New enclosure + some questions

[Antioch]

I just finished up with building my sulcata Maverick a new enclosure.
I got him about a month ago and he had to stay with my bearded dragon until this was finished, I'm using coconut fiber as substrate.

I put in a cuttlebone and he ate a huge chunk of it so I was wondering if I should leave it in there or not.

The basking light is a 150wat zoo med and its about 6 inches from the top of his shell. My dad thinks its too hot but I used a temperature probe and it said 97 degrees for where the top of his shell is. I expected it to be hotter because when I bought the light I thought it would be about 12 inches from him so I'm concerned its wrong because the substrate is actually steaming. The tortoise has only been in for about 2 hours and stayed under the light for about 4 minutes max that I've seen. Does anyone have experience with this light?

 

[Barista5261]

Definitely leave the cuttle bone in there.

Torts will eat it like they've never seen one before, then sometimes not touch it again for weeks. But it's good that your tort likes it and will eat it. So he can regulate his own calcium intake [SMILING FACE WITH OPEN MOUTH] Some torts are picky and won't touch it at all.

 

[wellington]

I would raise the light, six inches is too close. Is the disc type temp gauge the only kind you are using? They are very unreliable and I'm going to guess that's why it's not reading the temps right, when the substrate is steaming. Get a temp gun and a digital temp/humidity gauge with a probe. You can get both at Home Depot for not a lot of money. They are more accurate. You don't want to cook your tort. Also, leave the cuttle bone in. They will eat it as they need it.

 

[Antioch]

Thanks for the replies,
The circular temperature thing isn't the only thing I'm using, I don't really trust it because I've read on the forum they aren't good and it's hands haven't budged. My dad is an air and heating guy and I used his probe to get the temperature and I know it's accurate.

This enclosure is 54" by 3ft by 2ft how big should a tortoise be before and upgrade is needed?

 

[Barista5261]

You can also get one of these suckers for $10 at Walmart/Home Depot/Lowe's [SMILING FACE WITH OPEN MOUTH]