Heating my Tortoise table

[Tracy Gould]

Hi i just made a Tortoise Table for Shelby as the Viv was geting really hard to keep cool, and was to small for her I got ideas off the Forum and bought 2 storage containers and cut a side of one then cut a inverted section out of the other to make a opening i also got the idea to have the lid on one of the boxs to create a humidity half which stays at around 55, i bought a Solar Glo mercury bulb and stand and the wall thermometer reads at 90 in the hot spot. Are the Exo Terra Thermometers reliable as i had to adjust the stand to 19.5 inches to get a 90 reading and Shelby seems to eat then Bask most of the Day before eating some more she does go around the areas abit climbs over her logs and slates drinks too but she is spending alot more time under the lamp than in the Viv, may be it because its not as hot as in the Viv the Viv did have a cool spot of between 20 to 28 but the temps in the hot spot kept shooting up to 95 if i had to go out and had to shut the glass doors, I know that they bask to get there system going but i thought i would check that its normal for my little baby to sun herself so much.

 

[Tom]

You need to put a thermometer or a probe directly under the light. Hopefully its shining on some sort of flat surface like slate or a tile. A thermometer stuck on the wall near by tells you what the temp is over there. Infared temp guns work well too. I like to put a tortoise sized rock or brick directly under the hottest spot and let it sit there for an hour or two. Then I measure the temp on top of this. That will tell you how hot the top of your tortoises shel is getting.

If they are always on one side or the other, its a good indicator that you need to make a temp adjustment. If they are always on the cold side, its too hot. If they are alway on the hot side, its not hot enough.

 

[Tracy Gould]

You need to put a thermometer or a probe directly under the light. Hopefully its shining on some sort of flat surface like slate or a tile. A thermometer stuck on the wall near by tells you what the temp is over there. Infared temp guns work well too. I like to put a tortoise sized rock or brick directly under the hottest spot and let it sit there for an hour or two. Then I measure the temp on top of this. That will tell you how hot the top of your tortoises shel is getting.

If they are always on one side or the other, its a good indicator that you need to make a temp adjustment. If they are always on the cold side, its too hot. If they are alway on the hot side, its not hot enough.

Hi i have a lose Thermo too which i have moved around the different areas to check range of temp, It hits 90 on the slates under lamp and 80 in cooler areas, I will look into geting a infared temp gun too. she is moving around a bit she seems to eat then bask which i know is to help digestion. then she will have a walk around for a short time before going back to the lamp were she stays for a nap before repeating the walk around feeding through the day always ends with a bask. She defo seem happier in the table as she seem to spend most of the day in the Viv trying to climb out she as yet to try to escape the table.

 

[Tracy Gould]

Well Shelby must have been sulking because i changed her home because she as been really active today she as wore herself out though because she as gone into her den early, she as not dug down yet but i have a feeling she will not be back out tonight lol.