Basking temp?

[J H]

i just put a 7 month old nat geo mvb bulb in my adult redfoot enclosure. Bobs shell temp is 94 degrees when he basks. The rest of the enclosure is a 80 degrees. Is that a good basking temp for an adult? He seems to love it under the light. Would a nat geo mvb still be emitting useable uvb at 7 months? I have no meter.

 

[Big Ol Tortoise]

http://turtletary.com/northern.html

Read this care sheet. Red foots don't need a bask area

 

[ZEROPILOT]

They also get uncomfortable in temps much hotter than about 90.

 

[J H]

I have read that and know they don't need one but bob seems to like it. I was just curious about the temp. So I will keep it 90 or a little less. Thanks

 

[JoesMum]

I have read that and know they don't need one but bob seems to like it. I was just curious about the temp. So I will keep it 90 or a little less. Thanks

Your redfoot needs a UVB tube fitting like this


And a Ceramic Heat Emitter with a thermostat to keep the temperature steady like this


An MVB isn't suitable.

 

[J H]

Yep. I have a tube and Che. Just wanted to see if bob would bask under a light.

 

[Anyfoot]

i just put a 7 month old nat geo mvb bulb in my adult redfoot enclosure. Bobs shell temp is 94 degrees when he basks. The rest of the enclosure is a 80 degrees. Is that a good basking temp for an adult? He seems to love it under the light. Would a nat geo mvb still be emitting useable uvb at 7 months? I have no meter.

J H. There are different ways and different views on how to keep a redfoot. I'll tell you what I think then it's up to you what you do.
As a juvenile I don't believe they should be exposed to direct intense heat of any sort, whether it's a basking spot or natural direct hot sun light. This is causing some degree of hydration and drying of the carapace. As they grow and harden off they can take this intense heat to some degree. Probably adults will sun bathe for a while then aim for cover.
The problem I see is this.
Juveniles don't want drying out in any way what's so ever, natural sun or artificial.
As they harden off they can expose themselves to the intense heat of the sun which would naturally happen in the wild as they become bigger, however with the natural sun the entire(or at least half) carapace is heating the core body temp up enough for the tort to think,

'oh yeah I'm hot enough now to find shade'.

With your basking light that is only heating up a small part of an adult tortoise it takes it much longer for the core body temp to rise to the stage that your tort thinks.

'Oh yeah I'm hot enough to find shade'.

Meanwhile there is a point on your tortoises Carapace that is getting way too hot and causing pyramiding and Carapace distortion.
My opinion is don't give your Tortoise the chance to sit under a heat source that creates a hot spot on your tortoises Carapace.