A few food and general q's :)

[Norty Torty]

I have one more question now..may be a silly one, but here goes! ...

I was chatting to my house-mate about Snorks lamp being MV etc and he said 'Isn't that hazardous to our health ie the Mercury etc?' Is this true? Anyone know about this?

Thanks...again! x

[swad1000]

If you smash the bulb then possibly yes. But flourescent lamps also contain mercury vapour, so if you have energy efficient lamps in your house they all pose the same minimal danger.

[Norty Torty]

Thanks for that swad1000 - just thought I would check

[EJ]

Mercury vapor lamps are similar to flourescent bulbs in that they need a starter and ballast. That's where you get the term 'self ballasted'. Once started the bulb stays lighted. If it goes out there is a cool down period before it can be restarted. It is either off or on. In the case of an incandescent bulb you can have inbetweens with the use of a rheostat.

On the mercury vapor lamps it's not a question of shouldn't... but can't use a variable power source.

Originally Posted by Norty Torty

'If the thermostat is for your mercury vapour lamp then they shouldn't be used with a thermostat. They are not designed to go on and off. When they are switched off they are supposed to be left off for at least 15 minutes before switching back on again. 12 -14 hours a day is the recommended lamps on time

I don't understand why you shouldn't use a thermostat with the lamp?

Is it a bad lamp that I am using?[/quote]

[Norty Torty]

EJ - thank you for that information...there's such a lot you don't get told when you buy these things isn't there!

x

[EJ]

Most people don't even want to know outside of using it and it works.

Originally Posted by Norty Torty

EJ - thank you for that information...there's such a lot you don't get told when you buy these things isn't there!

x

[Alan1]

Originally Posted by Norty Torty

What type of MV lamp are you using?

How far ideally should I be placing the lamp from the base of the tort table?

x[/QUOTE]

the lamp needs to be pointing straight down, not at an angle as it will say in the instructions for your Solar Glo. What height you have it depends on what temperature you are getting. Don't have it any closer than it says on the instructions. You want the temperature below it on the ground to be about 32c

[Norty Torty]

Caledonia - Thanks for this

So - I seem to be doing this right, it's mainly the food issue I'm worrying about now ie - him not eating too much of anything other than cucumber!!

x

[Bindi]

I've been told that torts can get quite addicted to the foods that they like, but it's important that they get as wide a variety as possible.
Keep bathing him everyday, if it were me i'd cut out the cucumber altogether. If you're worried about doing this you could rub some over the rest of his weeds so he gets the scent of the cucumber.

It may be benficial to add a little extra light to keep him going. Some people use an old UV strip, or you could use a desklamp to up the light levels
I'm afraid I can't comment on his weight as I'm not familiar with Horsfields...and I can only work in grammes!!

[Alan1]

Originally Posted by Norty Torty

Caledonia - Thanks for this

So - I seem to be doing this right, it's mainly the food issue I'm worrying about now ie - him not eating too much of anything other than cucumber!!

x

cucumber is almost all water, as is most types of lettuce. If you have just got the tort recently then it will take a while for it to adjust to its new home. They don't like change. One of mine went 7 weeks without eating much at all, it only used to eat a little bit lettuce every five days or so and took 7 weeks before eating a weed.
I forget what it is you have but if it's a Horsfield it will slow down and eat little at this time of year. Torts can go days without eating in the wild sometimes. The right temperature and light stimulates eating and activity but not so much so if still settling in