Would a thermostat work in enclosed tort table?

[badkitty]

I'm reposting this again since I had no replies I need some advice!!

Would a thermostat work in enclosed tort table?
Just finished our tort table for our Sulcatas about 7 months old,It's 4x8 in size we made a wood frame to hang the lights and then we enclosed it using heavy duty plastic.

My question is can a closed enclosure get too hot? I came home and the torts all had their mouths open.Do they need more air circulation?
And would a thermostat work in my table?

I Currently have a power sun MVB on the warm end & 65 watt incandescent bulb on cool side more for brightening up the enclosure.
The current temps are
cool side 82 degrees and 80 % humidity
warm side 90.5 degrees and 65 % humidity
I also have a ceramic heat bulb but I haven't put it in because I thought the enclosure would be too hot?
I would love some feedback , I'm just really confused about maintaining the proper temps.
Thanks again Grace
here's what it looks like

 

[Tom]

I am running two 4x8' closed chambers right now too. Yes heat is definitely a big concern. I find that I can use much smaller bulbs and still get good basking temps. Yes a thermostat will work, and it's the perfect solution. In mine I have a 65 watt incandescent flood bulb for basking. It's on a 12 hour timer. Then I have two 60 watt CHEs evenly spaced across the enclosure and those two are on a thermostat. When the basking lamp is on, the CHEs are never on. On a cold winter night the CHEs kick on and keep everything toasty warm. Because my enclosures are all wood with a plexiglas front it gets pretty dark, so I use a 48" regular fluorescent tube to light things up a bit. Between the heat from the basking lamp and the fluorescent, things stay really warm and the CHEs seldom run. This is an ideal environment for starting baby sulcatas ad it saves a tremendous amount of electricity too.

I have found it difficult to use a MVB in a closed chamber. The wattage is simply too high and they generate too much heat. This is not a problem for me because my torts get real sunshine all year long. If artificial UV is a must for your situation, then I'd suggest a 48" 10.0 tube or two. If your tortoises get out just a couple of times a week, artificial UV is not needed. If they skip a couple of weeks in the winter, it will be absolutely fine. Since you are in AZ, year round sunshine should be no problem. Once my babies are around a year old, I only use my indoor enclosures for night time and cold days. Once my babies are around 8-10", they move outside permanently with a heated shelter of some sort.

 

[badkitty]

I am running two 4x8' closed chambers right now too. Yes heat is definitely a big concern. I find that I can use much smaller bulbs and still get good basking temps. Yes a thermostat will work, and it's the perfect solution. In mine I have a 65 watt incandescent flood bulb for basking. It's on a 12 hour timer. Then I have two 60 watt CHEs evenly spaced across the enclosure and those two are on a thermostat. When the basking lamp is on, the CHEs are never on. On a cold winter night the CHEs kick on and keep everything toasty warm. Because my enclosures are all wood with a plexiglas front it gets pretty dark, so I use a 48" regular fluorescent tube to light things up a bit. Between the heat from the basking lamp and the fluorescent, things stay really warm and the CHEs seldom run. This is an ideal environment for starting baby sulcatas ad it saves a tremendous amount of electricity too.

I have found it difficult to use a MVB in a closed chamber. The wattage is simply too high and they generate too much heat. This is not a problem for me because my torts get real sunshine all year long. If artificial UV is a must for your situation, then I'd suggest a 48" 10.0 tube or two. If your tortoises get out just a couple of times a week, artificial UV is not needed. If they skip a couple of weeks in the winter, it will be absolutely fine. Since you are in AZ, year round sunshine should be no problem. Once my babies are around a year old, I only use my indoor enclosures for night time and cold days. Once my babies are around 8-10", they move outside permanently with a heated shelter of some sort.

Thanks for your time
I'll definitely look into getting a thermostat. Are there any brands you like?
They do get outside sun/grazing time 2-3 hours a day so I'll probably replace the MVB.

 

[Tom]

I've been using one called "A Life". I've got around 10 of them and I bought them from LLL Reptile. I think someone recently said they were having trouble finding them though.