toothlesstort
New Member
Hi! I'm new to the forum as well as a new tortoise owner and really need some advice. I got a 3-4 month old red foot (named Toothless!) yesterday and set up a small temporary enclosure for it. My main concern is its lighting.
I'm currently just using a standard LED bulb (7 watts, warm white, model is EBI107WW) since that's all I could find/buy yesterday. I have been researching all day about what types of light it needs for heat and UVB and have just ended up extremely confused and feeling really stupid. I've seen posts that recommend a CHE which I don't think I can use since both this enclosure and the bigger one that I bought online recently are both made of plastic. Some say to get a MVB but then others say that it causes pyramiding and damage to the carapace, while some recommend getting a UVB tube light plus a basking light.
For context, I live in the Philippines where it's generally already hot and humid. Of course, I'm still going to be monitoring the temperatures and such (I have a thermo/hygrometer coming soon), but I saw a local Youtuber say that a UVB light is enough, no need for a heat source. I also recently saw this comment on the forum: https://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/is-this-a-good-bulb.186302/#post-1874831 saying that I don't need a spot bulb or basking lamp at all, just a fluorecent/LED light. Am I just misinterpreting this?
Would appreciate any advice on this as well as recommendations for products, if needed. Thank you so much!
link to future enclosure (55L): https://shp.ee/r8dkn4j
link to a reddit post I made with more info about Toothless:
I'm currently just using a standard LED bulb (7 watts, warm white, model is EBI107WW) since that's all I could find/buy yesterday. I have been researching all day about what types of light it needs for heat and UVB and have just ended up extremely confused and feeling really stupid. I've seen posts that recommend a CHE which I don't think I can use since both this enclosure and the bigger one that I bought online recently are both made of plastic. Some say to get a MVB but then others say that it causes pyramiding and damage to the carapace, while some recommend getting a UVB tube light plus a basking light.
For context, I live in the Philippines where it's generally already hot and humid. Of course, I'm still going to be monitoring the temperatures and such (I have a thermo/hygrometer coming soon), but I saw a local Youtuber say that a UVB light is enough, no need for a heat source. I also recently saw this comment on the forum: https://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/is-this-a-good-bulb.186302/#post-1874831 saying that I don't need a spot bulb or basking lamp at all, just a fluorecent/LED light. Am I just misinterpreting this?
Would appreciate any advice on this as well as recommendations for products, if needed. Thank you so much!
link to future enclosure (55L): https://shp.ee/r8dkn4j
link to a reddit post I made with more info about Toothless:
Is this a good bulb?
Does anyone know if this is a good bulb for my Red Footed Tortoise? Will it do everything my tortoise needs?
www.tortoiseforum.org
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