How many time should i keep my UV light on (reptisun T5 HO 10.0 UVB) from zoo med when I searched on google i read that it should be on for 10-12 hours but i read a thread that said it should be on for around 3 hours, and i need to know the distance since I don’t have a UVI parameter and I don’t seem to get one soon, i shall get 2 hermann tortoises (testudo hermanni) this week so i need to figure everything out, if the light should be on for 3 hours should the heat source be a heat lamp? Or is it ok for the light source to be the room light and the heat source a ceramic heat emitter?
UVB and heat
- Thread starter abdo
- Start date
Hello and welcome!
Here is a breakdown of the four heating and lighting essentials:
- Basking bulb. I use 65 watt incandescent floods from the hardware store. Some people will need bigger, or smaller wattage bulbs. Let your thermometer be your guide. I run them on a timer for about 12 hours and adjust the height to get the correct basking temp under them. I also like to use a flat rock of some sort directly under the bulb. You need to check the temp with a thermometer directly under the bulb and get it to around 95-100F (36-37C).
- Ambient heat maintenance. I use ceramic heating elements or radiant heat panels set on thermostats to maintain ambient above 80 degrees day and night for tropical species. In most cases you'd only need day heat for a temperate species like Testudo or DT, as long as your house stays above 60F (15-16C) at night. Some people in colder climates or with larger enclosures will need multiple CHEs or RHPs to spread out enough heat.
- Ambient light. I use LEDs for this purpose. Something in the 5000-6500K color range will look the best. Most bulbs at the store are in the 2500K range and they look yellowish. Strip or screw-in LED bulb types are both fine.
- UV. If you can get your tortoise outside for an hour 2 or 3 times a week, you won't need indoor UV. In colder climates, get one of the newer HO type fluorescent tubes. Which type will depend on mounting height. 5.0 bulbs make almost no UV. I like the 12% HO bulbs from Arcadia. You need a meter to check this: https://www.solarmeter.com/model65.html A good UV bulb only needs to run for 2-3 hours mid day. You need the basking bulb and the ambient lighting to be on at least 12 hours a day.
Please read these two threads for all the correct care info. Questions are welcome:
Info For New People. Please Read This First.
Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...
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The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise
I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...
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Because living as a pair is extremely stressful. The male is likely to harass the female to death.
Most of the info you find while doing "research" is going to be old and wrong. Much of it will lead you to problems or disaster. We would like to help you avoid problems and disasters, and help you to have a happy tortoise keeping experience and healthy thriving tortoises.
From the threads I linked:
9. Pairs: Tortoises should never be housed in pairs. Groups of juveniles can sometimes work, but not pairs. Group dynamics are different than pair dynamics. Whenever there are just two, one will be dominant and the other submissive. The dominant is clearly telling the submissive to "GET OUT!" of my territory, but the submissive can't. This can be seen in animals as primitive as flatworms. Most people do not see the signs in tortoises. Our tortoises don't have the ability to growl. They don't have lips to snarl, or hackles to raise, yet they show their hostility just the same, but in their own way. Following each other, cuddling in a shelter, sleeping face to face, sitting on the food pile... All of these are blatant tortoise aggression. People are looking for biting, ramming and other overt signs. Those overt behaviors do happen in some cases, but more often the two tortoises are just forced to live in each other's space in a state of constant chronic stress, while the owner thinks everything is just fine because they aren't actively attacking and biting each other. It is NOT fine. Keep tortoises alone, which is totally fine, or in groups of three or more, which can sometimes lead to other problems down the road as they all begin to mature. Tortoises do not want or need company. Some species tolerate company better than others, but none should be kept in pairs. For some breeding projects, it is advantageous to raise them up in groups, but never pairs. If you only want two tortoises, that is great. Get two separate enclosures. And two outdoor enclosures for fair weather too.
I have just read that what about the zoo med eco earth to use and the enclosure i can get now which will be for 2-4 months is a clear plastic and going to make the top an aluminium net dimensions: 79Lx56Wx43H
Is it OK, the testudo hermanni is 4-5 months old and I don’t know any breeders in my country just found this man posted online about it
Is it OK, the testudo hermanni is 4-5 months old and I don’t know any breeders in my country just found this man posted online about it
Eco earth is fine. Keep it lightly damp and hand pack it firmly.
If your enclosure dimensions are in inches, that will be a good size. If that is centimeters, it is too small. For a 4-5 month old hermanni you want something at least 122x61cm, and even that is not going to last long as the tortoise grows.
You have good questions. Please feel free to keep asking them.
It would be better to go with just coconut coir, without soil. Since potting soil is made of garden waste you can't be sure in its safety (it can contain pieces of plastic bags, screws, animal feces, leftovers of toxic plants such as oleander or pesticide-treated plants). You can get coco coir bricks from gardening centers cheaper than buying ZooMed EcoEarth in bags.
Cypress mulch on top will reduce the mess but is not really necessary.
Littleredfootbigredheart
Well-Known Member
Definitely second what’s been said above, no pairs, glad you made your way here first!
Hopefully you’ll find this housing thread useful, it covers correct equipment(uvb, heating bulbs, lighting etc), correct levels, importance of a closed chamber for younger tortoises(only way to maintain the humidity you need), appropriately maintaining the humidity, safe substrates, there’s lots of visual examples for everything and a really handy diet link to check out! If going with a greenhouse, the lower the ceiling height, whilst still allowing for recommended bulb height, the better!
tortoiseforum.org
This includes some different closed chamber options, some do tend to run more efficiently than others
tortoiseforum.org
This one might help for the kind of set up you’re considering
tortoiseforum.org
Lastly, definitely the most important! this one can also be really good to familiarise yourself with and have on hand, it’ll help you avoid the wrong bulbs, substrates, housing etc, I always encourage double checking purchases on the forum too before buying
tortoiseforum.org
Hope they help! Welcome to the forum!!
