Minority2
Well-Known Member
So I went to the store and bought a 100w ceramic heat emitter and I left it on for the whole day and when I came home I felt inside the tank and felt the soil and it was all very cold still. The CHE was on and working and was very very hot but it was doing a Terrible job at keeping the tank even remotely worm so I’m going back to the red bulb in the meantime. Now I have a dilemma because I don’t really want the white backing bulb because I’ve heard that that causes your tortoise stress when left on 24 hours and I don’t want to turn it off at night because it will get too cold especially in the winter.
As TriciaStringer suggested, it's most likely because your top or lack of a covered top is failing to keep the heat inside the enclosure. A large closed chamber should be able to run even a single 40w incandescent, a ceramic emitter, and a uvb setup and reach the 100/80 requirements needed for a young Sulcata.
Cover your top, strategically place fixtures to obtain needed readouts, nix the red bulb, and everything should work out.