UVB for a year old sulcata

[StoneyYogi]

Hi, I have about a year old salcata tortoise. He is currently a indoor tortoise and I try to bring him outside for natural sunlight every other day. I just bought a 36" uvb light strip that has a T5 HO tube. I'm not sure how high up I should have it from the tortoise.

 

[Markw84]

Hi, I have about a year old salcata tortoise. He is currently a indoor tortoise and I try to bring him outside for natural sunlight every other day. I just bought a 36" uvb light strip that has a T5 HO tube. I'm not sure how high up I should have it from the tortoise.

We would need to know what bulb you have in the fixture? The T5 UVB bulbs are normally rated for their percentage of UVB in the overall output. 6% or 6.0, 12% or 12.0, etc. The brand of the bulb (arcadia or zoomed, etc) can also give different readings. Finally the type of fixture and if it has a reflector hood, what type of hood will also greatly affect the UVB amount to the tortoise.

That is why the solarmeter 6.5 is really necessary to check to see the UV your tortoise is actually receiving in your application. If you answer the questions above, we can only give general guidelines of what you "should" expect with that particular bulb and fixture combo.