I get what you are saying. You want the bulb higher but still within the enclosure. I'd just be careful that it doesn't get to hot it starts to melt the shoe box. Dont know what kind of bulb fitting that is.
Hatchling enclosure advice
- Thread starter voodoochild
- Start date
Where the wire comes out of the top of you bulb holder. Can you touch it without getting burnt
Right. The only part that contacts the plastic is the base of the cord.
Can you use a shade,cut out some holed and sit it on wood like I have done. The disadvantage this way is you have wasted heat rising. But its safe. And in my case it warms my entire tort room up. Here I have 2 CHE and 1 spot bulb. CHE's are on stats and all 3 are on timers. You don't want it to bright for redfoots.
So you think I should cut out a section of the tub's lid, attach a piece of plywood then cut a hole for the lamp? I could do that. Is it that you think it will heat the entire cage too much and it's better to have the lamp outside of the enclosure? Do you think this will help me achieve a greater temp gradient? Because right now the lamp heats the entire enclosure fairly evenly.
I'm more worried about you burning your house down lol. You need a temp gradient though. I'll go take a photo of my juvenile set up and show you what I have.
Right on computer now and not the crap phone.
This is what I have for my juveniles. You can achieve the same with your tub. I have the probe at the cool end. So I am controlling the cooler end at 81f
and my hot end is 90f. I use a CHE so the only light is from uv at the heated end. Also note my CHE is high up to give a softer ambient temperature. humidity is 90/100%.Look at my redfoot album to see close ups of my juveniles setup. Substrate is coco warm and moste. This is a 150watt CHE in 2x4x4ft viv. I'm in the progress of upgrading all my torts to bigger environments. Ignore the junk on top of viv. lol
This is what I have for my juveniles. You can achieve the same with your tub. I have the probe at the cool end. So I am controlling the cooler end at 81f
and my hot end is 90f. I use a CHE so the only light is from uv at the heated end. Also note my CHE is high up to give a softer ambient temperature. humidity is 90/100%.Look at my redfoot album to see close ups of my juveniles setup. Substrate is coco warm and moste. This is a 150watt CHE in 2x4x4ft viv. I'm in the progress of upgrading all my torts to bigger environments. Ignore the junk on top of viv. lol
CHE is ceramic heating element? What's your lid made of and how is lamp attached?
The whole thing is made of laminated wood. And the fitting is just screwed on. che. Ceramic heat emitter. A bulb without light. You must have the ceramic socket for them. If you screw them into an everyday socket it can melt the sockets. If your handy with wood you could make a good vivarium. Or just a lid for your tub.
I thought the CHE screwed into a normal lamp. So I need a special lamp? Good thing you told me that. Do you think my current setup with the floodlight zip tied to the lid is a fire hazard? I'm not real good with wood but I could probably manage ok, hopefully.
It's not really something special. But standard bulb holders are plastic. You need a ceramic bulb holder for the extra heat off of a che. For your uvb strip light, you can buy small brackets for pennies on eBay. Also with che on stat you don't have a light switching on an off all day. And the che will last years.
The lamp I have is made from ceramic, it's not plastic. So that should work. I'm going to try working with some wood this wknd. I'll post pics of what I accomplish. I appreciate your help.
I'll look for it later. But Tom started a thread on an experiment he's doing with heat. The enclosure he built looked very good.
In fact I'll chip him in. @Tom
Here is the thread: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/2015-growth-experiment.119874/
It is just an experiment at this point. I can't say whether its good or bad, and I certainly can't say that it is a good or bad way to keep a RF or YF.
It is just an experiment at this point. I can't say whether its good or bad, and I certainly can't say that it is a good or bad way to keep a RF or YF.
Tom just linked in that thread. Something like that with che and uvb strip towards one end would be ideal. You'll get a temperature and light gradient over the enclosure length.
For the sake of simplicity if I use a baking pan instead of a plastic shoe box that should solve the fire hazard issue. I switched out the bulb and put in a 100w CHE and ran that for a few hours this morning. Got the temp up to 95 and the plastic lid that the CHE is zip tied to did not get hot. But using a deep baking pan would eliminate the chance of melting the lid. I should be able to get this done tonight. I'll post pics. Thanks!
Something like a bread pan would work for the added depth.
Sound mate. Are you checking your temp and humidity at tort level. In my viv at the top its about 100f. But at tort level its at 80/90f.
Here is a view of the top, the inside of the lid and a pic of it sitting on the stand. The thermostat sensor is at tort level and I just got my min/max thermometer and hydrometer in the mail today. By the looks of it humidity isn't a problem.
