Is a ceiling fan and air conditioning bad for my tort?

[Carol S]

Hello

Is a ceiling fan bad to have on in the room that the turtle enclosure is in? The celling fan is not directly overhead the enclosure. I am going to put him in an under-the-bed Rubbermaid enclosure. Right now he is in a 20 gallon reptile enclosure. The enclosure is about 12-15 feet away from where the fan hangs overhead. Also is air conditioning bad?. The vent is a good distance away from the enclosure and does not blow directly on it. He has a basking area of around 95-99 and a UVB light. It has been too hot to put him outside in his outside portable enclosure so he is spending his days inside until the weather gets cooler. I don't want to cause a health problem for my tort so any information will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Carol

 

[Itort]

As long as it's not blowing directly on him, he should be fine. I run a ceiling fan year round (I reverse it in winter to bring warm air down) with no ill effects.

 

[Yvonne G]

I live in Central Calif and here in the valley evaporative coolers are common place. The cooler drips water over pads and a large squirrel-cage fan blows air through the pads and into the house. The wind from the cooler is quite strong. I have aluminum foil placed over my indoor habitats to keep the wind from blowing on the babies. Its not tightly placed to the sides, just draped over the top and over the light to keep the wind out. I would think it would not be good for the fan to be blowing the warm air out of your habitat.

Yvonne

 

[tortoisenerd]

I would also check the humidity in the enclosure so you are aware of it in addition to temperature. What temperature is too hot for him to be outside? What type of tortoise? The desert tortoises are fine with high temperatures (even 110 as a high) with the proper precautions like water, sprinklers, mud hole, shade, burrow, etc. Yvonne idea for the fan is great. If you put your hand at the substrate level do you feel the air moving a lot, or are the walls rather high? Even with a fan directly on an enclosure sometimes it won't affect the tort, but sometimes it could.

 

[Ainzo]

I absolutely agree with you Itort, just like what my friend happened to his tortoise. It is directly blowing in his tort, and they did not check if the tort is compatible in his ceiling fan. They did not follow the proper way, and it caused damage of his tort.

 

[GBtortoises]

One of the biggest downfalls of having a fan or an air conditioner operating in the same room as the tortoise enclosure is that you're fighting one thing against another. You're trying to maintain a certain level of heat (and humidity) within the tortoise enclosure but at the same time cooling the room outside the enclosure for human comfort. The source that produces a larger volume is going to win so it may be a struggle to maintain temperatures within the enclosure if you want to turn up the A/C or fan. Loss of humidity, especially with A/C may become a concern too. I don't think either one is "bad" for a tortoise as long as they are not directly in the airflow, but it just may take some additional attention to maintain an optimum environment for the tortoise.