Hopefully you’ll find this housing thread useful, it covers correct equipment(uvb, heating bulbs, lighting etc), correct levels, importance of a closed chamber for younger tortoises(only way to maintain the humidity you need), appropriately maintaining the humidity, safe substrates, there’s lots of visual examples for everything and a really handy diet link to check out! If going with a greenhouse, the lower the ceiling height, whilst still allowing for recommended bulb height, the better!
Housing young Russian/Herman
Hello there! In this thread, I’m going to include some information on an effective way to tackle a starter set up/a way you can build a bigger size once your baby is an adult. I know it looks a lot to go over, I like to make sure all bases are covered, I’m happy to break down any information...
tortoiseforum.org
This includes some different closed chamber options, some do tend to run more efficiently than others
Visual inspiration
Hi guys! I’ve had some lovely messages complimenting me on my care sheets I made for all the visuals they include! That makes me so happy because as a visual learner myself, that was my goal🥰 I’ve recently had some requests for some more visual inspiration for set ups that can house babies/...
tortoiseforum.org
This one might help for the kind of set up you’re considering
How to make a closed-chamber baby habitat out of a 55gal Sterilite bin
Since several folks have asked about how to make a closed chamber baby enclosure out of a 55gal Sterilite tote, here are some pics and description of how I do. This is not the most beautiful option, but since the babies will only be in here for 9-12 months, I'm okay with that. My own Russian...
tortoiseforum.org
Lastly, definitely the most important! this one can also be really good to familiarise yourself with and have on hand, it’ll help you avoid the wrong bulbs, substrates, housing etc, I always encourage double checking purchases on the forum too before buying
Common keeping errors
Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...
tortoiseforum.org
Hope they help! Welcome to the forum!!
I have found ZooMed EcoEarth coco coir bricks which is cheaper than the bags but is still more expensive than the soil but i will check the option you said
Is this good?
Attachments
Is this good for the ambient lighting (130x80cm) base enclosure going to fix the LED in the basking lamp, can you give me a link for incandescent floodlight in amazon ae since I can’t find one and my original plan was to use a CHE all the time (if night temps was below 60s F)Definitely second what’s been said above, no pairs, glad you made your way here first!
Hopefully you’ll find this housing thread useful, it covers correct equipment(uvb, heating bulbs, lighting etc), correct levels, importance of a closed chamber for younger tortoises(only way to maintain the humidity you need), appropriately maintaining the humidity, safe substrates, there’s lots of visual examples for everything and a really handy diet link to check out! If going with a greenhouse, the lower the ceiling height, whilst still allowing for recommended bulb height, the better!
Housing young Russian/Herman
Hello there! In this thread, I’m going to include some information on an effective way to tackle a starter set up/a way you can build a bigger size once your baby is an adult. I know it looks a lot to go over, I like to make sure all bases are covered, I’m happy to break down any information...
This includes some different closed chamber options, some do tend to run more efficiently than others
Visual inspiration
Hi guys! I’ve had some lovely messages complimenting me on my care sheets I made for all the visuals they include! That makes me so happy because as a visual learner myself, that was my goal🥰 I’ve recently had some requests for some more visual inspiration for set ups that can house babies/...
This one might help for the kind of set up you’re considering
How to make a closed-chamber baby habitat out of a 55gal Sterilite bin
Since several folks have asked about how to make a closed chamber baby enclosure out of a 55gal Sterilite tote, here are some pics and description of how I do. This is not the most beautiful option, but since the babies will only be in here for 9-12 months, I'm okay with that. My own Russian...
Lastly, definitely the most important! this one can also be really good to familiarise yourself with and have on hand, it’ll help you avoid the wrong bulbs, substrates, housing etc, I always encourage double checking purchases on the forum too before buying
Common keeping errors
Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...
Hope they help! Welcome to the forum!!
Attachments
Littleredfootbigredheart
Well-Known Member
As it’s advertised for potting, make sure to read the fine print that it’s 100% coco peat aka coco coir
I think that LED bulb is ok, but wait to hear back from @Alex and the Redfoot
Littleredfootbigredheart
Well-Known Member
With the floodlight because of location my links will likely not work for you
let’s see if @Tom possibly has one for you!
*edit* I see you’re not in the US my bad! Perhaps screenshot what you can find and we can go over them for you! Try typing in reptile floodlight into Google
let’s see if @Tom possibly has one for you!*edit* I see you’re not in the US my bad! Perhaps screenshot what you can find and we can go over them for you! Try typing in reptile floodlight into Google
This is what I found in addition to arcadia ones which is overpriced in my opinionWith the floodlight because of location my links will likely not work for you
*edit* I see you’re not in the US my bad! Perhaps screenshot what you can find and we can go over them for you! Try typing in reptile floodlight into Google
Attachments
Littleredfootbigredheart
Well-Known Member
Yeah as far as I can tell those are exactly what you’re looking for, I can get @Alex and the Redfoot to double check for you too, he’s good with the technical stuff
Should i get the reptivite(multi vitamin and calcium) or the repticalcium both from zoo med and should i get the with d3 version or without d3Yeah as far as I can tell those are exactly what you’re looking for, I can get @Alex and the Redfoot to double check for you too, he’s good with the technical stuff
This LED bulb is very bright so you need to place it high enough over the enclosure (1-1.5m). Having evenly distributed moderately bright light sources is better than one superbright bulb.
How can i find one that i can place over the tortoise shell (0.5-0.7m)
@Littleredfootbigredheart
Can i use a custom wooden enclosure that has a water proof layer? (3-4months old hermann)
Can i use a custom wooden enclosure that has a water proof layer? (3-4months old hermann)
