I just messed up

[PinkElite]

So I went to Petsmart and picked up that 150 watt red light. I thought it would be enough. Little did i know it would be too much.
Tonight I tossed and turned in my bed something bothered me about bump, warnings kept popping into my mind making my heart race.
I went downstairs to take the temp of my cage.
I'm bawling right now. It was 110 under that heat lamp. I hurried to turn it off and soak him right away in hopes that he wasnt overheated.
I worried about him right now and i think i see a bit of pyramiding and I dont know how to stop that.
I feel like such a bad owner right now. if you look under the "he might be cold" forum you'll see my setup. i replaced the right lamp with red at night.
I don't want to hurt him. I'm afraid I might of.

 

[Yvonne G]

It might have been 110 directly under the light, but what was the temperature where the tortoise was laying? Most lights are very hot directly beneath them. All you have to do is raise the light up so its not so close to the floor of the habitat.

The largest bulb I ever buy is only 75 watts, and most of them are 60 watts. I'm sure if I put one of my 60 watt fixtures so it shines closer to the floor of the habitat I could find a reading in the 100's. You just adjust the position of the fixture until you reach the optimum temp range.

Probably no harm done.

Yvonne

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I agree with Yvonne...I use a black light bulb and have it about 1 foot above the substrate...stop worrying, if your tort got too hot he would move away from the heat...

 

[PinkElite]

ok thank you. i just feel like it could have gotten really bad because I moved the thermometer next to his house and it was still reading the same thing.
I got really worried. From now on I'm buying 60watts.

 

[Kristina]

I use a red 150W, but my enclosure is 8' X 8' and it is mounted three feet up... For a smaller enclosure, I would definately recommend a red 60 watt party light, or a blacklight.

Pyramiding would not be caused by the light, but rather by lack of humidity. What are you using for a substrate, and what is in his hide? How often do you soak?

Kristina

 

[Jacqui]

*hugs* hopefully by now your feeling a bit better. I too doubt much, if any harm was done. You listened to your innerself and got out of the comfy bed to check things out. That is a sign of a good caretaker! He was inside his hide, so probably was not getting all the possible heat, plus because you did get up in the middle of the night, the high temp exposure time was kept much less then it could have been.

 

[Crazy1]

PinkElite, I just responded to your other post. You did the right thing. Give yourself a pat on the back. Like Jacqui said you show all the signs of a good caretaker we all make mistakes the thing is you learn from them. I am sure Bump will be fine. I do like your enclosure for him, you might want to concider placing his night time light at one end of the enclosure that way if he wants to get out of the heat he can. Also as far as pyramiding goes the thought is that it is diet and/or humidity related. So watch your humidity with him. You want to have a humid area for him that stays about 65-70%.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I just wanted to interject here because all the sudden this thread took a turn and I wanted to say that pyramiding in Sulcata is caused from several things. Bad diet, not enough exercise, not enough humidity (like Robyn said about 60%) and not the right or enough UVB. It takes a combination of those 4 things to cause pyramiding. we can't concentrate on any one of those things and leave the others. That's what makes it so hard to keep reptiles correctly...it's just darned hard to get all of those things right...

http://turtlerescues.com/images/Sulcata _Toby.jpg.

Take a look at Toby, he was only 2 when this picture was taken...so don't fret Pink...you're doing fine!!!

 

[Millerlite]

I have a 150 ceramic heater and i just put a light dimmer on the socket that way i can lower the heat as needed. So if i do need 150watts worth of heat then i can get the full 150 if i needed lower then that then i just lower it, that way i'm not stuck with not enough heat like a 60watt. It might work in your situation, or you can just get a 100watt or 60watt,

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I just wanted to interject here because all the sudden this thread took a turn and I wanted to say that pyramiding in Sulcata is caused from several things. Bad diet, not enough exercise, not enough humidity (like Robyn said about 60%) and not the right or enough UVB. It takes a combination of those 4 things to cause pyramiding. we can't concentrate on any one of those things and leave the others. That's what makes it so hard to keep reptiles correctly...it's just darned hard to get all of those things right...

http://turtlerescues.com/images/Sulcata _Toby.jpg.

Take a look at Toby, he was only 2 when this picture was taken...so don't fret Pink...you're doing fine!!!

here?

http://turtlerescues.com/images/Sulcata _Toby.jpg

 

[Crazy1]

PinkElite, Maggie is right pyramiding is caused by more than one thing and I thank her for making that point. I responded to the pyramiding comment PinkElite made and only focused on one thing. As Maggie said diet, exercise, humidity, uvb all play a role in pryamiding and sometimes it take a while to get all the factors at that perfect balance. Keep at it, you can not reverse pyramiding but you can minimize its effect.

 

[Yvonne G]

http://turtlerescues.com/images/Sulcata _Toby.jpg
[/quote]

I don't see any difference between the two posted links, however the first one doesn't work and the second one does...so there must be a difference. Am I blind?

Yvonne

 

[Kristina]

There was a period at the end of the first link but not the second.

Kristina

 

[tortoisenerd]

We all mess up! Good catch and best wishes to you and your tort. Heating is rather tricky because it depends on air temperature, humidity, enclosure size/height, etc.

 

[Laura]

how is toby today? My first rescue looks like that.. bad.... No history on her..

 

[Maggie Cummings]

PinkElite, Maggie is right pyramiding is caused by more than one thing and I thank her for making that point. I responded to the pyramiding comment PinkElite made and only focused on one thing. As Maggie said diet, exercise, humidity, uvb all play a role in pryamiding and sometimes it take a while to get all the factors at that perfect balance. Keep at it, you can not reverse pyramiding but you can minimize its effect.

Hey Robyn...I sure didn't phrase my post correctly...I didn't mean to say that you said anything wrong. I am on a bandwagon to make sure everybody, and especially new keepers, realize that it takes a combination of all 4 things to avoid pyramiding. I used your post to jump in and have my little say...but I sure didn't mean to say that you had missed anything or said anything wrong...I apologize big time for the misunderstanding...

 

[Crazy1]

PinkElite, Maggie is right pyramiding is caused by more than one thing and I thank her for making that point. I responded to the pyramiding comment PinkElite made and only focused on one thing. As Maggie said diet, exercise, humidity, uvb all play a role in pryamiding and sometimes it take a while to get all the factors at that perfect balance. Keep at it, you can not reverse pyramiding but you can minimize its effect.

Hey Robyn...I sure didn't phrase my post correctly...I didn't mean to say that you said anything wrong. I am on a bandwagon to make sure everybody, and especially new keepers, realize that it takes a combination of all 4 things to avoid pyramiding. I used your post to jump in and have my little say...but I sure didn't mean to say that you had missed anything or said anything wrong...I apologize big time for the misunderstanding...

Maggie, no need to apologize. Your phrasing was fine. I took no offence. You are "RIGHT" the combination of things need to be pointed out & especially to newbie’s. Often we focus on only one thing when it is often so much more. And this is what I so love about our forum we complement each other so well, what one forgets another reminds