Lighting questions

[luke]

Hi tort people.

As you may know I’m pretty knew to the world of tortoises. I’ve taken in a lot of information in the time I’ve spent reading on this forum and I wanted to ask you guys some more specific questions about the care of my Leo Torts.

Do I need a MVB for my Torts?

Right now I’m using a 15 watt zilla single tube, Will this meet the UV needs of my Torts?

I read on Toms page that he does not use UV bulbs for his Sulcata babies, but instead, offers them at least 20 minutes of real sun light twice a week. Is this amount of sun enough for Leopard Torts too? I’ve been giving mine between one and three hours weekly.

Its hard to believe there is a market for UV bulbs if all you need is to sun you animals for an hour a week.


As far as heat bulbs go, I have two. One is a day time 75 watt and the other is a 75 watt night time (red) bulb. I keep them about 7 or 8 inches above the substrate. I also run the heater in the house so the temp never gets bellow 75. Most of the time its about 80.

Should I use a smaller bulb? I get the feeling my 75w bulb may be too strong and is drying up the enclosure. I’ve also noticed that sometimes my torts will choose to sleep close to the bulb and not in their hide boxes. Even after I place them in their humid hides they’ll typically walk out and bask. It seems that they often prefer to be hot and dry rather than warm and moist. Perhaps getting a smaller bulb would dry out the terrarium and the torts less.

Thanks

Here are some pics

 

[Seiryu]

Well for starters, you need something to measure the temperature of your basking spot.

75-80 Ambient temperature is perfect. Then you need to get a 95-105 F basking spot. Which you need either a temp gun (more accurate, more expensive) or one of the probe thermometers. It's essential you know the actual temps.

As far as the 1 hour a week of outside time for UVB. I think that's an understatement. You could potentially get away with only 1 hour a week for a while, but eventually I bet you'll run into issues. Daily access to UVB, whether it be sun or artificial lighting will raise a healthier tortoise.

Now for the zilla lights. I would never personally use that brand. Too many issues and bad reviews. If you can't afford a Mercury Vapor bulb, then your best bet it to get a 10.0 Repti-SUN Tube, no compacts.

People will tell you that the tube fluorescents do not provide enough UVB, but I can tell you with my personal experience of having multiple types of reptiles for many years, I have never had a problem.

You do have to be smarter as to where you put it. I put mine over their feeding spots, so they are under it a lot, and it's a "high traffic" area for them.

I do supplement with d3 once a week as well. In the spring/summer, they are outside almost all day, so I don't use lights at that point.

If you can take your tortoise outside almost year round, and can take them out each day for at least an hour, then no you don't need any bulbs though.

 

[Tom]

The 20 minutes twice a week should be viewed as a MINIMUM. More is better. Much more is much better.

I've seen flourescents NOT be adequate too many times to trust them. I've had to rehab a lot of reptiles of many different species that were pulled out from under them. It won't hurt anything to use them and it will help to light things up a bit which has a definite psychological benefit. I, personally, just wouldn't rely on one as my sole source of UV.

Rob's right about the thermometers. The only way to know if your 75 watt bulb is too hot is to use a thermometer. Then adjust the bulb and fixture up or down the get the right temp. I prefer ceramic heating elements for night heat. I think they can still see the red light and that's why they still move around so much. I keep my torts dark at night and they don't move until morning.

If your bulbs are drying everything out, add more water more often and/or cover most of the top to hold in humidity.

 

[luke]

I just took temps with an infrared thermometer and my basking area was around 125f. I should probobly get somthing smaller or move it higher.

Im going to upgrade to a 2" X 4" enclosure very soon. What size MVB would you recomend for somthing of this size for 3 or 4 baby torts? I'll try to relly on real sun when things warm up more but I just want to get a feel for what I should be looking for otherwise I'll just buy the biggest one they sell.

I'll try covering the tanks and see how that holds the humidity.

 

[coreyc]

I would just move it a little higher how high is it now? also 100 watt will be all right

 

[Tom]

During summer, when my torts are getting hours of sun every day, I just use 35-50 watt regular incandescent spots or floods from any hardware store. I always check the temps and adjust the height accordingly. During winter I use 100 watt MVBs for that size enclosure.

 

[luke]

Right now its about 7 inches away from the rock. I'm using the clamp because I dont have an over head system for it to hang from.

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Thanks Guys

 

[Neal]

7 inches is really close, move it up to about 12, wait a bit and take another reading. For a hatchling that size right about 100 degrees is a good place to be, not much more or less for a basking spot. If you're getting them out in the sun for a couple hours a week, that's good...more sun is better in any case. With that you don't really need an MVB unless you wanted to just have one bulb that does the heating and UVB. Getting one of those tube florescent lights is a good way to ensure they always will have enough UVB. I've used them for years and they have been well.

It sounds like your low and average temps are good, just get that basking spot down from 125 degrees.

 

[Fernando]

Right now its about 7 inches away from the rock. I'm using the clamp because I dont have an over head system for it to hang from.

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Thanks Guys

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I used some shelving "L" brackets I bought from the hardware department at Walmart. Cost me $2.95 for two. Hang the lamps from those by a chain they sell there too.

I personally hang mine from the cord but I've read that's not the safest way to go. =T

 

[luke]

UPDATE

I changed a few things around and now my spotlight sits about 14 inches above one of the corners of the enclosure. My basking temp is 100F and all seems well. Clamped the light fixture to an adjacent enclosure with higher sides. Also switched to a biger light fixture becuase it sits higher then the old cheezy plastic one.

Im using an exo Terra repti glow 10.0 now. It shines brighter then the zilla one. (Dont know if thats good or bad)

Have a look.

they got two humid hides now

Here is a better shot of the basking area