New Tort Owner-Heating question?

[bellyboo]

First off, let me say I'm so glad I found this forum as reading through all of the posts has taught me so much!

My husband and I have had aquatic turtles, but never a tortoise. We just purchased a little baby Hermann's and he will be arriving next Tuesday. Eventually he will get a pimped out homemade wooden table, but for now, while he is small, we are using the beginning tote setup that you have stickied. I have everything purchased and ready for when he gets here, but I'm a bit confused on the heating. I have a basking light like the one pictured and I have a long UVB light (ReptiSun 5.0) Do I also need some sort of heating that doesn't come from a light? I noticed in our local store that they had heating for below glass tanks and they had heat rocks. Am I correct in assuming that a heat rock is a bad idea (too hot?) Will the two lights be enough?

Thanks in advance for any help! I really appreciate it! I want to make sure everything is perfect for the arrival of our first little Hermy and I worry about him freezing since it's chilly where we live. Thanks again!

-Isabel

 

[jeffbens0n]

Welcome! I would stay away from the heat rock. The two lights will likely be enough, assuming your ambient air temperature is warm enough. If not, you might consider adding a CHE(ceramic heat emitter) to increase the temperature in your enclosure.

 

[bellyboo]

Thank you so much! I will have everything set up by tonight, so I'll have the entire weekend to monitor the temps before the little guy gets here. If it seems low I'll add a CHE. Thanks again!

 

[GBtortoises]

Unless the room that your Hermann's tortoise is going to be in drops below 60 degree at night you don't need a night time heat source.
As long as the basking light produces a temperature directly under it of about 90-100 degrees during the daytime and the temperature at the cooler end of the enclosure gets up to at least 72 degrees that is sufficient. The basking light will warm up that end of the enclosure enough to provide a temperature gradient.
The flourescent UVB provides very little noticeable heat but is very important for UVB and daytime light intensity.

 

[bellyboo]

Thank you very much for your response! I've been reading like crazy and that was the impression I had as well, that I didn't need anything else, but the gal in the store this morning (garden store...only place in my town that sells ZooMed) seemed to think I might need more. I keep our house at about 70, and I will monitor his habitat for the next 3 days to be sure it's all good. Thanks again!