Lighting advice?

herbal

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Sep 29, 2022
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Hello, I just got a new baby red foot tortoise.

My initial plan was to get the set up for a yellow belly slider aquatic turtle; so I had gotten a zoo med basking lamp 75w and a zoo med reptisun 10.0 uvb 13w lamp, which I put both of these in one of those combo light fixtures.

I had asked the person I adopted my tortoise from about my lights if they were okay or what he suggested and he said for my tortoise being small and a baby that they were sufficient. I spent a lot of time reading up on many things about caring for red foot tortoise over the night and it just seems like each pdf care sheet is inconsistent to a point.

What would be your suggestion. I currently don't have a 100% complete set up, but I am getting the right things all in one week. I currently have like a long storage container, with the lamps on one side and a place to hide and get away from the lamps. Any tips on lighting would be amazing, as I really do wanna keep my little buddy as cozy and comfortable as possible!

ALSO, another question is it 6-10 inches from the back of his shell? or from the enclosure substrate floor?
 

wellington

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The combo fixture is a bad idea, so is the coil uvb bulb.
You need a tube florescent for uvb and and a flood or basking bulb for heat along with ceramic heat emitter for added day heat if needed and for night heat.
@ZEROPILOT can help with proper heating temps and lighting.
6-10 inches is from the shell but those distance are too close.
 

ZEROPILOT

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The combo fixture is a bad idea, so is the coil uvb bulb.
You need a tube florescent for uvb and and a flood or basking bulb for heat along with ceramic heat emitter for added day heat if needed and for night heat.
@ZEROPILOT can help with proper heating temps and lighting.
6-10 inches is from the shell but those distance are too close.
I absolutely agree.
A Seperate T5 HO UVB linear strip lamp is needed. Probably a 10.0 or a 12%. And a 60 watt CHE.
Your target temperature is 80 to 88 with 82-84 being perfect.
Your humidity needs to be 70% plus
 

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