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.

 

[Brittanyp1113]

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

When you say 5000k-6500k is that lumens? Or what

 

[jaizei]

When you say 5000k-6500k is that lumens? Or what

It's the color temperature. You may also see the color described as warm white, soft white, cool white, or daylight white. You want daylight white.

 

[Brittanyp1113]

It's the color temperature. You may also see the color described as warm white, soft white, cool white, or daylight white. You want daylight white.

Ok thanks

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

When you say 5000k-6500k is that lumens? Or what

It is kelvin, like jaizei explained

 

[Brittanyp1113]

So my t5 uvb tube light finally came today. Well worth the money. Also finally got my lighting/heat at a good setting. Basking area is 100 & surrounding areas at 87-90 humidity is around 60 so I need to work on that 😅 this is a lot more in depth then I ever expected. At this point I'm already in love with the little guy or girl. So I'm willing to tackle this head on & do whatever I need to do to keep this little cutie happy & healthy. My husband is building me a closed chamber enclosure & an outdoor area for when I take him/her outside & it's going to be large enough for him/her to grow into. We've already secured fence line in the backyard dug down 3 1/2 ft just to be safe lol. I really appreciate all of yalls help and assistance.

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Good news! I hope you little tort is enjoying the changes. Keep us updated!

 

[Brittanyp1113]

Ok quick question my temp Guage reads 95 but when I use my infrared thermometer it's reading 105 in my enclosure directly under my basking light. Is that to hot for my little guy? I went ahead & turned off the basking light. So right now I have the heat emitting light & the uvb tube light on. Until I get this figured out.

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Ok quick question my temp Guage reads 95 but when I use my infrared thermometer it's reading 105 in my enclosure directly under my basking light. Is that to hot for my little guy? I went ahead & turned off the basking light. So right now I have the heat emitting light & the uvb tube light on. Until I get this figured out.

105 is the upper limit of what you need. You can leave the gauge for 1-2 hours under the basking lamp to let it heat up and check the temperature. Gauge type thermometers aren't especially accurate, so it's better to use a digital one (can be found for less than 5 bucks in hardware stores, a bit more expensive AccuRite are commonly used).

 

[Brittanyp1113]

How hot it to hot for under the basking light. I don't want to fry my little guy. I had all 3 lights going. The basking , heat emitting & uvb tube lights. I swear this lighting/ heating is driving me crazy & I can't figure out my new thermostat control system I purchased to maintain the correct Temps for me. I'm constantly checking with my infrared thermometer like a crazy lady.

 

[Tortellini0000]

How hot it to hot for under the basking light. I don't want to fry my little guy. I had all 3 lights going. The basking , heat emitting & uvb tube lights. I swear this lighting/ heating is driving me crazy & I can't figure out my new thermostat control system I purchased to maintain the correct Temps for me. I'm constantly checking with my infrared thermometer like a crazy lady.

From what Iv read and I know the experts will get back to you but I thought the heat emitting light only comes on when temps drop below 80? And that would be mostly be at night when you turn off the basking and led lights. During the day it would be your basking light and led lights on for 12 hours say 8-8pm and uv for roughly 4 hours a day ( I read most common 11-3 or 12-4.

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

How hot it to hot for under the basking light. I don't want to fry my little guy. I had all 3 lights going. The basking , heat emitting & uvb tube lights. I swear this lighting/ heating is driving me crazy & I can't figure out my new thermostat control system I purchased to maintain the correct Temps for me. I'm constantly checking with my infrared thermometer like a crazy lady.

Basking zone in 95-105F is okay if he has a place to cool down to 80-84F, deep enough substrate and a water dish in the middle/colder part of the enclosure.
Lightning and heating is the hardest part to get going but once done it doesn't require much attention.

As of thermostat - place a probe in a cold part of the enclosure, about 1.5 inches above substrate. Ideally, 1-2 inches from the wall. Set thermostat to minimal temperature you need (80F) and plug in ceramic heat emitter in the thermostat. What thermostat did you get?

Shooting everywhere with a temp gun is normal - everyone does this when setting up enclosure

 

[Brittanyp1113]

From what Iv read and I know the experts will get back to you but I thought the heat emitting light only comes on when temps drop below 80? And that would be mostly be at night when you turn off the basking and led lights. During the day it would be your basking light and led lights on for 12 hours say 8-8pm and uv for roughly 4 hours a day ( I read most common 11-3 or 12-4.

Oh lordy I've been running my heat emitting light 24/7 & basking light during the day until about 8pm and my uvb tube light running for 4 hours a day

 

[Brittanyp1113]

Basking zone in 95-105F is okay if he has a place to cool down to 80-84F, deep enough substrate and a water dish in the middle/colder part of the enclosure.
Lightning and heating is the hardest part to get going but once done it doesn't require much attention.

As of thermostat - place a probe in a cold part of the enclosure, about 1.5 inches above substrate. Ideally, 1-2 inches from the wall. Set thermostat to minimal temperature you need (80F) and plug in ceramic heat emitter in the thermostat. What thermostat did you get?

Shooting everywhere with a temp gun is normal - everyone does this when setting up enclosure

I ended up getting the one Tom suggested It was pricey but it will be worth it.

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Oh lordy I've been running my heat emitting light 24/7 & basking light during the day until about 8pm and my uvb tube light running for 4 hours a day

This is the correct schedule. Ceramic heat emitter on a thermostat should be on 24/7 - thermostat turns it on for additional heat only when it's required.

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

I ended up getting the one Tom suggested It was pricey but it will be worth it.

BN-Link thermostats are a bit puzzling when you set them up for the first time. Can you tell exact model? (as some of them have day/night settings, some heating/cooling sockets and some are easier to setup with a smartphone app).

 

[Brittanyp1113]

BN-Link thermostats are a bit puzzling when you set them up for the first time. Can you tell exact model? (as some of them have day/night settings, some heating/cooling sockets and some are easier to setup with a smartphone app).

This is the one I got. I hope its the correct one 🙏

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

This is the one I got. I hope its the correct one 🙏

Yes, that's the right one. Make sure you connect ceramic heater to "Heating" socket. You can leave all settings as they are except the first one (SV) which should be set to 80 (press SET for 2 seconds, use Up/Down buttons to set the temperature. Wait 8 seconds for thermostat to exit from settings mode. Then it should display current and set temperatures on the display. That's all.

 

[Brittanyp1113]

Yes, that's the right one. Make sure you connect ceramic heater to "Heating" socket. You can leave all settings as they are except the first one (SV) which should be set to 80 (press SET for 2 seconds, use Up/Down buttons to set the temperature. Wait 8 seconds for thermostat to exit from settings mode. Then it should display current and set temperatures on the display. That's all.

Do I plug in the basking light into this also? Or the uvb