Hi Tom,If you put a UV meter under that bulb you will see that it is making hardly any UV. It needs to be around 10 inches or less away from the tortoise, and even then it makes very little UV.
You don't need indoor UV in Vallejo, so you can just keep using that bulb as it lights up the enclosure nicely, in addition to your basking bulb, and it does not harm.
Read this for more explanation:
The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise
I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...tortoiseforum.org
Nevermind! I understand what you mean. I don’t need UV as I can just take my tortoise outside a few times a week.Hi Tom,
Wow, I guess the thing that has been working has been the Mercury Vapor Bulb I’ve had as well inside my enclosure. (I have both the fluorescent bulb and the MVB in my enclosure).
I’m guessing I can just scrap the fluorescent bulb if it gives off no UVB.
Could you please explain what you mean in that I don’t need an indoor UVB bulb in Vallejo? I thought it was always essential to have one so I’m a little confused.
There are many ways to do this. On colder days you can use a large black cement mixing tub. Even on a 65 degree day, the temp side the tub can be in the 80s or 90s with sunshine and no wind. You just have to monitor temps closely.Nevermind! I understand what you mean. I don’t need UV as I can just take my tortoise outside a few times a week.
I’m still curious though, it’s a little too cold sometimes to take my tortoise out. In that case I would assume I still need indoor UV?
Great - thank you so much. I'm going to do what you recommended.There are many ways to do this. On colder days you can use a large black cement mixing tub. Even on a 65 degree day, the temp side the tub can be in the 80s or 90s with sunshine and no wind. You just have to monitor temps closely.
Torts store D3 in their fat cells, so its not necessary to have constant access to UV all day every day. Its fine to skip a few weeks in winter. Babies especially hide from the sun in the wild all day anyway.
I would not use an MVB. Those are unreliable and many produce too much UV, or none at all. MVBs are also too hot for a closed chamber, which is what your baby should be housed in. You need an incandescent flood bulb for basking.
I would keep the florescent. It does no harm and its good light for the enclosure.