I have a few questions regarding lighting required and I'm finding it really difficult to find some information that makes sense to me on this topic.
For context, I'm currently looking into getting a russian tortoise (haven't bought anything yet). I live in the UK and would be housing indoors, and letting the tort make use of an outdoor enclosure during the warmer months during the day.
As far as I understand, I need uva + uvb, and a heat source lamp for the basking area (please correct if i'm wrong). I'm having a hard time choosing what would be best since there are so many styles and types of bulbs and they don't all do the same thing. ideally, i'd have one bulb that does all 3 of these things. would that come with any drawbacks? ive seen set ups with the long bar light as well as a basking lamp, would that be better? does the long light need to run the whole length of the enclosure? how far away does the uv light need to be? im assuming the basking lamp height is dependant on the temperature of the flat rock i plan to put underneath (will be getting a heat gun to check this) so i can move it further away if its too hot there. does watts matter? or what does it mean? does the longer style light need to be above because ive read that on the side can hurt their eyes?
i would really really really appreciate someone explaining this to me as if im 5 years old because its the only thing im struggling with right now. im very anxious to get things set up perfectly as i care very much about pet care. this is my first time getting a reptile so please be kind, im doing my best to learn. and of course any links or reccs would be amazing!
For context, I'm currently looking into getting a russian tortoise (haven't bought anything yet). I live in the UK and would be housing indoors, and letting the tort make use of an outdoor enclosure during the warmer months during the day.
As far as I understand, I need uva + uvb, and a heat source lamp for the basking area (please correct if i'm wrong). I'm having a hard time choosing what would be best since there are so many styles and types of bulbs and they don't all do the same thing. ideally, i'd have one bulb that does all 3 of these things. would that come with any drawbacks? ive seen set ups with the long bar light as well as a basking lamp, would that be better? does the long light need to run the whole length of the enclosure? how far away does the uv light need to be? im assuming the basking lamp height is dependant on the temperature of the flat rock i plan to put underneath (will be getting a heat gun to check this) so i can move it further away if its too hot there. does watts matter? or what does it mean? does the longer style light need to be above because ive read that on the side can hurt their eyes?
i would really really really appreciate someone explaining this to me as if im 5 years old because its the only thing im struggling with right now. im very anxious to get things set up perfectly as i care very much about pet care. this is my first time getting a reptile so please be kind, im doing my best to learn. and of course any links or reccs would be amazing!