Lighting setup help

[Tom]

That’s good to know incase it happens again 😊 surely if it was the fixture the mvb bulb wouldn’t work in it either? 🤔

Not necessarily, but possibly. Sometimes its just a bad connection when you screw the bulb in and one type works better than the other. Its surprising that the CHE didn't work. Those rarely fail. I'd check both of those bulbs and a working bulb in another fixture before throwing them away.

I buy my incandescent basking bulbs in 6 or 12 packs just for this reason. They always burn out at the most inconvenient times. I like to have several on hand to replace any that fail. I've used 100's of these bulbs over the decades, and dozens of fixtures. I've seen many types of failures for many reasons.

 

[Bethanrs]

Not necessarily, but possibly. Sometimes its just a bad connection when you screw the bulb in and one type works better than the other. Its surprising that the CHE didn't work. Those rarely fail. I'd check both of those bulbs and a working bulb in another fixture before throwing them away.

I buy my incandescent basking bulbs in 6 or 12 packs just for this reason. They always burn out at the most inconvenient times. I like to have several on hand to replace any that fail. I've used 100's of these bulbs over the decades, and dozens of fixtures. I've seen many types of failures for many reasons.

My partner has just picked up this bulb, not the one we usually use, is it suitable?

 

[Tom]

My partner has just picked up this bulb, not the one we usually use, is it suitable?

It can work temporarily. It says "Halo", which I'm guessing means halogen. It is also a spot bulb. Be careful to make sure it is not too hot under the bulb. Over the long term both halogen and any type of incandescent spot bulbs are far too desiccating and will cause pyramiding. Neither should be used over tortoises, in general.

You want a regular incandescent flood bulb. These are getting harder to find all over the world. Lucky for you, Arcadia sells incandescent flood bulbs for basking and you should be able to find that relatively easily in the UK.

 

[Bethanrs]

1. The routine you are following sounds good. There is a wide margin of error for supplement use. With a reasonably good diet, it is difficult to under or over do it. Be aware that your tortoise may ignore the cuttle bone for months, and then start munching on it out of the blue one day.

2. Its hard to list a temperature. It depends on many factors. If the ground is dry, the sun is out, and the wind isn't too bad, then 15-18 C is probably warm enough for some outside time. If it just rained, or its cloudy and overcast, or if there is a cold wind blowing, I would just leave him inside. No need for a basking bulb outside. You tortoise won't get much UV on a cloudy day, but that is okay because you have a great UV tube in the indoor enclosure. They don't need UV every day. They use UV to make D3, and then they store it. They can go months with no UV at all without it causing any problems, and they can go indefinitely with the right supplements.

Personally, I like the two enclosure system. Outside during fair weather, and inside at night and during cold weather, especially for babies and smaller juveniles.

New setup 😊 got rid of the hay like you said . And we’ve installed the uv light with brackets. I’ve set up an led lamp for more ambient light for now but have ordered an led strip to add onto the brackets 👍🏻 also substrate is kept nice and moist to add the humidity 😊

 

[Bethanrs]

It can work temporarily. It says "Halo", which I'm guessing means halogen. It is also a spot bulb. Be careful to make sure it is not too hot under the bulb. Over the long term both halogen and any type of incandescent spot bulbs are far too desiccating and will cause pyramiding. Neither should be used over tortoises, in general.

You want a regular incandescent flood bulb. These are getting harder to find all over the world. Lucky for you, Arcadia sells incandescent flood bulbs for basking and you should be able to find that relatively easily in the UK.

It can work temporarily. It says "Halo", which I'm guessing means halogen. It is also a spot bulb. Be careful to make sure it is not too hot under the bulb. Over the long term both halogen and any type of incandescent spot bulbs are far too desiccating and will cause pyramiding. Neither should be used over tortoises, in general.

You want a regular incandescent flood bulb. These are getting harder to find all over the world. Lucky for you, Arcadia sells incandescent flood bulbs for basking and you should be able to find that relatively easily in the UK.

We’ve tried all shops in the area and none have the floodlight in stock 😒 how annoying! we swapped this one for a non halo spotlight and I’ve ordered 2 floodlights online. They should come Monday, the spotlight will have to do until then 🙏🏼