Enclosure too hot

[Amoeba]

Hello, I have couple question about pvc enclosure. Currently I just build my on PVC enclosure for baby sulcata, it's 80 x 40 x 40 cm (31 x 31 x 15 inch). Now i'm testing the lighting and the temp reading a bit high on the cool side (93.2F), On the basking spot are good around 100F. My room temperature is 85 on hot sunny days. So should I turn off the basking lamp and just turn on the LED?

*the coil on the picture is not uvb, just for testing purpose, it will be replaced with CHE/

 

[Maro2Bear]

What wattage is your basking light? Basking lights come in all wattages, so try going moving down size. Make sure that your CHE is set to a thermostat.

 

[Amoeba]

I already used the lowest bulb I can find which is 25w, can't find lower wattage incandescent flood bulb here. Can normal incandescent bulb set on dimmer? Yup the there's thermostat wired for the CHE socket.

 

[wellington]

Very nice enclosure. Wish you had built it much bigger. Your sulcata will out grow it in a year or so. It also would have been easier to maintain proper temps.
I wouldnt turn off the basking, turn off the che and use it for night time if needed. If that's not enough, turn off the other light. The big light in the middle should be enough to heat that whole enclosure during the day.
80-85F day and night basking 95-100

 

[Maro2Bear]

Very nice enclosure. Wish you had built it much bigger. Your sulcata will out grow it in a year or so. It also would have been easier to maintain proper temps.
I wouldnt turn off the basking, turn off the che and use it for night time if needed. If that's not enough, turn off the other light. The big light in the middle should be enough to heat that whole enclosure during the day.
80-85F day and night basking 95-100

Yes, i was thinking the same thing about the overall size. Given tge proper heat, lighting, humidity & food - a Sully will quickly outgrow it.

 

[Krista S]

Hello, I have couple question about pvc enclosure. Currently I just build my on PVC enclosure for baby sulcata, it's 80 x 40 x 40 cm (31 x 31 x 15 inch). Now i'm testing the lighting and the temp reading a bit high on the cool side (93.2F), On the basking spot are good around 100F. My room temperature is 85 on hot sunny days. So should I turn off the basking lamp and just turn on the LED?

*the coil on the picture is not uvb, just for testing purpose, it will be replaced with CHE/

You’ve been given great advice here. The only thing I’d like to add, is when you’re testing out the temperatures, it would be best to add in your substrate and then something to simulate the height of the tortoise on top of the substrate. There should be a good 3 to 4 inches of substrate, so that will make quite a difference on your surface level temperatures.

 

[Amoeba]

Thanks a lot for the advice. This is my first time building cage with pvc so I try with the small one first. Still have 2 sheet of PVC board lying around, so I'm planning to build bigger one . I already testing it with substrate height and add some dimmer for the flood bulb to adjust the light intensity and it works, the basking spot is around 100 and I will test the cool side temp after 12 hour with the light on. Hopefully it works.