Do i need a heat lamp?
Do i need a heat lamp?
hello. a day ago i bought a beautiful herman tortoise about 2 yr old. i have made a tortoise table 4ft long by 2ft wide and 1ft deep. i fitted a lamp with a 50watt uva and uvb bulb. my tortoise doesnt want to bask under the light. Can anyone help or run me through hibernation and what i need to get the tort for it. Also do i need thermometers. its currently in the spare room which is normally quite warm. do i need a heat lamp
Re: Do i need a heat lamp?
Hi and congratulations on getting your tortoise. I can see that you posted in January on another thread about food, so I hope you now know what is good to feed to tortoises.
That is great that you have made a table for your tortoise, and it will be a good place for him to live when it is not warm enough for him to go outside. If you can send us a photo of your table, we can maybe suggest a few little tweaks to make it the best environment possible for him.
Yes, you definitely will need a heat lamp for your tortoise when it is indoors, and temperature is super important. Tortoises are 'ectothermic', which means that they don't make their own body heat like mammals do, and they depend on the temperature around them to make their body heat and allow their organs to function. You need a temperature of 30C directly under his heat/light lamp at one end of your table, and the other end should be about 20C. This will enable your tortoises to move from warmer to cooler areas in order to regulate his body temperature, and they need a temperature of around 25C just to be able to digest their food properly. Unless your room is very warm, I'm not sure that a 50W bulb will produce enough heat to produce a temperature of 30C under it.
This temperature needs to be measured with a thermometer held directly under the lamp and at the height of your tortoise's shell. Fridge/freezer thermometers like this one can be put so that the display unit is outside the table and the probe hangs directly down into the table under the light. It also has a Max/Min feature so that you can see how hot or how cold it got since you last checked: https://www.pharmacy-equipment.co.uk/pr ... er-tmm105/ If you don't live in the UK, let me know and I'll see if I can find an alternative for your.
Also, can you double check that your bulb is producing UVB as well as UVA? I have not heard of a 50W bulb that produces UVB (although I know there is a 70W one, so perhaps there is also a 50W one), and it might be that your bulb is only producing UVA.
We will be happy to send you full instructions for hibernation, but you should not hibernate your tortoise until you have had him for at least a year. It is very important that tortoises are in the best of health when they go into hibernation, and you need that long to get to know him and be able to tell if he is feeling a bit unwell.
Here is a link to a care sheet for Hermann tortoises https://www.tortoise-protection-group.o ... 014New.pdf Have a good read of it and then come back with any questions you might have.
Nina
P.S. When you are writing a post, there are some tick boxes under the box you are writing in, and if you tick the box that says 'Notify me when a reply is posted', then you will get a message telling you when someone has replied to your post, and that can be useful.
That is great that you have made a table for your tortoise, and it will be a good place for him to live when it is not warm enough for him to go outside. If you can send us a photo of your table, we can maybe suggest a few little tweaks to make it the best environment possible for him.
Yes, you definitely will need a heat lamp for your tortoise when it is indoors, and temperature is super important. Tortoises are 'ectothermic', which means that they don't make their own body heat like mammals do, and they depend on the temperature around them to make their body heat and allow their organs to function. You need a temperature of 30C directly under his heat/light lamp at one end of your table, and the other end should be about 20C. This will enable your tortoises to move from warmer to cooler areas in order to regulate his body temperature, and they need a temperature of around 25C just to be able to digest their food properly. Unless your room is very warm, I'm not sure that a 50W bulb will produce enough heat to produce a temperature of 30C under it.
This temperature needs to be measured with a thermometer held directly under the lamp and at the height of your tortoise's shell. Fridge/freezer thermometers like this one can be put so that the display unit is outside the table and the probe hangs directly down into the table under the light. It also has a Max/Min feature so that you can see how hot or how cold it got since you last checked: https://www.pharmacy-equipment.co.uk/pr ... er-tmm105/ If you don't live in the UK, let me know and I'll see if I can find an alternative for your.
Also, can you double check that your bulb is producing UVB as well as UVA? I have not heard of a 50W bulb that produces UVB (although I know there is a 70W one, so perhaps there is also a 50W one), and it might be that your bulb is only producing UVA.
We will be happy to send you full instructions for hibernation, but you should not hibernate your tortoise until you have had him for at least a year. It is very important that tortoises are in the best of health when they go into hibernation, and you need that long to get to know him and be able to tell if he is feeling a bit unwell.
Here is a link to a care sheet for Hermann tortoises https://www.tortoise-protection-group.o ... 014New.pdf Have a good read of it and then come back with any questions you might have.
Nina
P.S. When you are writing a post, there are some tick boxes under the box you are writing in, and if you tick the box that says 'Notify me when a reply is posted', then you will get a message telling you when someone has replied to your post, and that can be useful.
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