Unkept
New Member
Hello! Alrighty context time; I bought my partner a tortoise from pet smart for his birthday. I had done two weeks plus of forum crawling on here and various sites to learn what we needed for him. But everything I’ve seen contradicts itself. So we found similarities and purchased items based on them. Now we bought him Wednesday. It’s Saturday and he hasn’t eaten so there’s some general concern about him not eating. I understand getting a feel for the enclosure. But when should I start to worry? I have no idea when he ate last due to petsmart being. Petsmart.
He’s currently in a 40 gallon ‘All living things’ tank. With two lamps. We just upgraded his bowls today to the ceramic bowls. And we were feeding him dandelion greens and cloves and such but he wasn’t interested so we’re trying romaine lettuce. Green beans. And sweet snap peas. His shell is almost four inches (3 3/4ths) attached photos are his enclosure and food. We let it stay at about 80 degrees with no light in the tank (it’s summer here) when we notice it go lower and such we turn on the heat lamp. We work overnight so we only normally see him majority at night.
So now for my questions; is that coiled looking bulb the dreaded ‘Coiled UBV’ bulb that blinds tortoises? I’ve stopped using it since and tried bringing him outside. What kind of bulbs would I need? (I understand the types. But if anyone has brands and places to get them that would speed this up) he currently has a heatpad for his hide but we haven’t used that because some articles are saying don’t put it under him cause it’s a glass tank. Or to leave it on the side
**I understand his hide is too small, we didn’t have the chance to get anything bigger so if people have alternatives that I can pick up at Walmart that work I’m totally down for it. As it stands we ordered a new hide but it won’t be here for a few days**
He’s currently in a 40 gallon ‘All living things’ tank. With two lamps. We just upgraded his bowls today to the ceramic bowls. And we were feeding him dandelion greens and cloves and such but he wasn’t interested so we’re trying romaine lettuce. Green beans. And sweet snap peas. His shell is almost four inches (3 3/4ths) attached photos are his enclosure and food. We let it stay at about 80 degrees with no light in the tank (it’s summer here) when we notice it go lower and such we turn on the heat lamp. We work overnight so we only normally see him majority at night.
So now for my questions; is that coiled looking bulb the dreaded ‘Coiled UBV’ bulb that blinds tortoises? I’ve stopped using it since and tried bringing him outside. What kind of bulbs would I need? (I understand the types. But if anyone has brands and places to get them that would speed this up) he currently has a heatpad for his hide but we haven’t used that because some articles are saying don’t put it under him cause it’s a glass tank. Or to leave it on the side
**I understand his hide is too small, we didn’t have the chance to get anything bigger so if people have alternatives that I can pick up at Walmart that work I’m totally down for it. As it stands we ordered a new hide but it won’t be here for a few days**