Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Anyone got anything new?

I'd like to hear about any new things anyone has stumbled onto in the world of tortoise keeping. I think there's a lot of progress that can be made in the hobby if we experiment with different aspects of tortoise keeping.

Mainly I'm referring to keeping tortoises primarily indoors, as outdoors most species of tortoise are provided with what they need. However, I'm really interested in hearing what kind of temps the torts like to bask in outdoors, so if anyone lives where it's still warm and happens to have a temp gun, that would be some good info! Surface temperatures are rarely explored much in tortoise keeping.

Any data or info you guys happen to come up with I think should be posted. I got some interesting info from my russians about surface temperatures and such. Out of the three basking spots they are offered, my females like the one with surface temperatures that sometimes reach as high as 170f. Keep in mind, this is the actual temperature of the surface of the dirt, not the air temperature. The ambient air temperature in the enclosure ranges from 60-75, maybe 80 closer to the basking lamps. I've tried measuring the air temperature underneath the basking lamps, but obviously that won't work because the probe of the thermometer heats up under the light and I get roughly the same temps. Just from setting my hand under it though I would compare it to standing in the sunlight on a warm day (say 90f). I'd like to see how all this compares to temperatures taken from tortoises kept outdoors. It's too cold up here for them to go out into their pens. I'm also curious as to what the surface temperature of a tortoise's shell is after basking for an extended period.

So let's hear it! Any new info that could possibly help the hobby is good info.

In my hermanni's tank he has some rocks piled up under 2 100 watt ceramic heat emitters with a heating pad underneath it (the rocks). I don't have a temp gun but when I lay a therrmometer between 2 of the rocks it quickly goes up to 120 or so. That is where he usually basks. He has cooler areas to go to as well if he wants, the coolest generally being around 80 or so. He also has areas of varying humidity to go to as well. He sleeps in the most humid spot most nights. This spot is in the middle of the tank (between the hot and cool ends). The ceramic heat emitters are on a timer that shuts them off at 8pm at night.

tempguns are a great investment for $25. i got similar results with a regular thermometer under the hot basking spot (which I attribute to the fact that the heat lamps heat up the probe on the thermometer), but I got some good readings with the temp gun.

I wish I had thought of it this past summer, but I am really interested to see what kind of temperatures I can find outside on sunny days.

One last note...I think basking under a hot basking spot could be a valuable survival technique in the wild. The less time they have to spend out in the open, the better. Also gives more time for grazing and burrowing.