Ambient temperature

Robert69

New Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2020
Messages
5
Location (City and/or State)
London
I am bringing two 11 year old Hermmans inside for winter. I have two enclosures which will be in a room with an ambient temperature of 18 C, is this enough or do I need UVB lights for each pen and if so What wattage and how long per day? Thanks for any advice
 

Yossarian

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2015
Messages
813
Location (City and/or State)
Wales
UVB and temperature are separate requirements. How will the torts get their UVB exposure if you dont have lights in their pens? As for temp, 18 is low, they wont be very active at that temp and its not really very good for them, even with basking lights they will go sleep in the cold spots and overtime they slow down. Ambient temps in my guys pen for winter are around 22-25, much below that range and his activity drops off. Also make sure the room is kept bright for at least 12 hours a day.
 

Robert69

New Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2020
Messages
5
Location (City and/or State)
London
UVB and temperature are separate requirements. How will the torts get their UVB exposure if you dont have lights in their pens? As for temp, 18 is low, they wont be very active at that temp and its not really very good for them, even with basking lights they will go sleep in the cold spots and overtime they slow down. Ambient temps in my guys pen for winter are around 22-25, much below that range and his activity drops off. Also make sure the room is kept bright for at least 12 hours a day.
Thank you, I understand now, I will increase the room temp and fit each pen with a UVB lamp, how many hours per day for the lights?
 

Yossarian

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2015
Messages
813
Location (City and/or State)
Wales
Thanks, the one I have ordered is also a heat lamp, would that extend your timing?

The MVB bulbs are not reccomended much around here these days for a few reasons, Ultimately they are expensive and short lived, fragile and dry out torts shells.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B084ZMW697/?tag=

This is what you want ideally, then you can just use a flood heat lamp for basking, they cost about £10 or less and last a long time. The flouro bulbs are not expensive either and last a long time also.
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,269
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
I am bringing two 11 year old Hermmans inside for winter. I have two enclosures which will be in a room with an ambient temperature of 18 C, is this enough or do I need UVB lights for each pen and if so What wattage and how long per day? Thanks for any advice
There are four elements to heating and lighting:
  1. Basking bulb. I use 65 watt incandescent floods from the hardware store. Some people will need bigger, or smaller wattage bulbs. Let your thermometer be your guide. I run them on a timer for about 12 hours and adjust the height to get the correct basking temp under them. I also like to use a flat rock of some sort directly under the bulb.
  2. Ambient heat maintenance. I use ceramic heating elements or radiant heat panels set on thermostats to maintain ambient above 80 degrees day and night for tropical species. You'd only need day heat for a temperate species like Testudo or DT.
  3. Light. I use LEDs for this purpose. Something in the 5000-6500K color range will look the best. Most bulbs at the store are in the 2500K range and they look yellowish. Strip or screw-in bulb types are both fine.
  4. UV. If you can get your tortoise outside for an hour 2 or 3 times a week, you won't need indoor UV. If you want it anyway, get one of the newer HO type fluorescent tubes. Which type will depend on mounting height. 5.0 bulbs make almost no UV. You need a meter to check this: https://www.solarmeter.com/model65.html
This will also help:
 
Top