Heat bulb

[Karenxx67]

Hi again.
When my daugtyer bought Flash from the reptile shop she was sold a heat bulb that has a blue coating on the bottom of it. Is this ok for tortoises?
When i went to her house yesterday you couldnt even tell the lamp was on. It was hot to the touch but no bright glow coming from it.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

What type of tortoise?
Do you have another source of UVB?
In some situations, a heat bulb can work with another lamp for UVB.
The location of the lamp and how it's angled and mounted and distance away from the animal are also all important.
Can you provide us with some photos?
They will help us tell you what needs to be done.

 

[Karenxx67]

Yep he has a uvb strip. He is a greek spur thighed.
I do know a little about the lights as i have a bearded dragon but am new to tortoises.
I know dragons cant have coloured lights but wasnt sure about tortoises.

 

[Karenxx67]

I just wasnt sure if a clear bulb was best to mimic the sun.

 

[Karenxx67]

This is home for now.

 

[Karenxx67]

This is the bulb

 

[Tom]

You are correct about the blue bulb. Just like your bearded dragons, your tortoise needs white light during the day. As long as the overnight low in your house is above 16-17, you should not need night heat either.

Your strip bulb is good, but depending on what type it is, it might be mounted too high to be effective as a UV source.

Also, the beech chips are not a good substrate as you can't keep them damp. I typed this up for horsfield tortoises, but care is essentially the same for both species: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/

This might help too: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

 

[Karenxx67]

Thank you. We are looking to change the wood chips to some kind of soil. How do you think this will be?

 

[Tom]

Thank you. We are looking to change the wood chips to some kind of soil. How do you think this will be?

I don't like soil unless you made it yourself and know what composted materiel is in it. I haven't seen the brand in you are asking about before, but it looks similar to the Pets At Home type that is commonly sold over there that has the limestone bits in it. I think it is a terrible idea to encourage a tortoise to eat the substrate to satisfy its calcium cravings. And any substrate with sand in it is a huge impaction risk and a possible skin and eye irritant.

For small Testudo, under 3-4 inches, I prefer to use dampened coco coir. For larger Testudo I like to use fine grade orchid bark. Both can be found much cheaper in bulk at a garden center or nursery over here in the States.

 

[Karenxx67]

Thank you for the advice.

 

[Karenxx67]

My uvb bulb is a repti glo 10.0 25w. How far away from the tortoise should it be to be effective?