Baby sulcata tortoise lighting/heating

[Brittanyp1113]

No. That is what I was talking about that needs to be fixed immediately.

-20 gallons is WAYYYY too small, and you need a closed chamber to maintain heat and humidity. You need a thermostat to control that CHE.
-Mercury vapor bulbs are not safe, sometimes not effective, and they cause pyramiding. Those should never be used over tortoises.
-It needs to be 95-100 directly under the heat lamp, and no part of the enclosure should drop below 80 on the coldest of cold nights.

These are the things that need your immediate attention. The UV tube can wait until you have all these other problems solved.

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.htmlA 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.

Can I get this for the led ambient lighting it also provides uvb.

 

[Tom]

Can I get this for the led ambient lighting it also provides uvb.

MarkW84 has been explaining recently that the new LED UV bulbs hitting the market have too marrow a focus for their UVB diodes, and could potentially be harmful because of this. Because of that, and because it is an off-brand unit that I have never heard of, I would not recommend that unit.

Thousands of people are using the Arcadia 12% HO tubes, and they work fantastically and safely. That is what I use and that is what I recommend.