No. Not enough. Not in any way shape or form.
tortoiseforum.org
No. Not enough. Not in any way shape or form.
There are four elements to heating and lighting:
Share the above and and this care sheet with your Canadian friend. They need to make some changes if they want the tortoise to survive.
- 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).
- 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. 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.
- 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 bulb types are both fine.
- UV. If you can get your tortoise outside for an hour 2 or 3 times a week, you won't need indoor UV. If you want it anyway, get one of the newer HO type fluorescent tubes. Which type will depend on mounting height. 5.0 bulbs make almost no UV. You need a meter to check this: https://www.solarmeter.com/model65.html Here in our climate, you shouldn't need indoor UV.
Explain that most of the care info out there in the world is wrong. Its been wrong for decades, and it is still wrong.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...
During the day, our indoor enclosures are supposed to simulate "day time" conditions. Look how dark your enclosure is away from the light. Compare this to how bright it is on a sunny day. Ambient light is important for their mental well being.
Looking at the pictures again, it looks like you've used the clamp to hold the lamp in place? The clamps always fail. If the bulb doesn't break when it falls and leave broken glass and a "hot" exposed electrical socket (best case), then it will start a fire. Its best to hang the bulb from directly overhead. This way you can also adjust the height more easily too, to get the correct temperature under it.
ZooMed makes a metal adjustable lamp stand. I think the price is ridiculous, but it is a good safe reliable product, and easier than building something.
