I bought a 60 watt ceramic heat bulb

TaylorTortoise

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Mar 24, 2020
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Abington
You simply do not have enough light in the enclosure for your tortoise to act normally. I believer you are confused.

If you look at @Tom s post above (post #9) he lists the four elements of proper heat and light. Your enclosures is set up with only 2 of them - heat and UVB. And the UVB from a compact fluorescent is inadequate UVB as well.

Proper heat and lighting is vital to the health and well being of a tortoise, and you will see a big difference in activity levels with the proper lighting.

IF we look at the 4 needed parts as outlined in Tom's post as it applies to you...
BASKING - you do not have any basking bulb. A CHE is not a good basking source. you want a light that also gives off heat. Tortoises are stimulated to bask by both bright light and heat. They need this to adjust their body temperature and also for metabolic functioning as the skin and body temperature are very important to health. The temperature they need for metabolism is warmer than the temperature of the enclosure. So Basking allows them to heat up their body temperature above the enclosure temperature, and move away from the basking when they are too warm. An Incandescent flood bulb is best for this as it is not too intense, yet provides ample heat along with the stimulating light.
AMBIENT HEAT - You have the CHE - which is a great way to provide and maintain a minimum overall temperature in the enclosure. It should be on a thermostat and set to come on automatically when the cooler part of the enclosure reaches the minimum temperature you want for your tortoise.
LIGHT - You are totally missing this. It is vital for the health of your tortoise and controls activity, daily routines and yearly cycles - like when its time to hibernate (brumate). It needs to be bright and daylight simulating. There are plenty of good types of LED lighting that is now available. You want the "daylight" types that are listed as 5000k - 6000K. That is very important as the Basking light is your other lighting source and it only gives off light in the 2500K color range - which is like dawn or dusk lighting. So your tortoise never sees that it is "daytime" without this type light.
UVB - You have a very inefficent type of UVB light currently. None of the compact fluorescents give off adequate UVB for a tortoise enclosure. This is quite important for you in the UK (I assume yout avatar "Abington" is in the UK not the one in PA? with room temps of 68°!) Your tortoise needs good UVB and many times of the year that is not even possible outdoors there. As mentioned, the Arcadia long tube type bulbs is perhaps the best source. I recomment the HO T5 tubes and fixtures. Arcadia makes a great fixture they call the Pro T5. I feel it is the best currently offered anywhere for tortoises. With a 12% bulb it is mounted about 20" above tortoise level and gives a nice broad UV zone. The 10% bulb would be mounted about 14" above. UV is vital for a tortoise. Not only the UVB for D3 synthesis, but the UVA for proper visual stimulation and daily and annual rhythms. The UV only needs to be on during midday for 4-6 hours.

Make these changes and you will be amazed at how much more active and alert you tortoise becomes.
What is a good basking bulb that I can get for brightness/ and for heat that wont be too bright and disturbing to my own eyes in my room?
 

Cleopatra 2020

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Feb 1, 2020
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609
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El Mirage. Az
this is the size dome fixtures I have will these be safe for that flood light? Will this flood light give off heat?
Yes they give off heat but if you wire it to a dimmer switch you can control how much without having to lift the light up and down mines about 12in above her and I used to dimmer with a temperature gun with a laser. To get accurate digital reading
 
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