Basking Lamps...

[Greg19]

Hello everyone! I'm a bit new to the forum and you can call me Greg. So I have a Little Indian Star Tortoise and recently bought him a huge enclosure. I use cocopeat (also known as coco coir) for the substrate. I placed some multiple hiding spots as well. But I really doubt if a normal tungstun 60w bulb can be used as a basking lamp. Do you guys recommend
them?

 

[Tom]

Hello everyone! I'm a bit new to the forum and you can call me Greg. So I have a Little Indian Star Tortoise and recently bought him a huge enclosure. I use cocopeat (also known as coco coir) for the substrate. I placed some multiple hiding spots as well. But I really doubt if a normal tungstun 60w bulb can be used as a basking lamp. Do you guys recommend
them?

Hello and welcome Greg. I didn't see your post yesterday. Sorry for the delay.

The wattage and number of bulbs needed will vary with each enclosure. What works for one person will be too much for someone else, and not enough for others. Only your thermometer can tell you for sure. If the 60 watt isn't enough. move to a 100. I use 65 watt floods in a dome hood for most applications, and adjust the height to get the correct temperature under it. Here is more guidance:
There are four elements to heating and lighting:

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.
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.

And here is the main care sheet:

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. Babies hatch during the...

tortoiseforum.org

Questions are welcome!

 

[Greg19]

Thank you tom. Just ordered the thermometer. But is it necessary for the bulb to be on for 12 hours? I mean, its just a 1 year old. Sorry if I asked a stupid question.

 

[Tom]

Thank you tom. Just ordered the thermometer. But is it necessary for the bulb to be on for 12 hours? I mean, its just a 1 year old. Sorry if I asked a stupid question.

Not stupid at all. The indoor heat lamp is meant to simulate the sun. The sun is up for 12 hours a day in the tropics, so that is what we are trying to mimic. There can be a "dawn" and "dusk" indoors if we set our timers and what not correctly, but I shoot for around 12-13 hours of daytime in ll of my tortoise enclosures.

 

[Greg19]

O

Not stupid at all. The indoor heat lamp is meant to simulate the sun. The sun is up for 12 hours a day in the tropics, so that is what we are trying to mimic. There can be a "dawn" and "dusk" indoors if we set our timers and what not correctly, but I shoot for around 12-13 hours of daytime in ll of my tortoise enclosures.

Alright, thanks.