Lighting and heating

Newtortoisemama@24

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Hey tortoise family!! I need help with getting the right lighting and heating tools for one baby sulcata in one habitat and one baby leopard in another habitat. Thanks in advance.
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
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Hey tortoise family!! I need help with getting the right lighting and heating tools for one baby sulcata in one habitat and one baby leopard in another habitat. Thanks in advance.
Hello and welcome! Here you go, and more info in the links at the bottom of this post.
Here is a breakdown of the four heating and lighting essentials:
  1. Basking bulb. I use 65 watt incandescent floods from the hardware store. Some people will need bigger, or smaller wattage bulbs. Let your thermometer be your guide. I run them on a timer for about 12 hours and adjust the height to get the correct basking temp under them. I also like to use a flat rock of some sort directly under the bulb. You need to check the temp with a thermometer directly under the bulb and get it to around 95-100F (36-37C).
  2. Ambient heat maintenance. I use ceramic heating elements or radiant heat panels set on thermostats to maintain ambient above 80 degrees day and night for tropical species. In most cases you'd only need day heat for a temperate species like Testudo or DT, as long as your house stays above 60F (15-16C) at night. Some people in colder climates or with larger enclosures will need multiple CHEs or RHPs to spread out enough heat.
  3. Ambient light. I use LEDs for this purpose. Something in the 5000-6500K color range will look the best. Most bulbs at the store are in the 2500K range and they look yellowish. Strip or screw-in LED bulb types are both fine.
  4. UV. If you can get your tortoise outside for an hour 2 or 3 times a week, you won't need indoor UV. In colder climates, get one of the newer HO type fluorescent tubes. Which type will depend on mounting height. 5.0 bulbs make almost no UV. I like the 12% HO bulbs from Arcadia. You need a meter to check this: https://www.solarmeter.com/model65.html A good UV bulb only needs to run for 2-3 hours mid day. You need the basking bulb and the ambient lighting to be on at least 12 hours a day.

 

Littleredfootbigredheart

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As well as Toms great threads, hopefully you’ll like these ones! Im more of a visual learner so I’ve tried to use lots of photo references if you like that kind of thing😊
They both have very similar care needs as babies, but obviously need their own separate set ups as you plan👍

This thread covers correct equipment(lighting, heating, uv), levels, importance of a closed chamber for younger torts, appropriately maintaining humidity, substrates, there’s lots of visual examples for everything and a really handy diet link to check out! If going with a greenhouse set up, the lower the ceiling height whilst still allowing for recommended bulb distance, the better!

This one includes some other closed chamber options, just bare in mind the size scale for a growing sulcata

Lastly, probably the most important, this one is really good to familiarise yourself with, it’ll help you avoid the wrong bulbs, substrates, housing etc, I always encourage double checking purchases on the forum too before buying

Hope they help! Welcome to the forum🐢💚
 

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