My Tortoise is turning into an Night Owl.

Skunkworks

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Nala who has been up by 9:30 am every morning and goes to bed by 6:30 pm everyday for the past year has become a Night Owl, She now gets up at 2:30 pm and stays up untill 12:30 am.Half of Nala's lights go out at 7 pm to simulate sundown and All lights out by 9 pm to simulate Nightime. Morning times are 5:00 am half lights on and 7:00 am All lights on to simulate Sunrise. My question is , Do I reprogram her lighting times to accommodate her New behavior or do I keep her times as is.
 

Sarah2020

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Wgat species of tort is it? Please share what times you have for heat and lught. Normally they are fast asleep by 16.30 or 17.00. Is it getting too hot in the night and it is relocating?
 

Gillian M

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Wgat species of tort is it? Please share what times you have for heat and lught. Normally they are fast asleep by 16.30 or 17.00. Is it getting too hot in the night and it is relocating?
That could be the case: during a recent heatwave here, Oli would wake up suddenly at 10 - 10.30pm and start wandering around in his enclosure.
 

Skunkworks

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Wgat species of tort is it? Please share what times you have for heat and lught. Normally they are fast asleep by 16.30 or 17.00. Is it getting too hot in the night and it is relocating?
Hello Sarah, Thanks for your reply. The Heat and Humidity are all dialed in to the Specs Tom suggests.The lighting times are as stated above.Nala Always sleeps in her heated Night box every night, it's just she has changed her Hrs of Activity to a later timeframe. Curious as to why and if it's an indicator.Thanks again.
 

Tom

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Nala who has been up by 9:30 am every morning and goes to bed by 6:30 pm everyday for the past year has become a Night Owl, She now gets up at 2:30 pm and stays up untill 12:30 am.Half of Nala's lights go out at 7 pm to simulate sundown and All lights out by 9 pm to simulate Nightime. Morning times are 5:00 am half lights on and 7:00 am All lights on to simulate Sunrise. My question is , Do I reprogram her lighting times to accommodate her New behavior or do I keep her times as is.
5am to 9pm is too long of a day. They really don't need a lot of time to simulate sunrise and sunset. I have a basking lamp and two sets of LEDs that are staggered by about 10 minutes. The dim basking bulb comes on at 6:30am, then one bank of LEDs 10 minutes later, and another bank of LEDs 10 minutes after that. All the lights are on by 7am. I do the reverse starting at 7:00pm, so dark by 7:30. The UV tube is on from 11am -2 pm.

I'd adjust your lights more like this and see what happens. These are tropical animals, so they don't deviate much from 12-13 hours of day light year round. Your 16 hour regime might be too much. Your routine would be better for temperate species in summer time.
 

Skunkworks

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Tom I adjusted the lighting times as you recommended, it's been a couple of days since and Nala is still acting like a Teenager and Sleeping in until 3:30 pm and going into her Nightbox around 12:30 or 1:00 am like clockwork for the past week..Going to play with the Temps abit to try figure this out and get Nala back on a Morning to Evening Schedule. Thanks again I'm Shure we will figure this out sooner or later.
 

Tom

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Tom I adjusted the lighting times as you recommended, it's been a couple of days since and Nala is still acting like a Teenager and Sleeping in until 3:30 pm and going into her Nightbox around 12:30 or 1:00 am like clockwork for the past week..Going to play with the Temps abit to try figure this out and get Nala back on a Morning to Evening Schedule. Thanks again I'm Shure we will figure this out sooner or later.
Interesting case. I'd get the tortoise up in the morning and soak it. Mine always want to eat after a soak. Thank you for the update and please keep us posted.
 

Skunkworks

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I think my Wife has figured it out (Hopefully). Tell me if this makes sense to you. My Wife went to give Nala some Hay and she said she noticed a Humming/Buzzing sound coming from Nala's Main light source a 4 ft LED shop light wich goes off at 7 pm. I have bad hearing so I didn't even know. Would that explain why she prefers a latter timeframe because of the Humming/Buzzing noise ceases at 7pm?
 

Tom

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I think my Wife has figured it out (Hopefully). Tell me if this makes sense to you. My Wife went to give Nala some Hay and she said she noticed a Humming/Buzzing sound coming from Nala's Main light source a 4 ft LED shop light wich goes off at 7 pm. I have bad hearing so I didn't even know. Would that explain why she prefers a latter timeframe because of the Humming/Buzzing noise ceases at 7pm?
Since tortoises don't hear, I am skeptical, but there is an easy way to test the theory...
 

Skunkworks

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Unplugged it as soon as my Wife told me. I've read that Tortoises can indeed hear through vibrations especially Lower (Fainter) sounds. I know without any doubts Nala can hear.. She will respond to a snap of the fingers or My Voice.. Thanks again Tom, Have a Great Night.
 

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