Well Worth a Read

[EJ]

You bring up an interesting point... what determins the thickness of the keratin of the carapace.

The bone is almost like a fluid. I seem to remember reading that the bone is almost like an organ in that it is constantly participating in the metabolism of the body. The keratin is not fluid but it is added to, as needed, by the bone.

Along these lines... I believe pyramiding can be corrected... but I'm not going to go there right now.

I've got some good photos of gopher tortoises here in the US... you can see that the shell is worn well below what was originally there.

I'll try and post them later.

Originally Posted by andy1

yeah im confused about the thickness of the keratin and continual wearing away, if you look at a piece of keratin from an old tortoise or even a piece from a young one it really is thin to start with., i cant believe that the wear taking place in the wild is that much , sure it will polish the keratin but this articles kind of implies more than that is going on.

[EJ]

When those first came out they revolutionized the keeping of reptiles.

They work best with lizards and snakes.

Originally Posted by andy1

I have some of these, but would recommend anybody buying a new thermostat ,to go for the dimming stat

http://www.eurorep.net/habistat/dimming.htm

it is generally a little more money but has the advantage you can use for all purposes including using light bulbs as heat sources that you can control. vey usefull for the summer so that you know if ambient temps rise above a certain level your thermostat will drop the power of the heat source avoiding overheating.

[Alan1]

Given that 'drying out' under a bulb is supposedly not good I'm now wondering if it would actually be better to ditch the MV bulb and just use UV strips and have a higher room temperature.

Do they just like to bask under a lamp or do they do it because they need to? Are they just doing it to catch UV or are they just getting to the desired temperature?

[Anita Sayles]

I don’t know if they have to bask as such, if the temps were high enough they would be warm. It’s not sunny everyday in the wild but tortoises are still active.

I’m going (for now) down the semi-heated table route (with a heatmat) and I’m going to move my UVB further away, basking area 28deg no hotter, and I shall see how it goes.

[swad1000]

IMHO that will just make the tort sit under the lamp longer, its not just the heat but the UV they want. Having the lamp closer will mean the tort warms up quicker, will get its UV quicker, and also mean it will move away from the lamp as it will be too warm for its ideal body temp.

[Alan1]

It's hard to say. the higher the bulb is, the wider the the area of UV there is, the weaker the UV is and the less intense the heat is so is it better to have intense heat and stronger UV for a shorter time or a less intense heat and weaker UV for a longer time how do we know

[Bindi]

I keep banging on about ambient temps but if the ambient temps of the room are decent then the tort won't sit under the lamp so long thus potentially not drying out his carapace so much. I think a basking spot of 28 is too low but will be interested to see how your torts react Anita.

Alan, although as you know I have a decent (I hope) bulb in my indoor enclosure, I have it quite high up to get a 32 degree basking spot, so the UV wouldn't be as strong, but it is more spread over the table. Also, as i suppliment with Nutrobal, I know that tort is getting D3 suppliment so I'm not overly concerned about him missing out.

BUT to bask he (indoor overwintered tort)does go directly under his lamp so I know he's getting his UV as well but he's quite happy to move away from the heat when he's had enough..........sorry, rambling...

[Alan1]

That's what I was kind of meaning in post #63 Bindi. If the room temp was warm enough for them to be active then a UV strip might be a better option (in my case anyway) because with the heat+UV bulb it is very very difficult for me to have the room temperature stable. The room temp just keeps on rising because of the bulbs' heat (2 bulbs mind). With a UV strip producing no heat then it would be easier to keep the room temp stable. I'm no so sure that they bask under a lamp for UV, I think it's for heat only otherwise they would bask under a UV strip if the room temp was warm enough surely? They bask under non-UV bulbs too

[swad1000]

The need the heat + UV though for D3 synthesis, so that could explain why they don't bask under UV strips. They may not be able to sense the UV, but associate the heat with UV. Hence basking under bulbs, and not UV strips. We can't sense UV exposure and its just as important to us as torts.

I know my torts when outside prefer to bask in the sun rather than be inside there heated house, even when its colder outside than in their house.

[Alan1]

but my torts bask in their basking positions with their legs and head out even when cloudy as long as it's warm enough and also indoors if warm enough and the lights are off so that would suggest they do it anyway whether there is a direct heat+UV source or not. At what temperature is it converted into D3, is it known?