Outdoor heat/light question

[Ozric Jonathan]

Emma I haven't used a compact bulb but some keepers don't rate them. Is the bulb for use inside a hut or coldframe - please remind me? 15 watts is a small amount of power and you won't get a lot of uv for that and unless the tortoise was really very near to the lamp I think the effect would be negligible. This lamp is designed to be used inside a vivarium and I suspect quite a small one at that. Sorry i forgot the details of your set-up, is there also an outside area?

[EmmaBee]

Hi Jonathan,

My set up is converted rabbit hutch (wire front replaced with ply, fully insulated and tubular heater), cold frame and outdoor area with hides. I'm tying myself in knots worrying about UV levels if the weather is bad hence wondering if we need a UV lamp in the hutch area too. I don't think the cold frame can really take electrics.

Thanks

[Daryn]

Ive never had a UV lamp I feed them the proper diet and sprinkle calcium powder on and I get them outside when ever the weather is good like today. They both seem very healthy and strong.

Ive never stressed over UV but again as has been said on other threads who knows who is doing the right thing or not we are just getting through it the best way we can with continuing reading and experiments.

[EmmaBee]

Thanks Daryn Maybe I'm getting to the point where I'm reading too much?!

[Daryn]

Their is a lot of reading to be done and a lot of conflicting advice who knows what is right and what is not.

Sorry to confuse you more

Ive often thought about getting a UV tube for them but they seem fine without one and believe me if its something they defo need I would go out and get one but the natural sun has to be far better for them although the UV levels are no way near as good as the ones in the wild is this a problem I dont know.

Im even trying to ditch the basking lamp now and use just the tube heater in a small coldframe instead to warm them up when the sun is not out. So as you can see everyone swaps and changes and evolves our torte environments as we go along.

Tortoise's need heat, light, proper diet mostly weed diet, water and calcium which we use calcium powders for this to survive, they need UV too but how much of this they actually need is another story and I'm still learning like everyone else.

Read up is all you can do then make up your own mind, at the end of the day we are trying to replicate the wild as much as possible so that's our clue.

I was talking to a mate last night and he told me he had a tortoise when he was a child, it lived in his UK garden all its life, no calcium supplement's, no weed diet other than what it found in the garden as they fed it on tomatoes lettuce cabbage any greens they had etc alot of things they are not supposed to have, they had it for over 20 years then it escaped or was stolen.

So their you go, just let us know which way you propose to do it and see what replies / advice you get

[Ozric Jonathan]

Hi Emma

if your tort is going to be outside a fair bit of the time then I don't think you should stress too much about uvb. Or at least not in the hutch. If there was a way for you to use uvb transmitting material in the lid of the coldframe that would be a better investment. Younger tortoises are more likely to suffer more from a lack of uvb than older ones.

I can't quite agree with some bits in Daryn's last post. It's correct that a tiny fraction of the tortoises that were brought to the UK and just plonked down in the garden are still alive. But it is a tiny fraction and many thousands died. Some of those that appeared to be doing alright were adults when they were collected and had many years of proper living behind them in the wild. As a result they took a long time to die.

[Daryn]

Yeah I agree with you it was more than likely taken from the wild, Im not saying the way they did it was right I certainly wouldnt do it that way as I said I try to replicate the wild as much as possible, its the only true clue that we have.

[EmmaBee]

Thank you, gentlemen. Your experience is invaluable! I'd like to change the cold frame but the husband isn't willing at the moment. Probably because it's all shiny and new, so that may be a winter job. I'll keep researching the UV bulbs and see if anything comes up about having one in an outdoor set up.

Thanks again, you've been so helpful