changing weather

[floridakat85]

Hello all, the nasty Florida weather is finally taking a turn for the cooler end of the spectrum, and I'm wondering how this will affect Karloff. Our house can drop to 68 degrees (F) at night now that we're getting down into the 40's and 50's outside, and as Karloff's only source of heat is his UVA/UVB sunny bulb, what is the general opinion about maybe picking up a small in-tank rock heater, something I can bury under the substrate and make a nice little warm patch for him at night. My concern is because he digs, he could very easily - and probably would within minutes of my putting it in his enclosure - dig it up and burn his skin on it if i were to leave it on all night. Thoughts?

 

[t_mclellan]

How about an under tank heating pad?
They are cheep & ya just stick it to the bottom of the tank.

 

[floridakat85]

Hello all, the nasty Florida weather is finally taking a turn for the cooler end of the spectrum, and I'm wondering how this will affect Karloff. Our house can drop to 68 degrees (F) at night now that we're getting down into the 40's and 50's outside, and as Karloff's only source of heat is his UVA/UVB sunny bulb, what is the general opinion about maybe picking up a small in-tank rock heater, something I can bury under the substrate and make a nice little warm patch for him at night. My concern is because he digs, he could very easily - and probably would within minutes of my putting it in his enclosure - dig it up and burn his skin on it if i were to leave it on all night. Thoughts?

added a picture of cold Karloff lol

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How about an under tank heating pad?
They are cheep & ya just stick it to the bottom of the tank.

Would that work through the thick Rubbermaid plastic container without damaging it?

 

[owt_u]

Heating pads are not recommended for Russian tortoises because of the way they regulate their body temperature. That is what I've been told by the experts.

 

[oswego tort lover]

your russian should have a temp drop every nite. 12 hrs light and heat on 12 off. it can live with nite temp's into the low fifty's . i use shreded aspen for bedding .........ed

 

[stells]

He will be fine with those temps... none of my Russians get any night time heat... if you use plain topsoil in your enclosure your Russian will dig down as and when it needs to to regulate its temperature... it does help if you can get the substrate as deep as you can.... mine all make little burrows in their enclosures which they wouldn't be able to do with aspen...

Of course this is just my view... not me saying i know best and you must do as i say lol

 

[oswego tort lover]

as the aspen get's walked on , it becomes more compacted and so firmer allowing your russian to burrow into the aspen . the deeper the aspen the better the tortoise will like it...........ed

 

[mctlong]

68 degrees at night is fine for a Russian. You don't need an additional heating source at that temp.

 

[tortoisenerd]

That's a fine night temperature. I wouldn't go below 60, 65 for a hatchling. The tort needs a night time drop. For example, 70-95 gradient during the day, and high 60s at night. This better simulates the wild. Do check that it doesn't get much colder in the middle of winter, and also that the enclosure temperature is that temperature (you may be reading from your thermostat which can be wildly different).

Heating pads are typiclaly not recommended for smaller torts. If heat is needed at night, a ceramic heat emitter or black light bulb is ideal as the heat comes from above, such as in the wild.

 

[K9KidsLove]

Hi..I agree...no bottom heat for tortoises. Their heat source should come from above them like the sun. Your night temps are fine. You might want to add a regular house bulb in a clamp lamp (cheaper at Walmart) for extra heat during the day so the basking temp can be in the high 80's. I have used both aspen and sand/soil. They liked the sand/soil better.
Good luck
Patsy