A couple of questions

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lovelyrosepetal

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Hey all, I have a couple of questions for you. My tortoise is loving its MAZURI but sometimes mistakes the other torts. legs as MAZURI and then tries to get a mouthful of it. It always looks surprised when it gets its friends leg instead. At first I thought it was biting the other torts when I realized it was reaching for the MAZURI. Is there anything I can do to stop it?:rolleyes: I did move my tort. but did not know if anyone else has any experience with something like this. My other question is if you think that a tortoise gets any benefits from being outside if it is overcast and or in the shade? I think the UVB rays will still get to them but my husband thinks there is no point unless they are in full on sunshine. Is that true? If so, I need to put them out when it is hot outside instead of waiting for it to cool down some. Thanks for all of your help. You all rock!:)
 

JoesMum

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They definitely get UV through cloud.

When I was a teenager, I got my worst ever sunburn on a very cloudy day on holiday in southern France when I wasn't wearing sunscreen. I'm more careful now... it was very painful!

If it's warm enough to be outside, put him out... just make sure he has chance to bask before he goes out under a lamp if there's no sun for basking
 

Tom

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I keep groups of baby sulcatas all the time. I have two groups of 12 right now. In all my years, I have never seen one tort grab another's leg on accident while trying to eat Mazuri or any other food. How many tortoises do you have? Have they ever been under one of those coil type UV bulbs? When young sulcatas show aggression, which is rare for babies, is usually is not done in this way, so I'm ruling that out.

They still get UV when its cloudy or in the shade. UV rays refract and bounce around, even into the shade. Go ahead and put them out whenever you can. Full on sun at noon in summer could kill a baby in minutes. The idea is to have them outside for exercise, grazing AND some UV too. As they move around over the course of a few hours, they will get their UV for the day.
 

lovelyrosepetal

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Hi Tom. Thanks for the info. I have three tortoises. One is mine, one is my son's and one is my husbands'. I take care of all of them, though. Mine was the one trying to get my husbands' leg. They were right next to eachother and I had the MAZURI on top of the spring mix and mine went for the MAZURI, it ended up on the substrate and the other's leg in his mouth. It had a very startled look on its face and to be honest, the torts' leg was about the same color as the MAZURI all mushed up. They have never been under a coil UV bulb. They have never been under any UV bulbs as I take them out at least five days a week for at least an hour a day. I will get one of the MVB bulbs you talk about when it starts to get cooler but there is no need when they are taken out so much, right now. I did move it when it repeated the action the second time. Do you think it could have problems with its eyes? They look fine there is nothing on them and they are not swollen. How would I know? You don't think that it could mistake the leg for the MAZURI? I never thought about eye problems. They are not very old. I got them from Austin and he is a member here so I doubt he had them under the coil lights. Thanks for the info. Rose
 

JoesMum

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I have been bitten by Joe when my hands smelled of strawberries that I was preparing... I wonder if this is the same?
 

lovelyrosepetal

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Thanks, JoesMum. I wonder if it is the same. They were right next to eachother eating and my husbands' tort was right inside the MAZURI, they always have to play in their food before they eat:) so maybe the smell and the color threw it off? I hope.
 

lovelyrosepetal

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As I watched them a little later mine saw, I think, some lettuce/leaf in its water dish and went to go and eat it. I also saw it cruising around and it looked like it saw and ate more of its spring mix. I don't know if it just smelled it or if it saw it but I am concerned because as I was reading other threads and posts I saw somewhere where it was posted that if you have a light at an angle you can cause blindness in torts and I am ashamed to say that I did not know this and had my light on a clamp where it was angled. My husband moved it so it is shining straight down about five days ago, before I saw this post and now I am afraid that I might have inadvertently caused an eye problem with my tort. I am unsure how to know or the signs to look for with a blind or seeing impaired tort. Do you think that I hurt my tort? It was like that for about three weeks. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks, Rose
 
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