Raising Main Temperature in Enclosure. How?

[Akuma]

The average temperature in my box without any lamps on is around 20 °C/68 °F

My Pancake totoise probably needs an average of 35 °C/95° F and the way I've solved that is by using 2 Solar Glo 75W Basking lamps to raise the temperature to that, but it only covers a third of my enclosure.

What should I use so I can set the entire enclsure to around +35 °C?
I tried porsline lamps but they only cover a small area equal to that of the Solar Glo lamps and they are quite expensive as well for such a little effect.

Should I get more Solar Glo lamps and put them in different spots to completely cover the enclosure?

His cave however is always at a pleasant +22 °C for napping and sleeping.

EDIT: I noticed that Exo-Terras Heat Glo lamps are quite hot (and cheap!) and work rather well for raising air temperature. Problem is that they emit a red light rather than normal light which I don't know is good for a tortoise :/

 

[Yvonne G]

When my house is so cold that the temp of the air in the house is cooling down the inside of the tortoise habitat, what I do is cover the habitat. You can either cut out a piece of plywood to fit around the lights and etc. or you can jury rig a couple pieces of aluminum foil together and cover the whole ball of wax with foil.

Yvonne

 

[Akuma]

I guess your idea is as good as any. Problem is that I realize that this problem would have to be a temporary solution for the winter since that is when it's the coldest in here, but during the summer temperatures easily reach 80-90 °F because of terrible (or complete lack of) ventilation in my apartement.

Following your advice though, partially covering the enclosure is a possibility I might seriously concider. My enclosure however is quite large so it will require a lot of materials and planning. I think this will become my next project. Mean while I'm getting a couple of Heat Glo lamps so even out the temperature in the enclosure.

I appreciate the help. Thanks a million.

 

[Weloveourtortoise]

We have the ceramic heater that fits into a light fixture so that the whole tank in not under light.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

It's kinda hard to give you correct advice without seeing the enclosure that you are talking about. Can you post a picture? I use a radiator heater for Bob's shed. It's an oil filled heater and it is very easy on the electricity possibly you could use this?

 

[Akuma]

It's kinda hard to give you correct advice without seeing the enclosure that you are talking about. Can you post a picture?

Certainly!
The Enclosure is basically an open wooden plywood box.

The box is basically a 6 x 3 x 0.5 foot construction.

The lamp setup is currently two Exo-Terra Reptile Glo flourescent UV-B lamps 5.0 and for basking lamps I am currently using Exo-Terra Solar Glo 75W.

The substrate is around two-thirds sand and one third soil.

I'm housing a Pancake fully grown male

I'm afraid that they aren't any thermal heaters the size of what I need in the box. I'm also asking how evenly that kind of machinery distributes heat throughout the box. Do they work any good?

 

[tortoisenerd]

What an adorable tort!

I would suggest covering most of it (lids for plastic bins, wood boards, or even foil), except where you need to have bulbs. I do not think covering the enclosure would be too tricky. Figure out where you need to place bulbs (read below), and then buy and cut wood boards for example to cover some spaces between the bulbs. Once it is covered you may need to raise the bulbs as it will be warmer. I would if at all possible buy bulbs at a local store so you can get a variety to fiddle around with, and return extras (unless you don't mind buying them online and having extras for the future).

If you do not need more lighting, use black light bulbs or ceramic heat emitters as both do not emit light (as red bulbs do). If you need more lighting, then use regular light bulbs.

You should not need more than 1 or 2 UVB lamps. Why do you have both 2 tube UVBs and the MVB? I think you need to focus on having one or two UVB lamps with the rest just regular light/heat, or just heat.

You should be able to fiddle around with the heating (with the tort out of the enclosure) to get a gradient going. What is the hottest temperature under each Solar Glo? I think it should be 95 for this breed but I'm not familiar. Check that the bulb is as low to the substrate as it can safely be (for both max temperature and no closer than the manufacturer recommends). Right under the bulb should be a max basking temperature, and at the outer edge of the radius of the heat/light, the temperature will go to room temperature. What you will need to do is have the radius of each heating element touch each other so the entire enclosure stays above room temperature.

I do not recommend heating mats. There is a radiant panel heating that some people will use to have heat come from above, but I found them to be prohibitively expensive and maybe difficult to rig up. You could also use some sort of space heater like Maggie suggested, but I personally think covering and heating the enclosure (smaller volume then the room as less will dissipate) will be more efficient if you don't need to heat the entire area. Compare the electrical costs with wattage if you can as heating plus the cost of the equipment can be expensive.

As the room temperature changes more than a couple degrees, you will need to change the heating. Keep an eye on the temperatures daily. Design your heating for the coldest part of the year, and subtract heat (by either raising a bulb or turning it off) as needed as the temperatures warm up.

Also, moving the enclosure away from the window and off of the floor will help A LOT. Please consider this. I mean up to 5-10 degrees a lot depending on your circumstances. Get a cabinet to put it on at the very least. It would do better against an interior wall. No UVB gets through the window anyways.

Do you feed on anything but the substrate? I suggest laying down a tile for the food, unless I missed it. Best wishes.

 

[Akuma]

What an adorable tort!

I would suggest covering most of it (lids for plastic bins, wood boards, or even foil), except where you need to have bulbs.

Thank you.

The thing about this project is that I need to concider it to be a temporary solution that I only use during the cold winters here (temperatures outside drop to -16 °F!) but during the summers the temperature in here goes haywire and it gets very very off so a lid in those situation is probablya bad idea generally.

I will see if I can make some sort of mobile contraption so that I can put on the lid or take it off whenever I have to.

You should not need more than 1 or 2 UVB lamps. Why do you have both 2 tube UVBs and the MVB?

Excuse me, but what does MVB stand for? I do not understand what that is.
I have 2 24-inch UV-B lamps because as far as I understood these are required for any tortoise to survive in an in-door enclosure.

The UV tubes I have are two 24-inch Exo-Terra Repti Glo 5.0 UV-B 20W.

You should be able to fiddle around with the heating (with the tort out of the enclosure) to get a gradient going. What is the hottest temperature under each Solar Glo?

I am not sure but right now I have them at about 2 foot distanc and the temperature in the spot is around 90° F which is pretty much what the main temperature during mid-day is in Tanzania where Pancake Tortoises are from. I have no official numbers what temperatures are best for this breed. All I know is that their natural habitat are the steppe regions of North-eastern Africa. During the day its around 90-100 degrees and during the night around 65 so that is my best guess.

No instructions came with the lamps, no warnings, no recommended distance or anything.
Right now I have two Exo-Terra Solar Glo 75W and one Exo-Terra Infra Red Heat Glo 75W.
I do however have flexible fixtures with metallic springed "arms" so that I can position them however I need over the enclosure.

As for the feeding, I do have a small glass tray that you sort of can see sticking out under the leaves to the right.

I have a temperature monitor that I constantly keep an eye on.

Cheers.

[/quote]