I Have been testing my fridge for the past couple of weeks and to help maintain stability placed some bottles of water in the door compartment. A larger bottle between the back panel and the hibernation tub and another smaller one to the side of the tub. It seems to maintain a pretty good temperature, but there is always a difference of 1 to 2 degrees between the front and back of the hibernation tub. As the tortoise will probably burrow down into the soil a little I tend to push the temperature probe into the soil and inch or so as I think this gives a more accurate reading?
The fridge is located in a back bedroom and its thermostat set about half way. Currently the tub temperature is 4.1 at the back and 5.5 at the front, although these decrease slightly during the night.
Recently cracking noises started every time the compressor switched on and off. This This I discovered was due to ice that had formed on the back panel. I switched the fridge off for about 10 minutes and removed the ice. However it is starting to accumulate again. Should I be concerned about this ice? and what do others do? From what I have read it can be due to a bad door seal, but its a new fridge and all seems intact.
Once the tortoise is in there it will be a bit more tricky to remove excess ice as I would have to switch the fridge off for 10 mins or so. His hibernation tub will warm up very slightly as will the interior of the fridge, but it would stop the ice build up. I get a humidity reading of around 45% which is spot on at the moment, but wondering if that may increase if more ice is produced. Its only a small build up on the left side of the back panel so may not be too concerning. However I would really like to know from more experienced owners what they do to combat this problem. Thanks Darren
