BRAND NEW COMBI lamp

[CherryBrandy]

I don't know if it helps and there is no absolute hard and fast rule to this, but my tiny torts are on are 8am and off at 16.00hrs the only reason for this for me is it sort of mimic the older ones when they are up v early sometimes but go to home around 15.30 to 16.00, your set up sound good but I would watch their behaviour as they may be asleep afternoon - and also if small they will go away for sleep back in again and out...near to their little house because of overhead predators. Some people place a small brick or large stone under the lamp which sounds good. Or as I was advised build up into a peak so if turn over they should tumble away from the heat source. sounds all good though cant wait for your pickies ! CB

[Ozric Jonathan]

Thanks John for clarifying that there isn't a risk of excess uvb in Mark's set-up. I don't know that it's actually needed to turn the D3 off for a while but that could easily be done using a timer.

[Alan1]

Originally Posted by markbigears

Alan, i was thinking maybe D3 on 8am-12noon and 2pm-8pm on a timer. I'm going to keep the area under the lamp and 6 inches all around it clear from anything so the little guy has no opportunity to fall over, what do you think?

If you have 1 tort it's not so bad but they go upside down when climbing up a wall, they can stand upright and topple backwards so if your lamp is near the side then it would be a bit dodgy to have no means of getting up again. 2 torts turn each other over. Bear in mind that you will probably be providing vitamin D3 via a supplement like Nutrobal or if you feed pellets so it's not as if they are going without D3 if lamps are not on all the time. Here's what I used to have


Apologies for going off topic a bit ArcadiaJohn

[markbigears]

probably a daft question ...... but can a small tort get on it's back on a flat surface? like i said, i'm not going to have anything under the lamp and the lamp will be positioned about 8 inches from side / back / front of viv, so no walls to climb up and topple over.

[CherryBrandy]

Don't want to put words in Alan's mouth but I think what he is saying is the sides of the pen. You will see when you get your little one it will climb the sides on occasion and they stretch out and fall backwards. Flat surface upturn I would be surprised, but there are disadvantages having flat surfaces. Even my little 20g tort has hills and broken pots (very cheap way of making it more interesting) to climb over. There is a view that a tortoise shouldn't see 1 foot in front.....apparently they feel safer and it makes their pen more 'secret garden'....who knows ! CB

[Alan1]

Originally Posted by CherryBrandy

Don't want to put words in Alan's mouth but I think what he is saying is the sides of the pen. You will see when you get your little one it will climb the sides on occasion and they stretch out and fall backwards. Flat surface upturn I would be surprised, but there are disadvantages having flat surfaces. Even my little 20g tort has hills and broken pots (very cheap way of making it more interesting) to climb over. There is a view that a tortoise shouldn't see 1 foot in front.....apparently they feel safer and it makes their pen more 'secret garden'....who knows ! CB

Yes it's the sides of the enclosure I mean and I've seen them go upside down and try to get up which in turn can move them from where they landed. They get 1 leg in contact with the ground but can only push themselves about upside down particularly if it's dry loose soil.

[vikki]

Do people not find that if they turn the lights out for a few hours that their tortoise thinks it is bedtime and disappears to its sleeping quarters - if I want mine to go to bed if they are up later than normal then once I switch the lamp out off they go and tend to stay there until following morning

[CherryBrandy]

Originally Posted by vikki

Do people not find that if they turn the lights out for a few hours that their tortoise thinks it is bedtime and disappears to its sleeping quarters - if I want mine to go to bed if they are up later than normal then once I switch the lamp out off they go and tend to stay there until following morning

Sometimes I turn off earlier in afternoon and Franlyn will stay out. I think if its later on yes they probably do toddle off to bed,. My view is that less temps toughens them up for outdoor living - as long a requirements and welfare ok. I keep mine at 26 - 29, even very tiny ones. CB

[vikki]

That's interesting - my two are at about 30 degrees at the moment and seem ok but I definitely think that as spring comes I will drop the temperatures a bit to prepare them to go outdoors Thought I had read somewhere that they needed about 30 degrees to assist digestion but you obviously haven't found this a problem (and after all in the wild they wouldn't constantly have 30+ degrees)

[Ozric Jonathan]

I think the system is going full steam ahead at 32C. But digestion takes place at anything above 13C, it's just slower.