Can’t get heat past 70. Help!!

[Midwesttort]

Im a new owner of 2 bay leopard tortoises. I have a 100w basking bulb and a Reptisun 10.0 UVB. I just removed it off its pole and placed directly on the cage as I don’t know how to get it warmer in there. I could use any help you can offer. We’re going out to get some sphagnum moss tonight.

 

[Tom]

Im a new owner of 2 bay leopard tortoises. I have a 100w basking bulb and a Reptisun 10.0 UVB. I just removed it off its pole and placed directly on the cage as I don’t know how to get it warmer in there. I could use any help you can offer. We’re going out to get some sphagnum moss tonight. View attachment 364608View attachment 364609

Hello and welcome. You have gotten the old wrong care info and received the wrong products. You are using the wrong types of bulbs in the wrong type of fixture and the wrong type of enclosure. Sorry for the bad news, but if no one tells you, you won't be able to fix it and save your tortoise.

You need a large closed chamber. There is no way to heat and humidify an open topped enclosure. That is like trying to heat your house in winter with no roof on it. It can't work. The heat just drifts up and out.

All the correct care info is here. There is a heating and lighting breakdown near the bottom and a leopard tortoise care sheet. Don't stress. We will help you all along the way and get you where you need to be.

 

[SinLA]

PLEASE DO NOT USE MOSS it can cause impaction.

Please read this first, but you've got a fair bit of issues going on there that will be make it harder. Also they should only be kept solo or in groups, never pairs...

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

 

[Tom]

PLEASE DO NOT USE MOSS it can cause impaction.

Please read this first, but you've got a fair bit of issues going on there that will be make it harder. Also they should only be kept solo or in groups, never pairs...

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

Thanks! I forgot to include the link!

 

[Midwesttort]

Hey Tom,

I’d rather know and have healthy torts than not and have...well. Okay, do you have any pictures of what you use or a link to something I can visually see? I appreciate the help and information. What you say makes perfect sense.

Hello and welcome. You have gotten the old wrong care info and received the wrong products. You are using the wrong types of bulbs in the wrong type of fixture and the wrong type of enclosure. Sorry for the bad news, but if no one tells you, you won't be able to fix it and save your tortoise.

You need a large closed chamber. There is no way to heat and humidify an open topped enclosure. That is like trying to heat your house in winter with no roof on it. It can't work. The heat just drifts up and out.

All the correct care info is here. There is a heating and lighting breakdown near the bottom and a leopard tortoise care sheet. Don't stress. We will help you all along the way and get you where you need to be.

 

[Tom]

Hey Tom,

I’d rather know and have healthy torts than not and have...well. Okay, do you have any pictures of what you use or a link to something I can visually see? I appreciate the help and information. What you say makes perfect sense.

Do a search for "Smart Enclosure" here on the forum. Those are the best.

Here is what I was using before Mark started making the Smart Enclosures:

New Stack of Animal Plastics CLosed Chambers

AKA: Tom's baby emporium. @GStars asked for a pic on my new baby raising enclosures the other day. I only had a partial, but I took a fuller one today. Each cage is 96x30 and divided in the middle into two 48x30 cages for starting babies. The colored tape on each upper right corner shows the...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[wellington]

I and others have used pop up portable greenhouses. You can also buy smart closed enclosures from our member @Markw84 that takes a lot of guess work out.
Use an incandescent flood bulb for basking. Tube florescent for uvb and ceramic heat emitters for night heat and added day heat.
Do not use moss. Get fir bark or orchid bark or coconut coir. A combo of coir on the bottom and one of the barks on top work great for humidity.
Separate them ASAP and get the heat up to no lower then 80 day and night with basking of 95-100.

 

[wellington]

This is the type of greenhouse that works good. Just add a tarp for the floor. All lights and heat will hang on the frame inside.

 

[ryan57]

But for now you could easily place aluminum foil over the top with a cut out for the light to shine through. Not as efficient obviously but won't let nearly as much heat escape. It WILL increase the temperature.

 

[ryan57]

This is the type of greenhouse that works good. Just add a tarp for the floor. All lights and heat will hang on the frame inside.
View attachment 364610

I really like the greenhouse idea for both indoors AND outdoors. Stump was out for 3 hours today in winter. Found and ate 11 dandelions. 1 hour roaming -w- his jacket on doing tortoise stuff and carapace was 84deg when I brought him inside and he always goes straight to a hot soak which he obviously loves.

I installed a dryer hose and indoor dryer filter in our greenhouse outside and it was 95 degrees in there today and was 55deg outside after 2 loads. Got to eat a ton of grass. Even the ground/grass in the greenhouse was warm. The greenhouse is the 13' x 3' amazon one.

For the past 2 months or so we have planning our dryer running during the day when we know he's going to want to go out. Greenhouse is always warm. Before I installed the hose, in the early fall he was still smart enough to go to the dryer vent after eating grass in the yard. He would want to stretch out his neck in front of the vent and watch the sun going down before coming in.

 

[Midwesttort]

Hello and welcome. You have gotten the old wrong care info and received the wrong products. You are using the wrong types of bulbs in the wrong type of fixture and the wrong type of enclosure. Sorry for the bad news, but if no one tells you, you won't be able to fix it and save your tortoise.

