15 month old Hermann

[Benjamin223]

Hi quick question-

If you could simply list the prime combination of lights for a 15 month old hermanns tortoise in a 3ftx6ft enclosure I’d be grateful. The relative humidity here is around 60-75%

 

[wellington]

Incandescent flood bulb for basking under temps that reach 95-100
Tube fluorescent for uvb
Ceramic heat emitter for night heat and any added day needed.
The humidity will not be the 60-75% once the lights are added. A closed chamber would still help at this age or at least damp substrate.

 

[Benjamin223]

Incandescent flood bulb for basking under temps that reach 95-100
Tube fluorescent for uvb
Ceramic heat emitter for night heat and any added day needed.
The humidity will not be the 60-75% once the lights are added. A closed chamber would still help at this age or at least damp substrate.

Thank you!

I do dampen the substrate twice a day and monitor it quite closely. I have a humid hide that I track with a hygrometer- it has sphagnum moss that is rehydrated when necessary.

Regarding the fluorescent bulbs- anything specific I should look for in relation to lumens and/or colour spectrum?

Benjamin is in my office which has two large-ish windows on the second floor of our house (facing east/west). I have daylight bulbs for me in the ceiling. How bright would you say they like it? Should I get some led strip lights in addition to the flood bulb and fluorescent so even on the cooler side it is still really bright?

Thanks so much for your help.

 

[Tom]

Thank you!

I do dampen the substrate twice a day and monitor it quite closely. I have a humid hide that I track with a hygrometer- it has sphagnum moss that is rehydrated when necessary.

Regarding the fluorescent bulbs- anything specific I should look for in relation to lumens and/or colour spectrum?

Benjamin is in my office which has two large-ish windows on the second floor of our house (facing east/west). I have daylight bulbs for me in the ceiling. How bright would you say they like it? Should I get some led strip lights in addition to the flood bulb and fluorescent so even on the cooler side it is still really bright?

Thanks so much for your help.

All of this and more is right here:

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Here is a breakdown of the four heating and lighting essentials:

1. Basking bulb. I use 65 watt incandescent floods from the hardware store. Some people will need bigger, or smaller wattage bulbs. Let your thermometer be your guide. I run them on a timer for about 12 hours and adjust the height to get the correct basking temp under them. I also like to use a flat rock of some sort directly under the bulb. You need to check the temp with a thermometer directly under the bulb and get it to around 95-100F (36-37C).
2. Ambient heat maintenance. I use ceramic heating elements or radiant heat panels set on thermostats to maintain ambient above 80 degrees day and night for tropical species. In most cases you'd only need day heat for a temperate species like Testudo or DT, as long as your house stays above 60F (15-16C) at night. Some people in colder climates or with larger enclosures will need multiple CHEs or RHPs to spread out enough heat.
3. Ambient light. I use LEDs for this purpose. Something in the 5000-6500K color range will look the best. Most bulbs at the store are in the 2500K range and they look yellowish. Strip or screw-in LED bulb types are both fine.
4. UV. If you can get your tortoise outside for an hour 2 or 3 times a week, you won't need indoor UV. In colder climates, get one of the newer HO type fluorescent tubes. Which type will depend on mounting height. 5.0 bulbs make almost no UV. I like the 12% HO bulbs from Arcadia. You need a meter to check this: https://www.solarmeter.com/model65.html A good UV bulb only needs to run for 2-3 hours mid day. You need the basking bulb and the ambient lighting to be on at least 12 hours a day.

Sphagnum moss of either type should not be in a tortoise enclosure. Both types cause bad problems.

I prefer the Arcadia brand HO UV tubes. ZooMed is also good.

It should be bright and "sunny" in the enclosure during the day. Use as much LED lighting as needed to make that happen. Think of how bright it is outside in the Mediterranean areas of the world during the day. Simulate that.

Higher humidity and damp substrate is good for babies! Great job there.

 

[Benjamin223]

All of this and more is right here:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

Here is a breakdown of the four heating and lighting essentials:

1. Basking bulb. I use 65 watt incandescent floods from the hardware store. Some people will need bigger, or smaller wattage bulbs. Let your thermometer be your guide. I run them on a timer for about 12 hours and adjust the height to get the correct basking temp under them. I also like to use a flat rock of some sort directly under the bulb. You need to check the temp with a thermometer directly under the bulb and get it to around 95-100F (36-37C).
2. Ambient heat maintenance. I use ceramic heating elements or radiant heat panels set on thermostats to maintain ambient above 80 degrees day and night for tropical species. In most cases you'd only need day heat for a temperate species like Testudo or DT, as long as your house stays above 60F (15-16C) at night. Some people in colder climates or with larger enclosures will need multiple CHEs or RHPs to spread out enough heat.
3. Ambient light. I use LEDs for this purpose. Something in the 5000-6500K color range will look the best. Most bulbs at the store are in the 2500K range and they look yellowish. Strip or screw-in LED bulb types are both fine.
4. UV. If you can get your tortoise outside for an hour 2 or 3 times a week, you won't need indoor UV. In colder climates, get one of the newer HO type fluorescent tubes. Which type will depend on mounting height. 5.0 bulbs make almost no UV. I like the 12% HO bulbs from Arcadia. You need a meter to check this: https://www.solarmeter.com/model65.html A good UV bulb only needs to run for 2-3 hours mid day. You need the basking bulb and the ambient lighting to be on at least 12 hours a day.

Sphagnum moss of either type should not be in a tortoise enclosure. Both types cause bad problems.

I prefer the Arcadia brand HO UV tubes. ZooMed is also good.

It should be bright and "sunny" in the enclosure during the day. Use as much LED lighting as needed to make that happen. Think of how bright it is outside in the Mediterranean areas of the world during the day. Simulate that.

Higher humidity and damp substrate is good for babies! Great job there.

Thanks, Tom.

I know the question has probably been asked before so I appreciate the response- Still getting use to how the forum works etc.,

Best,

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hey! Definitely get rid of any kind of moss, I’ll attach a few pictures for the kind of uv and basking bulb you need😊

Do you need a CHE for nightime or do you temps stay upwards of 60?

Out of interest what other substrate are you using?🙂

The basking bulb is set on a 12hour timer and you could put some ambient lighting on the same timer, a normal led hung to light the entire enclosure will work fine, colour range 5000-6500k colour range, create shady areas with safe plants and hides😊
Then the uv can be on a separate 4 hour timer from noon, mounted around 18-20 inches from the substrate👍

 

[Tom]

Thanks, Tom.

I know the question has probably been asked before so I appreciate the response- Still getting use to how the forum works etc.,

Best,

Please feel free to ask any and all your questions. We are here to talk tortoises. Links to threads like that save time is all.