Maintaining temperature

[Anandita]

Hello,

Hope you've had a wonderful Christmas?

Truck has a lovely upgraded table as he's being over wintered this year 5ft 3in by 2ft 5in, he looks so tiny in it and his favourite place to be in climbing on the massive cork log or hiding underneath it.

The only problem I have is keeping the temp up under the basking area, I have a 150 watt basking heat lamp at about 20cm above shell height and my house is a warm house but sometimes it goes down to 27°c in the day so I put our heating up to warm it up but then of course I don't want to keep doing that lol.

What is the lowest I can have the basking light above him and is there anything else I can add, would a other light help or a wider lampshade?

Thank you.

[Nina]

Hi Anandita. Happy New Year to you and Truck! So sorry to be late in responding to your post, but I spent Christmas in Morocco and only got home on the 29th (and it's taking me a while to catch up on everything that came in while I was away).

What a super Christmas present you gave to Truck, and I'm so glad that he is enjoying it!

Regarding the temperature, are you sure that the bulb is 20cm (8 inches) above the substrate? It's hard to believe that a 150W bulb wouldn't keep it way warmer than 27C directly beneath the bulb. Where are you taking the temperature from? If a thermometer is mounted on a nearby wall, it will be several degrees cooler than it is directly under the bulb. Also, if your basking bulb is an all-in-one mercury vapour heat/light/uvb bulb then 20cm might be a bit too close to the substrate (it should specify a minimum distance from the substrate in the manufacturer's instructions). If the bulb is only for basking and doesn't emit UVB then you can lower it as much as you like.

What you want is about 30C directly under the bulb and at the height of Truck's shell, and then at the cooler end it should be around 20C. This will enable Truck to move from warm to cool areas in order to thermoregulate (so you don't want it to be 30C everywhere -- just directly under the bulb).

I should really look up all our previous correspondence, in case I'm asking you questions that you've already answered, so really sorry if I've said all this before.

And apologies again for the late response -- I hope you haven't completely given up on me!

Cheers,
Nina

[Anandita]

Thanks Nina, Happy New year Hope you had a wonderful holiday.

I have Arcadia T5 12% uvb and separate swell basking heat lamp and a thermometer probe hanging down from the lamp to shell height. I have the basking lamp 20cm from his shell, so it's ok to put it down a bit to get the temp up? The shady end temp is fine but not as light lol.
Thanks Amanda x

[Nina]

Hi Amanda,

Yes, as long as your basking light doesn't put out UVB you can lower it to get the temperature higher. It's amazing that a 150W bulb at that distance isn't giving you the right temperature, but I wouldn't worry too much as 27C isn't terrible -- it just isn't ideal. And of course the weather is supposed to get colder over the next couple of weeks, so maybe you could think about adding another lamp to get it a bit warmer. You wouldn't need anything big -- just a 60W or 75W bulb would help, and it would add a bit of light too. If you can't then don't worry, because as long as you can keep it from falling below 27C under the basking lamp it should be OK (although 29C or 30C would be better).

On another topic altogther, it would be great to see a photo of Truck's new paradise if you have one! We never get tired of looking at torts in their enclosures, and people often get good ideas and tips from looking at other people's set-ups.

Cheers,
Nina

[Anandita]

Thank you Nina, I've lowered the lamp so it goes up to 30

[Anandita]

I've ordered some more tortoise friendly plants to add from the Tortoise Hut to add

[Nina]

Absolutely brilliant! Such a super table you've created for Truck -- loads of interest and things to climb up, over and walk around and under -- and I love that little sign 'Truck Lives Here'. You should be so proud of yourself, Amanda, and I'm sure that anyone reading this thread will be inspired by what you've done. Your initial enclosure was nice, but this one is great -- and I remember that you created a lovely outdoor enclosure for him as well.

It might be that it's the angle that the photo was taken from, but that basking light looks higher up than 20cm. It couldn't be 20 inches could it (sorry for the stupid question, but just thought I'd check). Anyway, glad that you were able to get it up to 30C, and Truck should be one happy little tortoise now.

Cheers,
Nina

[Anandita]

Thank you so much Nina, it means a lot to know I'm getting it right for Truck

The basking lamp is 20cm from the substrate and the uvb is 37cm from Trucks shell so it might be the photo angle lol.