The Tortoise Table

Hello everyone,

I am building an indoor enclosure for my Hermann's Tortoise. My biggest issue is to figure out how to protect my own eyes (well, also the eyes of the other people and 4 legged creatures) from the uv radiation, while offering the best solution for the tortoise. The enclosure is going to be in "public place", for ex. my guest room etc. At the moment I use a mercury vapor lamp. Did anyone find a solution? I would be very thankful for any suggestions!

Mia

Hi Mia,

I think that if you use a protective hood for your mercury vapour lamp, that should protect your eyes from the UV light -- something like this
http://tinyurl.com/ybr6hrtq but you can get them MUCH cheaper. Just make sure you have a ceramic holder that the bulb screws into.
I use a flourescent tube for UVB and you can just buy reflectors that clip directly on to the tube, and they aren't dear (and they also have the benefit of reflecting more of the ways downwards, towards the tortoise). Like this: https://www.bluelizardreptiles.co.uk/re ... 0857000034 (again I have just looked randomly on the internet and you can get them more cheaply).
With any of these coverings for lamps you should be fine, unless you happen to have your head directly underneath the lamp and look upwards.
Good luck, and it would be lovely to see a photo of your enclosure when you've finished it.

Nina