How do I heat the Tortoise enclosure at night?

 

Some breeds of tortoise and small hatchlings may require background heating if the room where your tortoise is drops below the recommended and safe temperature ranges.

There are a few options to provide nighttime heating, usually just ONE of these options will be sufficient:

1) ceramic heating element/bulb (CHE) - this MUST be on a suitable thermostat otherwise it could overheat your enclosure/tortoise. I use 100w for Che bulb.

For this you will need the following:

  • The 100w CHE bulb

  • The bulb holder with a suitable heat resistant fitting. This can be attached to the side of your tortoise table (or you can hang from a separate lamp stand)

  • We also recommend a heat lamp cage to protect your tortoise (and yourself!) from burns

    The above 3 items can be purchased as a special deal here

  • A pulse proportional thermostat is designed to use with CHE bulbs (and heat mats) and is more cost effective. You can use cheaper thermostats but we cannot guarantee the reliability/safety of these.

OR

2) Heat Mat and Thermostat

If your table has a separate “bedroom” or enclosed area (like this one we sell in our shop), then you can fix a heat mat to the underside of the lid in this area. Adhesive heat mats work best for this. It is essential that the tortoise does NOT come in contact with mat, so should never be placed under the substrate as they can dig down into the substrate. It also should not be placed on the side of the tortoise table, if the tortoise can climb up and reach it.

For this option you will need the following:

  • an adhesive heat mat small enough to fit the area. A 15w heat mat is usually suitable for “bedroom” or enclosed area in the tortoise table that I stock in my shop. However, this will depend on the ambient temperature or how cold the room is where your tortoise table is kept.

  • A reliable thermostat that is suitable for the wattage of your heat mat. You can use other cheaper thermostats but we cannot guarantee the reliability/safety of these.

OR

3) thermostatically controlled heater, this will kick in when temperatures drop below a certain temperature in the room where tortoise is (not very accurate in my opinion, but does the job!)