Habitat lighting suggestions

[Tortloverr]

I'm building a habitat for a Hermann's and have been informed not to use the compact fluorescent for UVB. I bought the bulb pictured but I'm not sure what fixture to purchase or how/where to hang it in the enclosure. Any suggestions would be helpful!

 

[JoesMum]

Hi and welcome

The lamp is fine, but your enclosure is beautiful but far too small.

Please take a look at the following written by species experts on this forum

Beginner Mistakes
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

Hermann's Care Sheet
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/sticky-hermanns-tortoise-care-sheet-updated.101410/

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Are you in the U.S?
Walmart sells an 18" florescent fixture. Just take out the tube that comes with it and put yours in.
Or you can get an 18" fixture at most pet shops or hardware stores.
(Or online)
You'll want to mount it no more than 10" above your tortoise

 

[Tortloverr]

Hi and welcome

The lamp is fine, but your enclosure is beautiful but far too small.

Please take a look at the following written by species experts on this forum

Beginner Mistakes
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

Hermann's Care Sheet
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/sticky-hermanns-tortoise-care-sheet-updated.101410/

Thanks for replying and your concern, how big should the enclosure be? I'm only planning to keep one Hermann's in the enclosure so I thought this was sufficient. I've noticed a lot of the ready-made tortoise tables are about 8-12 square feet.

 

[Tortloverr]

Are you in the U.S?
Walmart sells an 18" florescent fixture. Just take out the tube that comes with it and put yours in.
Or you can get an 18" fixture at most pet shops or hardware stores.
(Or online)
You'll want to mount it no more than 10" above your tortoise

Thank you so much! That may seem like a common sense thing, but I've thought that about a few other things I've bought for the tortoise that turn out to be wrong. I just didn't want to buy the wrong thing. So if I were to mount the lamp directly on the side wall opposite the ramp, that would be okay? It won't hurt the tortoise if he gets too close?

 

[JoesMum]

Thanks for replying and your concern, how big should the enclosure be? I'm only planning to keep one Hermann's in the enclosure so I thought this was sufficient. I've noticed a lot of the ready-made tortoise tables are about 8-12 square feet.

32 square feet is the recommended minimum for anything bigger than a hatchling. (8' x 4')

The shop ones are pretty but don't give anything like enough space usually.

Many people use an old book case with the shelves knocked out and lined with a shower curtain or pond liner.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Thank you so much! That may seem like a common sense thing, but I've thought that about a few other things I've bought for the tortoise that turn out to be wrong. I just didn't want to buy the wrong thing. So if I were to mount the lamp directly on the side wall opposite the ramp, that would be okay? It won't hurt the tortoise if he gets too close?

Overhead would be ideal to shower the light down.

 

[Yvonne G]

You should be able to find the reflector at the same place you bought the light:

 

[Tortloverr]

32 square feet is the recommended minimum for anything bigger than a hatchling. (8' x 4')

The shop ones are pretty but don't give anything like enough space usually.

Many people use an old book case with the shelves knocked out and lined with a shower curtain or pond liner.

I'm not doubting that you may be right and I know the bigger the better, but could you show me where it states this information (for one tortoise)? If you have a source that is more accurate in care, I'm curious to know what else I may have read that could be misinforming me. I don't know that I've ever seen an 8' tall bookshelf though, most are at best 6'x3' which would be about the same as my enclosure as far as sqft go.

 

[Tortloverr]

@Yvonne G and @ZEROPILOT, do you have any suggestions on how to hang it in the enclosure I have? Or would I not need to if I had a reflector? I've been trying to find examples online of other people, but it seems most enclosures have the CFLs.

 

[JoesMum]

Most people build some sort of frame/scaffold to attach it too.

 

[JoesMum]

Sorry I can't edit my earlier post. Browse through the enclosures forum and you will get some ideas

 

[Tom]

Thank you so much! That may seem like a common sense thing, but I've thought that about a few other things I've bought for the tortoise that turn out to be wrong. I just didn't want to buy the wrong thing. So if I were to mount the lamp directly on the side wall opposite the ramp, that would be okay? It won't hurt the tortoise if he gets too close?

UV bulbs can hurt your tortoise if they are not mounted and used correctly. The effect is similar to sunburn in humans, and it can damage their eyes. That bulb needs to be mounted 10-12 inches above the tortoise and the light should come from overhead, not from the side.

Your enclosure is cute, and its clear that a lot of time was spent making it, but it needs some adjustments to make it safe. You need a wall of some sort at the top of the stairs to keep the tortoise from walking out of the side of the enclosure. Also, the low wall of the upper level should be taller too. I also think that once you add in the recommended 3-5 inches of substrate, the enclosure walls will be too low all around.

Its not what you want to hear, but it would be easier, and better for your tortoise if you started over from scratch and built an enclosure that was more suited to the needs of a tortoise. Something with taller walls and a larger foot print. The internet is full of misinformation, and pets stores seem to be the worse source of misinformation. Many of the products sold by pet stores are totally unsuitable for tortoises, and some are dangerous.

Please consider who you are talking to in terms of taking advice. We are not kids with an internet site that we made after getting a new tortoise and reading a book or other internet sites. We are not a pet store or website trying to sell you something. We are not pet store employees whose job it is to help customers, even though they might not be an "expert" with every species sold in the store. We are tortoise hobbyists. We don't want or need your money. We love tortoises and love to see them thriving with happy owners. Our motivation is to help you and your tortoise have a positive life experience. The only thing we get out of all this is the satisfaction of a job well done if we succeed in getting the right, hard-earned, experience based information across. And maybe a smile and a "thank you".

Asking "where does it say this…" is like asking someone to prove the sky is blue. What does it matter where it says that, or doesn't say that? Whatever is written was written by one person with an opinion. Here you are receiving the same sort of opinion from multiple people who have many years of first hand experience keeping tortoises. We are trying to share what we've learned in an effort to help you. Understand, I am not mad or upset in any way here. My tone is helpful and conversational. You are not being scolded here. We are just talking and I'm doing my best to explain my point of view. The internet is full of bad, contradictory and misleading info. Asking for help and then arguing that you read something else somewhere else, will not help you. If you believe the other source, stick with the other source. If you want our opinion, we are happy to share it. After many years of keeping many species of tortoises, in many different ways, in a variety of environments, you too will know all that we know. Our hope is that you won't have to learn it all the hard way, as some of us did.

 

[Tortloverr]

Most people build some sort of frame/scaffold to attach it too.

OH! That makes sense! I will definitely be looking into that and hopefully can make something bigger before he gets too big. I also plan to start building an outdoor enclosure soon and any suggestions you might have for that would be greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, I was EXTREMELY misinformed about many things during the process of building this enclosure. My reply wasn't meant to come off rude or snippy, it's just frustrating finding so many conflicting and just plain wrong sources. Hopefully I will be able to ask all the right questions before starting the outdoor enclosure.

Thanks for help!

 

[ZEROPILOT]

There are hundreds of keepers here from all over the world all together.
This will be the only source of information that you should need in my opinion.

 

[Yvonne G]

@Yvonne G and @ZEROPILOT, do you have any suggestions on how to hang it in the enclosure I have? Or would I not need to if I had a reflector? I've been trying to find examples online of other people, but it seems most enclosures have the CFLs.

The reflector comes with mounting screws and brackets.

 

[Markw84]

As @Tom stated, the UVB MUST be from above, so you will have to rig something to hang it over your basking location. Also, heat, more than light, triggers the basking response, so it is important to mount the heat source basking light close to the UVB. Your tortoise will bask under the basking light that provides heat, so that is where the UVB needs to be overhead as well. UVB should never come from the side