Important info for newbies

[MORTYtheTORTY]

your talking about the Ceramic heater? I have one for night time..I have one stand and one dome, I switch out the light to the ballasted mercury bulb in the morning and at night I switch the ceramic light. What I thought about was since the temps weren't up to par I was thinking about putting the tortoise seed mix/grass/plants on the cooler end with a flourescent bulb to grow the plants so it stays warm on both ends and maybe the temps wouldn't escape?! IDK I already bought the gallon aquarium so we'll see how that works and I will take pics next week...if not I will figure out what to do with the bin, I have ideas but haven't made moves but my best bet was the grass/plants on the other end, what do you think?

Switching out the bulbs can get to be a bit taxing and I've heard if u touch the bulbs with ur fingers it shortens their lifespan.

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Also which type of Bulb are u using? I hope it's not the coil type because the make the torts go blind over time. Most people recommend using the long florescent tubes that are mounted inside the hood fixtures not inside the dome clamp lamps

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I heard about the switching the bulbs too much so I will look into getting another dome. I didn't think they made mercury vapor bulbs into coil?? I don't use the coil I've heard the coil and the flourescent is no good?! I heard the best for your tort is the self ballasted mercury bulb from zoomed with the uv's/heat all in one, look it up...that's what I use it's got the basking/heat/and both UV's <--I thought that this was the best?

 

[ascott]

Lol....damn lid... you can also go to home depot and have then cut a piece of plexiglass glass to fit the top of your bin.....if you recall where you purchased the bin you can still go buy the lid that fits your bin....maybe even if you have your receipt you can go to the store and explain to them you air headed and forgot the lid??? You may have to pay or if you get a good manager you will be able to leave with the lid...

And remember to make sure you use deep enough substrate into the tank...the deeper substrate will aid in humidity retention....since you had a sickly tort in your other substrate you will have to spend money yet again for the new substrate for the new tank...also I would suggest against using any of the hides ir dishes from the sickly tortoise in with the new enclosure.....RI are highly contagious....your smaller tank will work for awhile....just make sure to cover the new enclosure top at least half to 3/4 of it....this will help to retain heat and humidity..

I know those light stands are expensive...an alternative; if your enclosure is near a wall...you can go to home depot or LOWES and go to their hanging plant arms or bookshelf wall frames...you can get then for less than 2.00 dollars and they mount to the wall with the long arm which you can position over your enclosure and hang your lights from....or if your enclosure is set up with space at each end on the outside you can stack a couple of decorative bricks that go a little higher than the enclosure top and you can have a 2x4 cut to place across the top resting flat on the bricks and you can mount your light from there...this may cost like five bucks...lol....but everyone likes different things....

Also..did not know you were including the cost of the tortoise in the 400.00

 

[DanaLachney]

I heard about the switching the bulbs too much so I will look into getting another dome. I didn't think they made mercury vapor bulbs into coil?? I don't use the coil I've heard the coil and the flourescent is no good?! I heard the best for your tort is the self ballasted mercury bulb from zoomed with the uv's/heat all in one, look it up...that's what I use it's got the basking/heat/and both UV's <--I thought that this was the best?

Like this one? If so it's a type of halogen bulb idk much about using them with torts. I would ask around and make sure it's not "too much" for your hatchlings

View attachment 18008

 

[MORTYtheTORTY]

Lol....damn lid... you can also go to home depot and have then cut a piece of plexiglass glass to fit the top of your bin.....if you recall where you purchased the bin you can still go buy the lid that fits your bin....maybe even if you have your receipt you can go to the store and explain to them you air headed and forgot the lid??? You may have to pay or if you get a good manager you will be able to leave with the lid...

And remember to make sure you use deep enough substrate into the tank...the deeper substrate will aid in humidity retention....since you had a sickly tort in your other substrate you will have to spend money yet again for the new substrate for the new tank...also I would suggest against using any of the hides ir dishes from the sickly tortoise in with the new enclosure.....RI are highly contagious....your smaller tank will work for awhile....just make sure to cover the new enclosure top at least half to 3/4 of it....this will help to retain heat and humidity..

I know those light stands are expensive...an alternative; if your enclosure is near a wall...you can go to home depot or LOWES and go to their hanging plant arms or bookshelf wall frames...you can get then for less than 2.00 dollars and they mount to the wall with the long arm which you can position over your enclosure and hang your lights from....or if your enclosure is set up with space at each end on the outside you can stack a couple of decorative bricks that go a little higher than the enclosure top and you can have a 2x4 cut to place across the top resting flat on the bricks and you can mount your light from there...this may cost like five bucks...lol....but everyone likes different things....

Also..did not know you were including the cost of the tortoise in the 400.00

Thanks! That's all good info, right on! I will look into the plexiglass..is that better to use than to repurchase the bin lid? I don't think I have the receipt and without a receipt there's not much you can do =/ my substrate was 3 inches deep but I am going to dump it in the backyard because I def would not reuse it since the sick tort was living in it for 5 days. I already washed the basking rock/hide and sanitized the water and food bowls so no need to worry about that =) I have coir bricks in bulk so I have 3 more big bricks left...one brick would def fill the 25 gallon roughly 3 in or higher...I used 2 bricks for the big bin and some sand and it filled 3 in or more. Thank you for the info about lowes/homedepot that is a great idea since the enclosure is in my dining area against the wall and window on a desk..will update with pics when I'm done. So you still think I need to cover the top of the aquarium? It seems like they'd cook in it?! I will see what the temp is like before they arrive but if I have to cover it then what do you suggest? It comes with a top cover for a built in flourescent tube but I don't need that top. I def wouldn't use aluminum foil for the aquarium because that's a disaster LOL or so it seems...worked with a bin but I wouldn't dare try with an aquarium. It looks small enough to where air wouldn't escape maybe?!

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I heard about the switching the bulbs too much so I will look into getting another dome. I didn't think they made mercury vapor bulbs into coil?? I don't use the coil I've heard the coil and the flourescent is no good?! I heard the best for your tort is the self ballasted mercury bulb from zoomed with the uv's/heat all in one, look it up...that's what I use it's got the basking/heat/and both UV's <--I thought that this was the best?

Like this one? If so it's a type of halogen bulb idk much about using them with torts. I would ask around and make sure it's not "too much" for your hatchlings

View attachment 18008

That's the bulb! That's the one I have and I spoke to numerous breeders and folks online and also listed on google and that's supposedly the best bulb to use! Noone has told me otherwise so if anyone can give me pros and cons about it then I might reconsider but for the most part I've heard that's basically the best of the best. =D