Question about temps...??

[Bogie=babyDINO]

So I live in Southern California and it's been so HOT!! I keep a close eye on my torties temps. Hot side 90s, cool side low 80s, humidity 80%-99% in a closed chamber. But with California being so hot and I don't have air conditioning in my room, during the hottest time of the day when my room heats up I have to turn all my lamps off. His cool side heats up into the 90s even with all the lamps off. This is too hot for his cool side I know but even if it's only to get through the hottest time of the day? After that it drops back down to the 80s. I take him out frequently and give him soaks when it's hot but if I'm ever caught at school and I'm not able to give him a cool down soak, if he gets too hot will he just soak himself in his saucer? I've seen my room get 95 before which means it's 95 in his tank. Is this unsafe for him? Any ideas for keeping the temps down on his cool side?

Here is Bogart. I promise you his temps were good in this picture he just loves to sleep like that.

 

[Speedy-1]

Is there air conditioning that you could set at maybe 75 or 80 to cool down the room temps ? Speedy will sit in his water dish to cool down if he is too warm outside .

 

[Tom]

Those temps are great! You don't need to change anything.

Sulcatas come from one of the warmest places on earth. Every day over there is near 100 and there ain't no AC. Adult and juvies hang out under ground to stay cool, but babies just tuck into any crevice, tussock or root ball they can dig into above ground. I wouldn't want ambient to get over 100, but I let mine creep into the mid nineties daily.

 

[Bogie=babyDINO]

Those temps are great! You don't need to change anything.

Sulcatas come from one of the warmest places on earth. Every day over there is near 100 and there ain't no AC. Adult and juvies hang out under ground to stay cool, but babies just tuck into any crevice, tussock or root ball they can dig into above ground. I wouldn't want ambient to get over 100, but I let mine creep into the mid nineties daily.

Oh good! Thank you Tom! I know you live in SoCal too so I was hoping you'd write. I had my mom watch Bogart over the weekend and she called me in a panic cause the temps were in the 90s and the humidity was 90%. She said I'm cooking my poor tortoise and got me to doubt my set up. She said it doesn't look comfortable for him cause he is just sleeping all the time. In the mornings and the evenings when his cool side gets back down to the 80s is when he starts marching around. Makes perfect sense to me, that's what they do in Africa! Who wants to walk around during the hottest time of the day. I just wanted to double check. Appreciate it!!

 

[sullygirl85]

Those temps are great! You don't need to change anything.

Sulcatas come from one of the warmest places on earth. Every day over there is near 100 and there ain't no AC. Adult and juvies hang out under ground to stay cool, but babies just tuck into any crevice, tussock or root ball they can dig into above ground. I wouldn't want ambient to get over 100, but I let mine creep into the mid nineties daily.

I had a question about the basking lamps. Is there a reason the flood lamps are better than per day the 100 watt zoo med basking lamps? I'm very curious about this. I have both but you guys said that the flood lamps work so I use this. My cooler side needs a temp regulator. I ordered a Che but it was suppose to be here days ago so I'm just going to run out and purchase one today but I was really curious about the zoo led basking lamps

 

[Tom]

I had a question about the basking lamps. Is there a reason the flood lamps are better than per day the 100 watt zoo med basking lamps? I'm very curious about this. I have both but you guys said that the flood lamps work so I use this. My cooler side needs a temp regulator. I ordered a Che but it was suppose to be here days ago so I'm just going to run out and purchase one today but I was really curious about the zoo led basking lamps

The brand of light bulb doesn't matter. What matters is the type of bulb. Spot bulbs concentrate too much heat in one spot. Flood bulbs spread the heat out over a greater area and, all things being equal, contribute to less carapace desiccation.

The wattage also matters. Different enclosures and application need different wattages. For example: A large open table housing a russian might need a big 160 watt flood, while a closer chamber with a baby sulcata might only need a 35 watt flood.

I don't buy ZooMed heat bulbs because the hardware store ones are cheaper and work fine. The ZooMed Powersun is a whole different thing, but all of those are too hot for my enclosures.

 

[sullygirl85]

The brand of light bulb doesn't matter. What matters is the type of bulb. Spot bulbs concentrate too much heat in one spot. Flood bulbs spread the heat out over a greater area and, all things being equal, contribute to less carapace desiccation.

The wattage also matters. Different enclosures and application need different wattages. For example: A large open table housing a russian might need a big 160 watt flood, while a closer chamber with a baby sulcata might only need a 35 watt flood.

I don't buy ZooMed heat bulbs because the hardware store ones are cheaper and work fine. The ZooMed Powersun is a whole different thing, but all of those are too hot for my enclosures.

I have a 55 gallon tank, I took a picture of the set up. I ended up using aluminum foil to make it a closed enclosure as you suggested. It is working much nicer with the humidity and temperature level. I have a CHE coming in the mail tomorrow, I ordered off of Ebay for like 5 something. Which wasn't bad at all. I have everything set up for that temperature control, I am just waiting on that bulb. I have the timers set up as well as you guys all suggested. I ordered the testudo mix and also I ordered from sulcata food and I started to grow the mix of food from them this morning as soon as it came. I am just growing it with the Eco dirt. I do not have a green thumb by any means, so hopefully it works out! haha! I really appreciate all the help that I can get. I really do want to give my little one everything that she needs and not worry about the pyramiding or anything like that. It is really a fear of mine. I also wet her substrate daily but when the humidity level drops down I run the reptifogger so that way he doesn't get below 78% humidity in her tank. At night however it is all the way in the 90s as far as humidity goes.

 

[Bogie=babyDINO]

I have a 55 gallon tank, I took a picture of the set up. I ended up using aluminum foil to make it a closed enclosure as you suggested. It is working much nicer with the humidity and temperature level. I have a CHE coming in the mail tomorrow, I ordered off of Ebay for like 5 something. Which wasn't bad at all. I have everything set up for that temperature control, I am just waiting on that bulb. I have the timers set up as well as you guys all suggested. I ordered the testudo mix and also I ordered from sulcata food and I started to grow the mix of food from them this morning as soon as it came. I am just growing it with the Eco dirt. I do not have a green thumb by any means, so hopefully it works out! haha! I really appreciate all the help that I can get. I really do want to give my little one everything that she needs and not worry about the pyramiding or anything like that. It is really a fear of mine. I also wet her substrate daily but when the humidity level drops down I run the reptifogger so that way he doesn't get below 78% humidity in her tank. At night however it is all the way in the 90s as far as humidity goes.

So I started out with the aluminum foil too after Tom told me I needed a closed chamber. It's worked alright for me but my light fixture kept shifting and I was still battling with humidity. I went to Home Depot and bought some sheets of plexiglass and turned that into my tank cover. I went ahead and put my light fixtures hanging inside the tank. Works great and very inexpensive! Just another idea.