I realize this is an old thread, but I just wanted to add my two cents. The idea of a "closed chamber" originated in Germany. In the States, Jerry Fife and his brother in Arizona took it up and started talking about it. Several U.S. keepers took it upon themselves to experiment with their sulcata and leopard babies and showed the experiments online.
The reasoning behind the closed chamber is this: Sulcatas and leopards hatch out in the monsoon season when there is plenty of greenery, lots of hiding places and it's warm/hot and humid, with the ground being either wet or very damp. This helps the sulcata and leopard babies to grow smoothly and more or less eliminates pyramiding in these species.
Keeping hatchling sulcatas and leopards in a closed chamber makes it easier to keep the environment moist and humid. The covered enclosure keeps the cooler air from your house out and the warm, moist air inside.
I have been keep hatchling leopard tortoises in a Vision Cage until my partner takes them to sell, and the babies all grow smoothly and thrive in the warm, humid environment. There is no basking light. There is no hot side/cool side. The whole interior of the enclosure is 80-85F degrees, with a tube type fluorescent UVB light and a radiant heat panel for heat.
My method for raising leopard babies was hot and dry. I kept them on alfalfa pellets under a hot mercury vapor bulb. I soaked them once a week. Needless to say, my leopard babies were bumpy. It was hard for me to change. All of us here in the turtle club raised babies this way. It was the way to do it. But, change I did, and I'm so happy I did.
We should all learn and grow. Just because we've been doing it the same way for years doesn't mean that way is the right way.
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Yvonne
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