# Turning off heat at night question



## lusciousdragon

New tortoise owner, I've only had her for a few days. She is a Greek tortoise.
By my reading it seems that I should turn off her mercury vapor bulb at night to let her night temperature drop to about 75 degrees which is what my home's termostat is set to. Is that correct? It feels awfully cold to me wearing layers of clothing at 75 degrees to drop her to that level. It is winter here in Ohio. But if that is correct then that is fine. I just wanted to double check what others feel about that. Or should I get one of the ceramic heat lamps to use at night?


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## ALDABRAMAN

We turn off any lights at night for darkness, however ours never get below 74f at night.


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## Jessicap

lusciousdragon said:


> New tortoise owner, I've only had her for a few days. She is a Greek tortoise.
> By my reading it seems that I should turn off her mercury vapor bulb at night to let her night temperature drop to about 75 degrees which is what my home's termostat is set to. Is that correct? It feels awfully cold to me wearing layers of clothing at 75 degrees to drop her to that level. It is winter here in Ohio. But if that is correct then that is fine. I just wanted to double check what others feel about that. Or should I get one of the ceramic heat lamps to use at night?



You dress in layers at 75? lol you may not want to come to my house, I keep it at 68. I think 75 for a greek is okay though.


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## Torty Mom

I turn off all lights for Daisy Lou and Rusty about 7 pm. My house is 68 at night. I turn off the MVB on the babies at night, but they have a black light for night heat. They all need a day ~ night cycle. 

I couldn't sleep if I kept the house at 75, is your house drafty? My sewing/tortie room is usually around 80 during the day.


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## lusciousdragon

I don't think the house is drafty. It has pretty good insulation. Built in the 1970s. I think I am just a cold person. I am usually wearing a sweater over my long sleeve shirt and then sometimes a blanket over that. I have an electric blanket too that I sleep with ha ha. 
Ok, so I guess I will be shutting her light off at night. I have ball pythons so the whole idea of shutting off heat is unheard of to me!  I am finding that this little tortoise is opposite on a lot of the ball python husbandry requirements. Which is great really, keeps me learning. 
Thanks for the help everyone!


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## yagyujubei

Your thermostat may say 75, but thats 5' off the floor. I would check the actual temps at the enclosure to be sure. You might be surprised. In my warm room, it can vary 10 degrees floor to chest height. If this is a baby greek, I wouldn't let it get below 80.


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## bettinge

I disagree with many of the opinions above. Hatchlings and adults require the same temperatures. I feel its natural and healthy to let their night time temps drop to the low to mid 60's. I breed and have hatchling hermann's, and their nights are 62 degrees this time of year. Warm nights will also keep their metabolism high and accelerate growth.

Greeks and Hermanns require the same care. If your tortoise is sick, than all bets are off. Elevated temps 24/7 are needed.


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## Maggie Cummings

Your MVB is like the sun and should only be on for 12 to 14 hours a day and then turned off so they can have a dark period and I use a black light bulb at night for my babies. I don't think they should get too cold. But my bigger tortoises can get cold and I don't use a night light on them...


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## Snapper

I turn everything off at night for mine. I am a snake owner too, so know what you mean about it being weird to turn off all heat sources at night for your tort. I was told it is healthy for to let it cool down at night like Scott said.


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## GBtortoises

I agrees with Scott 100%. Hatchlings don't require anything different than adults. In the wild hatchling and young tortoises live in the exact same environmental conditions as adults day and night. When indoors all of my Northern Mediterranean tortoises (Hermann's, Greek Ibera, Marginateds) and my Russian tortoises are kept in daytime temperatures that range in the low 80's and drop to anywhere from about 62-65 degrees at night. When outdoors they are often exposed to night time temperatures in the low to mid 50's and often even colder for short periods. As long as the daytime temperatures reach the high 60's and they can bask in the sun they're fine. 

lusciousdragon--It is also important to know if you're Greek tortoise is a Northern Mediterranean, Middle Eastern or North African as they do have slightly different temperature and humidity requirements.


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## lusciousdragon

GBtortoises said:


> lusciousdragon--It is also important to know if you're Greek tortoise is a Northern Mediterranean, Middle Eastern or North African as they do have slightly different temperature and humidity requirements.



Oh I don't know which one she is. In my id post someone had said she was a Syrian Greek tortoise.


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## Missy

I also use a heat bulb at night. I suggest you check the temps at night. I have Sulcatas and keep them warm day and night.


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## tortoisenerd

In the wild it gets both dark and cooler at night. We all agree it must be dark, but each has slightly different opinions on the temp. Make sure you actually measure the average enclosure temp at night, not just go off of what the thermostat says (my enclosure is usually 5 deg over the thermostat for example). Personally for a hatchling I'd say over 70 F at night (adults I believe over 60 F). I'd be fine with 75 but I think 80 is pushing it. As long as you can stay above whatever temperature you think is acceptable, you don't need night heat. A ceramic heat emitter or black light bulb is suitable for night heat if needed (not red lights and not anything under them like a heat pad). You don't want to heat a tort too much at night because they need that natural temp drop to thrive, but yes getting too cold can be dangerous. There is also the issue of having night heat but the tort not using it... If you use heat at night, be very careful you know what temp that is. Overheating can be bad just as underheating is (a tort might not move if they are asleep).

We keep our house pretty cold...unfortunately we have these stupid wall mounted space heaters with a thermostat which don't evenly heat, so when we feel cold we turn either them or a space heater on (which unfortunately has my tort enclosure vary in temps so I try to average the bulb height out), but have everything off at night so sometimes it'll be like 58 in the house (we do have heat for my tort at night in the colder months but much of the time he doesn't use it...his enclosure does stay above 60 F at night for the most part though). We don't get too cold of weather here though and have at townhouse so our neighbors keep us warm (and we're on the 2nd & 3rd stories).


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## SILVERSTAR

Did you say that undertank heat is bad tortoisenerd?


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