poorly tortoise

[nicky]

i am using chipsi chippings for her to walk on do i just use ply wood to make the table at the minute i have got a dimming thermostat in the tank will there be a need for that in the tortoise table and i also have a bulb uv will that be ok

[Eire_Ade]

Nicky, the tortoise table still requires UV lighting and a basking lamp.

The temperature at the basking lamp should be around 30 degress c. The UV tube will need to be about 6" above the tortoise to get optimum UV out of the tube and this wil require changing when it is 6 months old as they loose their UV properties and become more like ordinary fluorescent lights cos they still light up but are no good for UV.

The silicone sealing you were asking about is not necessary in a tortoise table, as the silicone in a viv is the only thing holding all the glass together.

Hope this helps.

Ade

[nicky]

thanks will i still be able to use the uv bulb in the table instead of the uv strip and do i need the thermo in table

[Eire_Ade]

Hi Nicky,

What lighting have you got exatcly?

Whatever you were using in the viv can be used in the table top enclosure except the heat mat, they dont need that, they can get burned on them.

Ade

[Becks]

can u upload any pics af u set up as it is now .
so we can see what u are useing now
if have any problems let me know i would be willing to upload them for u

[Eire_Ade]

Make sure you upload images using photobucket as the other picture server is down most of the day.

Ade

[nicky]

on the mesh top of the tank i have got a uv bulb in a lamp holder and a basking lamp dangling through the mesh i dont know how to upload pictures sorry

[Eire_Ade]

Nicky what does it say on the uv light? Name etc.... Any writing etc....

Ade

[Becks]

u can email them to me i will happily do it for u

[nicky]

it is a 7% uvb d3 compact reptile lamp 23w