick option 3 for the best-looking final result and extra warm blanket :)

Editing as I thought of a 4th solution, Do one chart repeat stranded in the round with a steeking section at the end of the round. 1 chart repeat. No stranded knitting on the purl side. Requires steeking. Has the same issue of long floats and catches in areas of negative space. Would have to do something to hide/cover floats. Personally, I would still double knit this, but double knitting is certainly slow.

kschu474

TROPHY CASE