lighting and humidity need advice please

[jhongsen]

hello every one , i like to ask some advice to keep the humidity level in my tort home and several question about lightning

first , please take a look at this picture below



see the different? the second picture show that it is more dry than the first picture , what should i do about the substrate? or is it already the correct way?

i'm using 2 kind of bulb



the first bulb is for the heating (60 watt) and the second bulb is UVA (40 watt) , do i have to switch it on for 24 hour? i don't have a garden so i couldn't bring him out to wander in a garden (i'm planning to make a garden for him on friday )

 

[Minority1]

A few things I noticed:

1. UVB compact fluorescent coil bulbs, get rid of it. Switch with either a MVB or a liner style fluorescent light. (I'm assuming that's what it is because of the wattage info you've given. I haven't seen any MVB bulbs lower than 100watt*)

2. Basking light should not be blocked by your humid hide. It should be directly pointed straight down at a spot where your tortoise get has ample access room to bask.

3. Food/water dish lovers might not approve of your small sized dish.

 

[jhongsen]

A few things I noticed:

1. UVB compact fluorescent coil bulbs, get rid of it. Switch with either a MVB or a liner style fluorescent light. (I'm assuming that's what it is because of the wattage info you've given. I haven't seen any MVB bulbs lower than 100watt*)

2. Basking light should not be blocked by your humid hide. It should be directly pointed straight down at a spot where your tortoise get has ample access room to bask.

3. Food/water dish lovers might not approve of your small sized dish.

i'll try to search MVB , i couldn't find it yet. and i'm using a UVA is that different with UVB that you just mention?
the hide has to be on the corner? okay noted
for food and water dish.. i haven't found a good one so right now it just for temporary

 

[Minority1]

here's a link to an old post explaining UVA and UVB differences.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-15040.html

If the tortoise is strictly indoors, buy both or step up and buy a MVB bulb like the zoo med powersun to use in your modest enclosure.

 

[jhongsen]

wow i hardly grasp all the information on that link.. here what i get , correct me if i wrong
we don't need UVA because the tort will be place out side and the sun will provide it ,
we will need UVB indoor for 4-5 hours , and lamp heater is put on for during the day , and at night we turn off all the lamp?

 

[rideburton87]

If your tort lives outside in the day time you wont need to provide the UV bulbs. If your tort lives inside you will need to provide both uva and uvb for it. Your heat lamp shouldnt be on during the night but the temps in your tank shouldnt fall below the 80F degrees. I use a red heat lamp at night for my torts since my house temp is around 63. The reason for the red lamp is I read that it doesnt bother the reptiles as much when they sleep but if you left on a white light they wouldnt be able to get the best of sleep.

 

[Redari]

They should have light for 12 - 14 hours a day, so you can turn their lights off at night. If your temperatures at night are too cold, you will need something to keep it warm at night. Do you know what the nighttime temperature is? I would guess it is warm enough there naturally that you don't have to worry about it, at least not during the warm parts of the year.

Your humidity will be fine if you spay your substrate with warm water a few times a day. Just be sure to give your tortoise soaks in warm water for 15 minutes or so every day (or at least most days). You can cover the whole in your lid at night to keep the heat and humidity in. It's good to have it open during the day so the UV light can get in.

 

[jhongsen]

thx you the advice , sorry if I reply too long , right now I already could adjust the humidity to 90% , and I'm giving meter sunlight every day (if the weather is good) from 11 am - 5 pm

currently i'm using a heat bulb 60 watt and an UVA bulb for my enclosure , and i'm going to build a larger one in this month. I'm searching for a new bulb



is this bulb as good as MVB ?

 

[Yellow Turtle]

Hello fellow Indonesian. I see you have indian star, so maybe it's best to be careful when raising humidity to 90% for this species.

Regarding the last picture, that is an MVB bulb, so can be used to supply both heat, UVA and UVB for your tort. However, need to be careful since not so many good brands available in our country. Most brands tested don't really supply enough UVB for our torts, so you might still need to add vitamin D or simply sunbathe your torts outside. Hey, you live in Indonesia anyway, and we've got plenty of sun light here.

Cheers.

 

[jhongsen]

Hello fellow Indonesian. I see you have indian star, so maybe it's best to be careful when raising humidity to 90% for this species.

Regarding the last picture, that is an MVB bulb, so can be used to supply both heat, UVA and UVB for your tort. However, need to be careful since not so many good brands available in our country. Most brands tested don't really supply enough UVB for our torts, so you might still need to add vitamin D or simply sunbathe your torts outside. Hey, you live in Indonesia anyway, and we've got plenty of sun light here.

Cheers.

Hi Bro hehe , not in 90% so? hmmm alright i'll make it 85% at most, ah that's a MVB? hmmm so that how it's like , could you recommend where to find a good bulb near by? i couldn't find one that good enough, and because it raining season so i need that MVB, well you know what i mean

 

[Yellow Turtle]

Hi jhongsen. Actually all local available brands are manufactured in China and the only brand ever tested is Exoterra. As far as I remember, it seems not doing so well. So with typical mvb, you might need to change the bulb much faster. I have no idea about meixu brand though, it seems to be a new brand in our country.

I can't really recommend for humidity number, but for indian star, I think I'm more comfortable to set it between 40 - 70%. I believe there are good care sheets for indian star out there, just need to google it. If you just need a heater, then incandescent bulb is enough during daylight and ceramic heater for night time are good.

 

[jhongsen]

hmmmm incandescent bulb and ceramic heater , ah i think we got some miss communication , sure this meizu is kind a little weird and it's made from china but let put aside of it , i couldn't find a store that sells a heater bulb or a ceramic heater in Jakarta beside this store that sells meizu product only. may i know where do you get your Exoterra bulb?

 

[Yellow Turtle]

I remember Meizu also has ceramic heater, you'll be fine with their product as it only delivers heat.

Start looking at kaskus, and Jakarta has a lot of pet stores, you can easily find exoterra and other tools, not like my city.

 

[jhongsen]

I found some UVB from nearby pet shop.. but almost everyone are spiral. A spiral UVb means that it is a coil isn't it? I read some thread that coil could damage torto eyes.. does that mean i have to use a MVb to provide UVB ? every MVB I saw are bulb

and for ceramic heater... I already found one and do I hang the ceramic heater on top of meter CHE? or put it in the middle of the enclosure?

 

[Yellow Turtle]

Please check below link, you can see the CHE is directed to heat the hiding place. As for the MVB, it is on the right side of the enclosure. You need to create the micro climate and it is easily done if you have enough space for your enclosure.

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-661.html

 

[jhongsen]

I already bought some UVB and Ceramic heater , but still confuse how to put it right.. here some pic





for your memo.. this enclosure is for temporary , the new one will be finish around 2 weeks later