No they don't. They are one of the hardest to keep from pyramiding but they should be smooth.
Hermann's pyramiding?
- Thread starter Zbutcher
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65 at night is great for hermanni. As long as they are getting warmed up each day.
If the tap is safe for you, then it is safe for your tortoise too. They need the mineral in their drinking/soaking water, so RODI water would not be good for this purpose. The RO water would be could for spraying the carapace after a soak and periodically each day, as it will not leave hard water stains behind.
Awesome. I feel really stupid now for using RO water for like 1.5 years. Literally because someone said tap water can cause pyramiding and the chlorine will zap calcium from their bodies or something. I am so glad I posted here. There is so much misinfo on the internet.
To be clear tap water is fine without dechlorination. I drink it no problem.
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You mentioned the sunlight from a window facing the enclosure- I'm sure you know that UV rays don't go through glass, which means that will just provide light only.
Your little ones are lovely - what are their names? We have a Hermann's, who is nearly 23. and we think he is wonderful, but he has lost a lot of his shell patterning over time.
Angie (uk))
Your little ones are lovely - what are their names? We have a Hermann's, who is nearly 23. and we think he is wonderful, but he has lost a lot of his shell patterning over time.
Angie (uk))
Even on older windows? My window is unfortunately from the 50s lol.
Their names are mochi and Darrell. Named by my girlfriend lol.
Thanks Angie!
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I think you can get special glass which will allow UVB through, but generally I don't think normal window glass does this - you might be able to get something which would work, if you felt it would be useful.
Angie
Its no bother. I use my water straight out of the tap. I drink it myself that way, and have used it for all of my animals, including birds, reptiles, insects and mammals, for decades. I don't mind the low levels of chlorine and chloramines and speculate that they might have some mild disinfection properties in founded water dishes before I get to cleaning them daily.
That's super smart. Perfect.
I just bought a the Arcadia pro T5 kit. Super nice ballast. I just got to figure out how to hang it. I bought 45 watt incandescent bulb from Lowe's for like 8 bucks. I do have a small CHE but I may not need it so I will monitor the ambient temp with my digital humidity/temp reader.
I have used drinlable tap water for soaking and found no issues as easy to get correct temp with s temperature gun. My tortoise drinks during the soak and is well hydrated. If you have hardware dry off the water or spritz with your Ro water to avoid a skirt if white limescale!!
Hey Tom,
So I added the t5 light in the middle (adjusted the height of the light to be in line with the UVI). The lamp shade closest to the camera is the flood light and the one at the far end is another UV light specifically the exo Terra® Repti Glo Tropical Terrarium Lamp - UVB 100.
is there anything else you would change? Do you think I should replace that small UV bulb with a CHE?
Your picture isn't showing for me. You only need one UV tube. I don't know what type of bulb the UVB 100 is. Is that a cfl type florescent? If yes, I'd get rid of it. If you need more heat then a CHE can work. If you need more light, then a LED would be better.
You need to hang the fixtures from over head. Those clamps always fail. I see the wood and zip ties, but that isn't going to hold. It could start a fire.
The ramped water bowl in the back corner is a tortoise death trap, literally. Get rid of that ASAP. Those are good for lizards and snakes, but not tortoises.
I'd put a flat rock under the basking bulb, and I'd run a LED in the other.
Yeah I need to figure out how to hang them now that the main bar across is lowered. The wood is zip tied to two steel arms.
The ramp bowl has no water. Would never put water in it ahhas. Just use it for the to climb around which they do often. It judt has some substrate in it.
Yep I got a flat rock under it. But I def need a stronger flood light for basking temp. So I gotta see what I can find. I tried the 45watt
45 watt bulb might work in a closed chamber, but you probably need at least 100 in an open topped enclosure. Maybe 150.
The ramped bowls are a flipping hazard. Your tortoise can't drown in it with no water, but it can still flip.
