Good heat lighting

TaylorTortoise

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Hello all,
Any suggestions on anyones favorite basking bulb? Do we know of any favorites that possibly also have uvb/ uva ?
 

wellington

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An incandescent flood bulb is what should be used for basking. Arcadia has some for a fair price
A tube fluorescent for uvb
 

TaylorTortoise

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An incandescent flood bulb is what should be used for basking. Arcadia has some for a fair price
A tube fluorescent for uvb
Do they sell the incandescent flood bulbs on amazon? Do they fit in a standard ceramic double dome fixture?
 

wellington

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Do they sell the incandescent flood bulbs on amazon? Do they fit in a standard ceramic double dome fixture?
They do, but they are harder to find, because of the ban on incandescent. A 65 watt is usually big enough and yes they do fit in the larger domes
 

Anastasia 22

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Hello all,
Any suggestions on anyones favorite basking bulb? Do we know of any favorites that possibly also have uvb/ uva ?
Hello all,
Any suggestions on anyones favorite basking bulb? Do we know of any favorites that possibly also have uvb/ uva ?
Hello! I got a simple heating lamp from the pet store and my Russian tortoise loves it. I take him outside everyday to get UV light.
 

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Tom

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This one.
Spot bulbs are not good for tortoises. You need a flood type bulb. They are hard to find now. Arcadia makes them.

Check this out:
 

Anastasia 22

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Spot bulbs are not good for tortoises. You need a flood type bulb. They are hard to find now. Arcadia makes them.

Check this out:
Why is it not good?
 

Tom

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Why is it not good?
From the link I left for you:
14. Heat lamps: No spot bulbs. They concentrate too much heat and desiccating IR A into too small of an area. Use flood bulbs or round bulbs in a hood. Don't use spot bulbs, halogen bulbs, infrared bulbs, colored bulbs, mercury vapor bulbs, or any others that I'm forgetting. Use a "flood" bulb for basking.

They cause pyramiding and make hot spots.
 

Anastasia 22

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From the link I left for you:
14. Heat lamps: No spot bulbs. They concentrate too much heat and desiccating IR A into too small of an area. Use flood bulbs or round bulbs in a hood. Don't use spot bulbs, halogen bulbs, infrared bulbs, colored bulbs, mercury vapor bulbs, or any others that I'm forgetting. Use a "flood" bulb for basking.

They cause pyramiding and make hot spots.
Thank you so very much!
 

TaylorTortoise

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Spot bulbs are not good for tortoises. You need a flood type bulb. They are hard to find now. Arcadia makes them.

Check this out:
But flood bulbs do not provide any uvb / uva. Not everyone keeps them outside 24/7 depending on their location
 

Tom

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But flood bulbs do not provide any uvb / uva. Not everyone keeps them outside 24/7 depending on their location
First, they only need an hour or two a week of access to sunshine to meet their UVB needs.

Second, you are correct. Incandescent flood bulbs do not produce any UV. That is why Wellington told you in post number 2 that you need a tube florescent for UVB, and I left a link for you and Anastasia and anyone else reading that explains all the heating and lighting. The following is from that linked thread:

Here is a breakdown of the four heating and lighting essentials:
  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. You need to check the temp with a thermometer directly under the bulb and get it to around 95-100F (36-37C).
  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. In most cases you'd only need day heat for a temperate species like Testudo or DT, as long as your house stays above 60F (15-16C) at night. Some people in colder climates or with larger enclosures will need multiple CHEs or RHPs to spread out enough heat.
  3. Ambient 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 LED 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. In colder climates, get one of the newer HO type fluorescent tubes. Which type will depend on mounting height. 5.0 bulbs make almost no UV. I like the 12% HO bulbs from Arcadia. You need a meter to check this: https://www.solarmeter.com/model65.html A good UV bulb only needs to run for 2-3 hours mid day. You need the basking bulb and the ambient lighting to be on at least 12 hours a day.
 
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