Night time heat source?

Rex1718

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My sulcata is about 10 inches and a few lbs now. He is living outdoors. I have an enclosed 3.5 ft by 4 ft box built for shade, and also have heat lamps for chilly weather. Recently the weather has been in the high 90s and dropping to the low 70s at night. Should I still run the heat at night or should he be fine? He has enough room to get away from the heat source, I just wanna make sure he is warm enough.
Also I have been spraying his enclosure daily and soaking him a few times a week. I live is South Carolina, so the humidity is normally high, but the past few weeks have been pretty dry.
My main concern is a RI with low night time temps and high humidity
 

Yvonne G

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You have to make sure your tortoise isn't cold at night. To do that, you put him away in a heated night box at night. My sulcata has a whole shed, heated, insulated, to himself and he puts himself away every night. Then I close the door until morning.

His shed is heated by a pig blanket (a fiberglass pad that lays on the floor), and a brooder lamp hanging from the ceiling. But unless you have a tall ceiling, you can't use overhead heat or you'll burn the top of the tortoise's shell. Quite a few on here use the oil-filled electric radiators:

radiator.jpg

You have to build some sort of guard around it to keep your tortoise away from it.
 

Kalbrecht

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You have to make sure your tortoise isn't cold at night. To do that, you put him away in a heated night box at night. My sulcata has a whole shed, heated, insulated, to himself and he puts himself away every night. Then I close the door until morning.
Yvonne, do you have a picture of your night box
 

Tom

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My sulcata is about 10 inches and a few lbs now. He is living outdoors. I have an enclosed 3.5 ft by 4 ft box built for shade, and also have heat lamps for chilly weather. Recently the weather has been in the high 90s and dropping to the low 70s at night. Should I still run the heat at night or should he be fine? He has enough room to get away from the heat source, I just wanna make sure he is warm enough.
Also I have been spraying his enclosure daily and soaking him a few times a week. I live is South Carolina, so the humidity is normally high, but the past few weeks have been pretty dry.
My main concern is a RI with low night time temps and high humidity
Its time to build a proper sealed and insulated, heated night box. Its also time to stop using heat lamps as these will damage the carapace of a larger tortoise and they are not very effective. For a single smaller sulcata, I prefer the combo of a Kane heat mat and radiant heat panel both controlled by a thermostat. I'd set the thermostat at 80. On a warmer day or night, it will remain off. On a cooler night, your tortoise will have a warm place to go.

Here is an example:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/another-night-box-thread.88966/

Here is one thermostat that I have used and like:
https://www.lllreptile.com/products/13883-zilla-1000-watt-temperature-controller

RHP:
https://www.reptilebasics.com/rbi-radiant-heat-panels

Kane mats:
https://www.tortoisesupply.com/kane

These items used in an insulated box will keep your tortoise safe and warm.
 

Yvonne G

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Rex1718

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Ok, thanks guys. I didn’t know the heat lamps would burn his shell.
Thanks for the links Tom.
 

Tom

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Ok, thanks guys. I didn’t know the heat lamps would burn his shell.
Thanks for the links Tom.
I call it a "slow burn". On a cool night the tortoise will park under the heat lamp, but the lamp only heats the surface of the shell and doesn't penetrate very deep. The cooler floor and cooler air sucks the heat out of the tortoise faster than the overhead bulb can replace it, and the tortoise's core never gets warm enough. As a result, the tortoise stays under the bulb all night long. The IR-A and intense heat emitted by an incandescent bulb, or the concentrated heat emitted by a CHE, will dry out and damage the carapace over time. As the tortoise gets bigger, the carapace gets closer and closer to the damaging bulbs. The RHP spreads the heat out over a large area and never gets too hot. The heat mat heats from below and allows the tortoise to get warm all the way through. You'll notice in my box that the tortoise can get completely off and away from the heat sources, but still be closed up in the warm box with the correct air temperature.
 

Rex1718

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Thank y’all so much, my heater and supplies are on the way
 

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