hi can anybody advise me on the best type of heat source for my baby russians outdoor enclosure xx

Hello and a very warm welcome to the TPG web site.  You are the very first person to post a message.  Congratulations.

If you describe your facilites relating to your enclosure regarding the type of shelter you have for your tortoise and the size of it someone will be able to give you further advice.

Helen

Hi and thanks for being the first member to post <g>

As for heating, it depends on whether you looking for daytime/nightime heating, and what area you wish to heat, i.e., is it a coldframe or greenhouse?  Obviously a greenhouse is harder, and more expensive to heat, but as your torts are only young, it's probably a smaller area.

Ceramic heaters are very good for night as they don't emit light, only heat.  Naturally on a morning you will want light for them so a normal household bulb should be sufficient.  Some people prefer to use combined UVB bulbs even outside for cloudy/rainy days when torts aren't that keen on venturing out.  Personally I use tubular heaters for night ran through a thermostat, when the temps drop to 10c, the heater kicks in and keeps the ambient temps about 12c.

During the day I use my oldest Powersuns outdoors (2 cold frames) and 2 160watt combineds in my greenhouse.  Up here in Newcastle, the weather isn't always tortoise friendly <g>, so I like to provide that extra UVB they miss out on during our typical British summers.

Hope this helps

Jo

hi, thanks for your input, we have a small coldframe built for the time being, its only about 6ft by 2ft but its secure for him, im thinking of having a wooden box with a ramp placed at one end which hopefully twiglet will learn to sleep in so i can close it up but im not sure whether to have a heat lamp in the box or not, ive seen them on sale at 40watts so im assuming i would be able to use it with a thermostat, i will post a photo of his tempory enclosure so that people will have a better idea of how best to advise me, well done with the site its full of useful info xxx 

Any box you have made should be well insulated for Spring and Autumn and large enough to have a night heater and a day time basking bulb installed.  Have a look on the TPG photo gallery there's a dog kennel shaped tort house on one of the pics in the Outdoor Adult set ups.  I'm not suggesting this shape but it is tall enough to hold a lamp suspended from a chain and has a tubular heater (above tort height inside) set on a thermostat and timer.  For insulation it has the silver insulation material you buy on a sheet from builders yards in between the outer and inner walls. It has also has electrics running to it underground and these were installed bu a qualified electrician.  This is just one suggestion.  There is also a picture in the outdoor hatchling juvenile set up folder of a coldframe which also has electrics installed.

Hope this helps with your thinking and planning.

Helen