r/tortoise • u/Swimming_Gene_9090 • 10d ago

Question(s) Help with electricity

U wanna get a small tortoise Greek or Hermann's, I'm In the UK and energy prices sucks i know they need two lamps but are there any compact one which really saves money i can really afford around 5 pounds monthly which is about 20kwh so drop your tips and advices. Thanks

0 Upvotes

50% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/kaduyett 10d ago

Damn, I don't think you are gonna find a solution to that. The lamps themselves have to draw a lot of watts to be effective, so the best thing to do would be to find an alternative energy source like solar. But you are in the UK so a solar set up would set you back £150 or so.

-1

u/Swimming_Gene_9090 10d ago

I don't mind if I'm going to pay 150 pounde once and use it keep my tortoises warm forever

3

u/kaduyett 10d ago

So you need panels that provide 1.2x the wattage you need in your solar zone. Example 2x80watt lamps for UVB and UVC 160watts total x 1.2 = 192watts so aim for 200 watts and an inverter to plug the lamps into.

0

u/Swimming_Gene_9090 10d ago

I mean would that require any government papers or council. I hope it's chill also we barely have sun in Wales

2

u/kaduyett 10d ago

Thats why you would have to spend so much on panels cause you will only get 20% of their maximum input with the sun where you are. Also Im in the U.S. and since I wouldn't be connecting it to the grid I wouldn't have to pull permits.

0

u/Swimming_Gene_9090 10d ago

Oh thank you , do you have any recommendations for cheap running costs lamps and how many hours to run