Rocks to hot?

[ehopkins12]

hi, quick question. I have a couple rocks that my russian likes to lay on. they have been directly under the basking lamp. The rocks get really hot. to the point that you cant keep your hand on them for more than a few seconds. So I moved the light up a little so they weren't as hot. I was just wondering if they were to hot though. I;m not sure how much heat a tortoise can withstand.

 

[Stephanie Logan]

Better get one of these:

http://www.tempgun.com/main.html

There may be others available for less, but my $30 PE-1 is awesome for keeping track of temperatures in the various zones of Taco's enclosure.

I'm no tortoise expert, but if the rocks are too hot to put your hand on without burning it, I think they're too hot for your tortoises.

 

[GBtortoises]

Lay a thermometer on the rocks directly under the center of the light. Check it in about 10 minutes. If the temperature reads over 105 degrees you should consider moving the basking light farther from the rocks or use a lower wattage bulb. The area directly under the light at the surface should be about 100-110 degrees. That temperature varies depending upon who you talk to. I try to maintain a basking temperature of about 98-100 degrees for young tortoises and 104-106 for adults. When indoors my adult Russian tortoises will lay with their legs completely spread out, directly under the basking light for hours at a time. The temperature is right around 105 most of the time depending upon the ambient room temperature.

 

[Tom]

If its too hot for your hand at that level, how hot do you think it is higher up on your torts back? Get a thermometer and use it, or your next question will be what to do about burns on a tortoises back.

They can be had for ten bucks with a remote probe at any hardware store, Wal-Mart or Target. The one Stephanie recommended works great too. I have one too.

GB gave you great temps to go by, but I like to put a tortoise sized rock or brick under the hot spot and leave it there for an hour or more. Measure the temp on top of this and that will tell you the temp on your torties back. If you get the infared one you can actually measure the temp of your torts back.

 

[dreadyA]

I think he meant the rocks are too hot underneath the tort.
Kinda like a heat mat, that does burn tortoises plastrons

 

[GBtortoises]

I think he meant the rocks are too hot underneath the tort.
Kinda like a heat mat, that does burn tortoises plastrons

I thought that too which is why I suggested reading the temperature at the rock surface. Maybe I misunderstood.