Ceramic heat bulb

alisonk99

New Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2019
Messages
11
Location (City and/or State)
County Antrim
Hello there, first time tortoise owners and looking for some advice about heat bulbs, have a 100w heat lamp up already but our sun room gets chilly at night and worried about turning off and our wee tort getting cold, would a ceramic bulb be better so it will still be dark for him but still have heat off it? Have attached a photo we have now got his uv light up too.
IMG_1241.jpg
 

ZEROPILOT

REDFOOT WRANGLER
Moderator
Tortoise Club
5 Year Member
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jul 16, 2014
Messages
29,116
Location (City and/or State)
South Eastern Florida (U.S.A.)/Rock Hill S.C.
In a word, YES.
A ceramic heat emitter. Also called a CHE provides night time (or daytime) heat reliably with no light. Tortoises should have no or almost no light at night.
I can not view your photo. So I can't make any comment on your UV lighting.
 

Lyn W

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2014
Messages
23,526
Location (City and/or State)
UK
Hi and welcome.
If you can it would be better to hang the lamps/che rather than use the clamps. That way the heat is spread more than it is at an angle and you can adjust the temps by raising or lowering the bulb.
More importantly though the clamps have been known to fail and cause fires so better safe than sorry. You can buy lamp stands or maybe make your own and attach it to the side of the enclosure.
There may be examples in the Enclosures thread.
 
Last edited:

Lyn W

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2014
Messages
23,526
Location (City and/or State)
UK
Have you posted in the Introduction thread to tell us all about your tort?
There are great caresheets for most species which will tell you all about diet, temps, humidity, substrate etc.
The Beginners Mistakes thread is a good place to learn from other members mistakes too.
 

Franco F

Active Member
Tortoise Club
5 Year Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2017
Messages
187
Location (City and/or State)
New York, New York
I’ve used a CHE for my Hermann for a while now successfully. Winter in NY is brutal and the CHE helps maintain a good temperature at night when it’s the coldest
 

JoesMum

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Oct 26, 2011
Messages
21,584
Location (City and/or State)
Kent, South East England
With an open table like that, a CHE will be trying to heat the whole room. You either need a closed chamber (a roof over the enclosure) or something to stop the room getting too cold.

Some people use a Greenhouse Tent like this (they come in various shapes and sizes)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/lulalula-Greenhouse-Backyard-Portable-Gardening/dp/B07CVVCVKZ/

If you have a very young tortoise, it should be in a closed chamber in any case.

Older animals don’t need it as warm overnight, but do ideally need at least 15C

An electric radiator with a thermostat would be better for an open table for an older tort

We have one of these in our conservatory (cheaper and smaller versions are available - we got this one as we could control it to the degree and it has a timer)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dimplex-Electric-Radiator-Electronic-Climate/dp/B002G0DE14/

When your tortoise is big enough for outdoor living, you may find this thread I wrote helpful
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/outdoor-accommodation-in-a-colder-uk-climate.140866/
 

Toddrickfl1

Well-Known Member
Tortoise Club
5 Year Member
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 7, 2018
Messages
7,103
Location (City and/or State)
Ga
I would hang the CHE over where your Tort sleeps. If your tortoise sleeps in it's hide hang it over that. It won't heat the whole enclosure being that it's open but it will hear the area directly under it.
 

New Posts

Top