24-01-2010, 01:25 PM | #1 |
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Egg
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Lighting/heating for Hermanns
I'm planning a new set up for my 4 y/o hermanns tortoise and I'm getting a bit confused, so any help would be greatly appreciated!
I planned to get an exo terra ceramic heater with wire clamp lamp, combined with a good UVb light. I would keep the ceramic heater on at all times (necessary due to being in a cooler part of house) and I already have the clips/unit for a UV strip, so that's not a problem. But which would be best? 1. Ceramic heater and UV strip (which brands and wattage are best? Some places say no more than 5%, others say 10 is appropriate?) 2. Ceramic heater and compact UV bulb (is there any difference between compact and strip light?) 3. Ceramic heater and combined bulb - Or is twice the heat a waste? Also, different sources have different opinions on the ceramic heaters. Some say 60w is enough, but some say 100 is minimum? I'm just so confused about this whole thing, so thanks for any help! |
24-01-2010, 08:21 PM | #2 |
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Hi, most use a combined uv/heat bulb, 120w plus a holder, suspended at one end of the table, hot end. the other end has nothing cool end.
1 Uv strips not totaly up on them, but i am thinking quite high 20%, These are used in conjunction with a basking heat bulb. 2 The ceramic heaters are usually used with a thermostat for night time, winter, set so if the temps drop, say 18c. so it would be a compact uv, plus basking heat bulb 3 Again the ceramic would be used at night on a thermostat. If you had a combined uv/heat bulb, and your night time temps would not fall more than 15c, there's no need for extra night heat.
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24-01-2010, 08:35 PM | #3 |
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Egg
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I use a normal 60w bulb in a lamp.. as long as it reaches the correct temps your ok... for night i have a SMALL heat matt with hardboard taped over the top so tort cant touch it... i put this in his "house" where he likes to sleep :P.. o0o I also use a .5 uv strip.
edit: heat matt has to be on a stat!
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24-01-2010, 08:47 PM | #4 | |
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I've never used the uv strip lights but had thought about it and asked advice from a guy who knows about such stuff and this was the reply
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24-01-2010, 08:53 PM | #5 |
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Egg
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yes i should of mentioned i have a reflector... i will be upgrading to a .10 tomorrow though going by this lol
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24-01-2010, 09:17 PM | #6 |
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Thank's for that Alan, so have you made a decision on the tubes.
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24-01-2010, 09:24 PM | #7 | |
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ATM I'm thinking of 1 160w bulb between the 2 tables but hoping I can make the spring with the 2 I've got and see what the new 160w Arcadia might be like |
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24-01-2010, 09:28 PM | #8 |
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Hi, a ceramic heater doesn't make an ideal heat source for daytime use for a tortoise partly because it doesn't emit light. Also the heat from them will tend to disperse quickly in an open area.
Many of us are using the combined heat and light UVB bulbs and although some us complain that they can be a bit unreliable, its a convenient all-in-one solution that provides quite reasonable quality of UVB. The UVB strip lights give off relatively little UVB though a reptisun 10 is OK if you decide to go that way. Ceramic heaters are good at night if the room is really quite cold. Some keepers who use a UVB strip just use a plain bulb for some localised heat but if your room is a cool one then this probably won't be enough. Hope this helps a bit.
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24-01-2010, 09:28 PM | #9 | |
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24-01-2010, 09:44 PM | #10 | |
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Quote:
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Tags |
heating, hermanns, lighting, strip, uvb |
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