My 3 mo old Marginated (which I've had for a week) wants to 'hide' all day. If I take him out, he eats like a horse and is active, but I have to take him out.
He sits in his hide until at least noon when I take him out of it.
His 5.0 UvB light comes on at about 7AM and his 'red' light stays on 24/7.
He appears healthy, eyes clear, breathing isn't labored, no bubbles around the mouth.
I soak him 15 min every other day.
Ambient temp is 73 to 75 and basking temp is 91 deg.

It feels weird just letting him sit in the corner all day.
Do yours wait until late in the day to start feeding?

Is this normal behavior?

My Hermanns Zoe comes out of her hide everyday at 7:00 AM to bask and then eat. She goes in and out several times a day and finally retires for the night by 6:00 PM. She is older, about 8 months old.

Paula

i would up your light levels its usually makes them more active also turn off your red light at night, and just have a basking spot through the day, i don't use red lights for a basking spot and try to get as much light into the enclosure as possible using a flourescent tube (not UV) over the enclosure.

The only problem is that the house gets as low as 58 to 60 at night and I'm kinda concerned about the little guy. I can rig up a 50 watt red light to just keep the chill off and have the 100 Watt one come on when the 50 watter goes off. The UV light is about 2 feet from where he likes to hide and in pretty much plain view of him. I'm worried about too much light in his eyes.

This post was last modified: 04-16-2008 10:21 AM by old4x4.

the light from just a normal household flourescent won't harm his eyes, keep the UV. Mine all have combined Heat and UV with a normal kitchen/bathroom flourescent over top, i had the same problems as you are having now with my first ever tortoise until Danny told me to add the extra light activity levels increased almost immediately, the outside sun is bright so you need to think of that when they are indoors. Maybe youi could just use the redlight to keep night temps up and have a normal basking spot for day?

THAT sounds like a plan....

OK...I rewired it and added a new socket. The 2 white lights are on diring the day and only the red one is on at night. I figured that I needed a 'night' temperature and a 'day' temp. Kinda like nature itself.

you have what kind of tort? is that it in your avatar?

just curious!

He's a marginated tortoise. He's the one one in the avatar.
The extras lights made a HUGE difference. He was up when I got home from my meeting at 5. (I work nights and usually get home @ 8AM). He was running around like a nut and eating and pooping. Way more activity than what I've seen so far.
Stells...thanks.
BTW, Sherman's not in the pic. He was in the sack taking a snooze.

This post was last modified: 04-17-2008 02:52 PM by old4x4.

glad to hear its working