Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[MillyMollyMandy]

I have a 2 year old Leopard tortoise and we keep a heat lamp
(100 watt bulb) over his glass tank (with mesh roof, heat lamp sits on
top) for about 10-12 hours of the day, then we put a heat mat on under
his tank for the rest of the hours.
Do we need the heat lamp on all the time or could we use a heat mat instead all the time? The tortoise is inside in our sun lounge but the sun lounge is not heated. Is this the right set up or do we need to do more, we have a thermometer gauge but not a thermostat in the tank.
Many thanks for your help!

[kroakykaren]

Hi Mandy, i dont keep leopards but have three young redfoots. I have them in an open topped enclosure with a 50 watt halogen spot for heat and a Uv 10%, i give no night time heat the temps dont drop low enough where they are kept. The spot light and UV are on for 12 hours a day every day, hope that helps
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[Dan Bristow]

hi, glass tanks are not the ideal thing for keeping a tortoise in ,especially leopard tortoises as they don't appreciate humidity. a tortoise table is ideal for them when young,these are essentially a book case without the shelves put on its back. i wouldn't use a heat mat for tortoises as they burrow to escape the heat so it goes against the natural behaviour. i personally use a 100w powersun over my tortoise table (which is 5ft x 2ft at the min) to provide a basking temp of 95F for the tortoise. these are quite pricey bulbs so you could use a normal 100w (or more or less depending if you can achieve the basking spot) instead and then you must have at least an 8% UV tube for the tortoise. these should be on for approx 12hrs a day(use a plug in timer,makes it easy!!) and as long as the room doesn't drop below about 70F you will require no other night heat,if it does drop too low you can use a low wattage red bulb to help keep it a little warmer. provide it with a soft substrate,either a sand soil mix (play sand) or something like hemp at a few inches deep. also make sure you feed a 70% grass based diet,the other 30% being weeds and a little shop bought greens.never feed fruit to a leopard tortoise.not good for it.also ensure you dust the food with a calcium supplement and nutrobol a few times a week. i may of gone off on a tangent then but i hope some of that helps a bit!!!good luck and enjoy!!!