Uvb coil in a double hood

[Nexustortoise]

hi everyone
I have a 13w reptisun 5.0 UVB mini compact flourcesnt inside a minicombo deep dome fixture hung near center of the tub of my sulcata hatchling. I have it to help keep the live grass, rufa bamboo, and hibuscus plants in his enclosure alive since i take him outside daily for at least 30mins of sun. Ive read alot recently about uvb coils sometimes burning the eyes of tortoises and got a little worried i might be doing him some harm. I have a reptisun 10.0 24" 17w t8 that im going to be replacing it with when i can get a hood for it. Do you guys think hell be okay for now or should i remove the coil light?

 

[ZEROPILOT]

First of all, that CFL UVB bulb should not be trusted.
Secondly, you are correct that with the outdoors sunlight you are supplying, you don't need a UVB bulb at all.
Also, a UVB bulb doesn't grow plants.

 

[Tom]

I'd remove the coil bulb and replace it with a LED in the 5000-6500K color range. This will be good for your plant.

However, your whole enclosure needs an overhaul. You can't maintain the correct conditions in a low sided open topped box like that, unless that entire room is over 80 degrees 24.7 and 80+% humidity all the time. Your tortoise is going to pyramid in an enclosure like that.

Give this a read:

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? 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. Babies hatch during the...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[Nexustortoise]

I'd remove the coil bulb and replace it with a LED in the 5000-6500K color range. This will be good for your plant.

However, your whole enclosure needs an overhaul. You can't maintain the correct conditions in a low sided open topped box like that, unless that entire room is over 80 degrees 24.7 and 80+% humidity all the time. Your tortoise is going to pyramid in an enclosure like that.

Give this a read:

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? 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. Babies hatch during the...

tortoiseforum.org

Thank you for the information! Ive read your hatchling guide and love the plethora of helpful information you give. I keep it bookmarked incase i ever need to reference it actually. I live in key west, Fl and the room the tortoise is kept in never drops more than the ocassional dip a couple degrees below 80 for the ambient temp, and ive never gotten below 80 for the enclosure temp. the lowest humidity reading ive gotten was 76% today its showing 83%. I keep the substrate under the larger hide more moist than the surrounding substrate as i saw you recommend it. That being the case is my setup still in need of an overhaul? Just wanted to clarify the current ambient temps and humidity before I redo the whole thing. If it still needs to be redone ill definitely do it, I just want whats best for my tortoise ?

 

[Nexustortoise]

Also, i have stopped turning on the UVB coil, im going to look into the led lights that were recommended ? is there anything i should look for or try to avoid regarding led?

 

[Tom]

Thank you for the information! Ive read your hatchling guide and love the plethora of helpful information you give. I keep it bookmarked incase i ever need to reference it actually. I live in key west, Fl and the room the tortoise is kept in never drops more than the ocassional dip a couple degrees below 80 for the ambient temp, and ive never gotten below 80 for the enclosure temp. the lowest humidity reading ive gotten was 76% today its showing 83%. I keep the substrate under the larger hide more moist than the surrounding substrate as i saw you recommend it. That being the case is my setup still in need of an overhaul? Just wanted to clarify the current ambient temps and humidity before I redo the whole thing. If it still needs to be redone ill definitely do it, I just want whats best for my tortoise ?

HA! I found you! You are the one person that I write the qualifying verbiage into my sentence for. "Unless the whole room is 80 degrees and 80% humidity ALL the time, you will not be able to maintain the correct conditions in an open topped enclosure." YOUR room is 80/80 all the time, so an open topped enclosure should work fine for you, but it won't work for most people. Your thermometer and hygrometer appear to be verifying the correct parameters, so in your case, an overhaul will not be needed. Just make sure that room stays 80/80, all year. Even in winter during a cold spell. 78 once in a while is fine. 75 is pushing it. 70 is asking for trouble. 60s will very likely result in sickness.