Doctor House in his new Home

[kohailovely]

Hello everyone, introducing Doctor Gregory House, the Horsefield tortoise in his new Orchid Bark table
House is 2 years old and loves to burrow in his tiny wooden hide
We've taken advice from a previous thread I posted in order to ensure his table is good
20°c in the cold area
32°c at the basking rock

70% humidity throughout

He seems to have settled in his home

 

[wellington]

The basking needs to be around 95-100F.
If you are using a mercury vapor bulb, change it out for a tube florescent uvb light and a incandescent flood bulb for basking and day heat.
The mercury bulb will cause pyramiding.

 

[kohailovely]

The basking needs to be around 95-100F.
If you are using a mercury vapor bulb, change it out for a tube florescent uvb light and a incandescent flood bulb for basking and day heat.
The mercury bulb will cause pyramiding.

we re-measured at the rock, it was 36 c, I think when we last measured it wasn't long since we turned the light on.

The bulb isn't mercury

 

[wellington]

Great the bulb isn't mercury, but is it uvb?

 

[kohailovely]

Great the bulb isn't mercury, but is it uvb?

The bulb we are using is UVA, should we swap to UVB?

 

[wellington]

Yes, you need uvb. Unless you get him outside 3 to 4 times a week for natural sunlight, he needs uvb ASAP.

 

[wellington]

Get a tube florescent for uvb not any of the coil type or any of the other types now available. The tube Florescent is still the best and safest.

 

[jeff kushner]

That's a cool looking turtle...look at that face!

 

[Tom]

The bulb we are using is UVA, should we swap to UVB?

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.

Your substrate needs more moisture. It should never be dry.

More here:

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[kohailovely]

Thanks for the replies, guys

We've added a UVB ProT5 12% using the specifications on Arcadia's website

We've also purchased a dynamic temperature controller to better control the heat in his enclosure

We still get him outside for bath time too