Adopted a Marginated Tortoise

SamanthaLouise

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Update on Stanley. We now have a basking build which we put him under on miserable days. We bring him in for a little while then back outisde once hes done basking. The bulb we have is 100w infra red....is this one ok? Does he need UV for vit d or is this one sufficient enough?
 

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Polly

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Absolutely fine outside in our neck of the woods. Lamp only if he can’t bask ... ie if the sun isn’t out. Leave him under it until he walks off. He’ll tell you when he’s ready! That’s why mine was in a dog kennel. Joe could be stuck under it first thing and them go do his thing when he was ready.

Hi Joe's Mum, (sorry to hijack your thread Samantha Louise) following your very helpful article I put a ceramic heat lamp in Buddy's kennel for if the temperature is a bit low, thinking there would be enough UV from UK sunshine, is that a mistake and should it be swapped for a light?
 

JoesMum

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Red heat lamps aren’t recommended @SamanthaLouise as they colour things red and torts, having excellent colour vision but a low IQ, are inclined to eat things they shouldn’t. They also don’t get hot enough fir basking .

Basking requires a reflector basking bulb. You don’t need the high intensity one as they can burn the shell.

UV is not required for torts that get outside most of the time.

@Polly a Ceramic Heat Lamp is no good for basking. It only provides ambient heat.

I used a basking lamp for Joe because it’s vital that torts can bask to raise their internal temperature to eat, digest their food and be active. It’s the ability to bask in the sun that UK torts frequently lack and we need to substitute for it
 

SamanthaLouise

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Oh ok. He seems to like basking under it. I've been looking for a reflector bulb but have no idea which one is the right one.
I'm also starting to get a bit nervous with hibernation getting close. I am worrying. We are going to insulate the shed cover the windows and put his hutch in there.

Can you give me any advice please? Just want to make sure all is right.
 

JoesMum

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There’s a difference between basking and staying there to try and keep warm. A basking tort will move on and look for food and generally go about its business. If it’s staying under the heat source constantly then it isn’t getting warm enough to do anything else.



The Basking lamp must have 35-37C directly underneath... which is what you should have now, but probably don’t. Buy a temperature gun type thermometer and check the temperatures, being precise is important.

One like this from Amazon
https://www.amazon.co.uk/nfrared-Thermometer-Eventek-Non-Contact-Temperature/dp/B06Y557PC6/

Are you planning to hibernate your tortoise in the shed or keep it awake all winter in the shed?
 

SamanthaLouise

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We are planning to hibernate in the she as dont really have anywhere else to put him.

He has been hibernate since small so guessing we should continue that. His hutch has been moved into the shed and we was going to provide some insulation.

Do you hibernate joe?
 

JoesMum

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We are planning to hibernate in the she as dont really have anywhere else to put him.

He has been hibernate since small so guessing we should continue that. His hutch has been moved into the shed and we was going to provide some insulation.

Do you hibernate joe?

Joe always hibernated too. Only one year when he wasn’t as he lost too much weight following problems with excessive testosterone (Really! He stopped eating because he was so sex-obsessed!!)

The problem we found in more recent years was getting the temperature stability necessary. To hibernate successfully the temperature must be above freezing and below 10C constantly. Ideally steady around 5C.

We always double boxed Joe. He went in a smaller box packed with shredded paper. And that box went in a massive box packed with straw. This helped to prevent extremes. This was in our garage.

Even then, we started to struggle due to increasingly warmer winters with massively fluctuating temperatures. A week in December around 20C followed by snow in January; that sort of thing. We switched to fridge hibernation and bought a fridge just to hibernate Joe in.
 

SamanthaLouise

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It's so hard to know what to do for the best. My worry is the temperature changes too. When should we put him away for hibernation? If we notice the temperature fluctuations too much can we move him or bring him out of hibernation?
 

JoesMum

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SamanthaLouise

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Happy new year to you. I wondered if you could give me some advise on bringing in Stanley out of hibernation ie, how, what to do etc.
Many thanks xx
 

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