You need a large closed chamber. There is no way to heat and humidify an open topped enclosure. That is like trying to heat your house in winter with no roof on it. It can't work. The heat just drifts up and out.

All the correct care info is here. There is a heating and lighting breakdown near the bottom and a leopard tortoise care sheet. Don't stress. We will help you all along the way and get you where you need to be.

 

[Midwesttort]

Hey Tom,
I just ordered two smart enclosures for each tort but until they get in, will this be sufficient or is there something else I can do while I’m waiting? I thought about getting plexiglass cut at Home Depot for the top. What would you suggest for temporary? Thank you in advance.

 

[Midwesttort]

This is the type of greenhouse that works good. Just add a tarp for the floor. All lights and heat will hang on the frame inside.
View attachment 364610

Is this for your indoor or outdoor enclosure? If in, what do you do for the flooring?

 

[Tom]

Hey Tom,
I just ordered two smart enclosures for each tort but until they get in, will this be sufficient or is there something else I can do while I’m waiting? I thought about getting plexiglass cut at Home Depot for the top. What would you suggest for temporary? Thank you in advance.
View attachment 364639

Before I saw the picture, I was going to suggest tinfoil. Its relatively safe and won't catch fire.

I would put a LED in one of those hoods and an incandescent flood bulb in the other. Try to lower it down a bit, safely, to get more heat closer to the tortoise. You can go with higher wattage bulbs if necessary too.

You will LOVE the Smart Enclosures, and they will make your life so easy, but in the mean time, the little babies, need ambient and night heat. This is best provided by a CHE set on a thermostat. Get a ceramic based clamp lamp dome from home Depot, remove the clamp, make a third hole in your foil, and plug it into a reptile thermostat. Set the thermostat's probe far away from any heat source and set it to get a temperature around 80. The basking bulb will get it warmer during the day.

If the CHE sounds like too much, then move the enclosure into a small bathroom, shut the door, and run a space heater in there to keep ambient temp above 80 at all times. This is not practical or energy efficient, but it can last you until your smart enclosures arrive.

 

[wellington]

Is this for your indoor or outdoor enclosure? If in, what do you do for the flooring?

Inside and the tarp I mentioned is what you use for the floor.

 

[Markw84]

Hey Tom,
I just ordered two smart enclosures for each tort but until they get in, will this be sufficient or is there something else I can do while I’m waiting? I thought about getting plexiglass cut at Home Depot for the top. What would you suggest for temporary? Thank you in advance.

For you and anyone reading this...

The current lead time to get a Smart Enclosure built for you is about 3 weeks.

-Mark

 

[Midwesttort]

Before I saw the picture, I was going to suggest tinfoil. Its relatively safe and won't catch fire.

I would put a LED in one of those hoods and an incandescent flood bulb in the other. Try to lower it down a bit, safely, to get more heat closer to the tortoise. You can go with higher wattage bulbs if necessary too.

You will LOVE the Smart Enclosures, and they will make your life so easy, but in the mean time, the little babies, need ambient and night heat. This is best provided by a CHE set on a thermostat. Get a ceramic based clamp lamp dome from home Depot, remove the clamp, make a third hole in your foil, and plug it into a reptile thermostat. Set the thermostat's probe far away from any heat source and set it to get a temperature around 80. The basking bulb will get it warmer during the day.

If the CHE sounds like too much, then move the enclosure into a small bathroom, shut the door, and run a space heater in there to keep ambient temp above 80 at all times. This is not practical or energy efficient, but it can last you until your smart enclosures arrive.

One last question Tom. Just seeking clarification from all the info. Do I want to use a flood light instead of a basking bulb? Or both? I know I want the CHE for evenings only it sounds like. Right now with the foil and a heater going near it, the temp is at 80 on the basking side.

 

[Tom]

One last question Tom. Just seeking clarification from all the info. Do I want to use a flood light instead of a basking bulb? Or both? I know I want the CHE for evenings only it sounds like. Right now with the foil and a heater going near it, the temp is at 80 on the basking side.

The flood bulb is the basking bulb. It gives off heat and light.

The CHE needs to be set on a thermostat and set to keep the whole enclosure around 80 day and night.

The temperature directly under the basking bulb needs to be around 100. Ambient temperature in the whole enclosure needs to be around 80.

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.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

This is the type of greenhouse that works good. Just add a tarp for the floor. All lights and heat will hang on the frame inside.
View attachment 364610

I love that idea

 

[ryan57]

Hey Tom,
I just ordered two smart enclosures for each tort but until they get in, will this be sufficient or is there something else I can do while I’m waiting? I thought about getting plexiglass cut at Home Depot for the top. What would you suggest for temporary? Thank you in advance.
View attachment 364639

If I were there right now, I would fold back the aluminum foil and place the light housing back on the mesh like how you had it. The idea is to seal the heat in to the extent possible. That said, you absolutely must have a thermometer and make sure that they don't get too hot.

If it gets too warm, you should be able to fold back a corner to let some heat escape. This will work until your enclosures arrive.