behavior, night heat

What should I do?

  • leave him alone

    Votes: 7 58.3%
  • place him in the hide box to sleep

    Votes: 1 8.3%
  • change the set-up (post how please)

    Votes: 4 33.3%

  • Total voters
    12
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tortoisenerd

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I got my little Trevor a ceramic heat emitter for Christmas because he seems to be more active and "happy" at the higher temps as a hatchling. We had just been keeping our house warm for him in the meantime but I'm hoping the bulb will be more efficient and cheaper. We've since turned down the house heat after evaluating temperatures for a day and night cycle to ensure they are appropriate.

I placed it at a vertical distance so that no area actually gets too hot from it, and it's to the side of the Mega Ray bulb (daytime only) so the gradients don't overlap much. I've just been keeping it on all the time so he can get acquainted with it, and it's directly over his favorite hide box. The temperature varies day and night, but inside his box it stays in the low 70s at night (instead of the low 60s of our house).

He's still choosing to sleep in his favorite daytime hangout place, under the hay and aspen shavings, to the side of where his light is. Should I "help" him learn that the box is warmer at night by placing him in it, or let him make the decision himself? He's usually out for the night before the Mega Ray goes off, so that's another factor (it's warm when he falls asleep but cools off to less than the hide's temperature soon thereafter).

Here's a picture of the setup, showing the hide box with emitter over it, the Mega Ray fixture, and Trevor sleeping (uncharacteristically exposed as he usually burrows):

2gv3ghl.jpg


Thoughts? Feel free to let me know I'm over thinking this. I just feel it's silly to leave the bulb on for him if he's not using it (he's had it a few nights now and where he is sleeping there is very little heat effect from the emitter). There is aspen in his hide box to burrow in and I cut out the bottom so he can dig into it.
 

egyptiandan

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Hadn't seen aspen shaving before :p

If you want him to be warm at night. Your going to have to move the heat emitter to where he wants to sleep at night. Tortoises just don't thermoregulate at night. If you want him warm you will have to warm up the whole enclosure. You might want to try using a large dome lamp instead of the wire cage. With the wire cage the heat is escaping and not being focused down as with a reflector dome.

Danny
 

Laura

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How warm is it in the spot he chooses? maybe its good for him.. or he may need to be taught.. try a few things and see what works. All torts and enclosures are different. you can also try covering one side of the area to help keep the heat in. Just be careful not to put anything too close to the heat!
 

tortoisenerd

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Thanks for reminding me to check the temperature! The tortoise is actually right--he's sleeping in a spot that is 74, actually warmer than inside the hide right under the emitter (which is 70). I can except that as a good temperature for him, and he actually shifter over a little bit closer to the heat a couple hours ago too.

Why does it always happen that I post a problem on here and it gets solved by itself?

Danny-I learn something new from you almost everyday! That's interesting they don't thermoregulate at night. My fiance would probably kill me if we got another dome lamp since Trevor's home is impeding on the aesthetics of our house...he's in the dining room. Not so keen on buying another stand, dome, and safety cover either. As long as he's warm through the night I'm happy. I'll check on him again when I get up at 6am to see how much the temperature drops during the night.
 

egyptiandan

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If your temperatures are good, I wouldn't change a thing. :D

Danny
 

tortoisenerd

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He's doing really well since I added the additional heat, even with the house heat down. His appetite really picked up (almost double). He hasn't gained any significant weight yet so I'm letting him be a little piggy. Even fed him dinner the last two days (had only been feeding once a day). He's even staying up later too. Thanks again! The aspen bedding was also an awesome idea and I think it's the best choice for us.
 

K9KidsLove

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Hi...I wonder if it would help to just wrap the wire lamp cage with aluminum foil to push the heat down. I wouldn't move him...just move the heat to his favorite night spot.
Patsy
 

tortoisenerd

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I can't move the heat to his favorite night spot because he goes to sleep before the Mega Ray shuts off for the cycle, and wakes up after it goes on...it would be way too hot in that one location, and I don't want the emitter on just at night because it's creating another warm area that isn't so bright.

Aluminum foil is definitely out of the question because of aesthetics, unfortunately.

He seems to be edging towards the heat a little more (hard to tell as he burrows in at night) as time progresses. At least I'm not worried about him being too cold anymore.
 

tortoisenerd

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Trevor finally figured out where was warm to sleep at night! He's been right under or to the side of the emitter...buried all the way down so far sometimes he doesn't wake up until late (he loves the new aspen that is very finely shredded). I'm letting him sleep and not bugging him as long as he eats everyday. If I come home and he hasn't eaten enough breakfast he gets woken up, warmed up, a bath, and then I watch him eat. Seems to work pretty well for us since I prefer not to wake him unless there is a reason (he doesn't enjoy being dug out and snatched).

I also moved around his enclosure a bit, which got him to sleep under the heat at night. Surprisingly enough I took out all but one of his hides (a log in the cool end). I left in the piles of hay he likes to hide under and he does have enough to break up the line of sight still. Now he has a clear path to tunnel all around and he does so daily. :) Happy tort showing lots of new growth. He never uses the hides anyways. I got the house ambient humidity up into the 40s so I'm not worried about having a humid hide for the time being...not worth the effort if he won't use it.
 

Crazy1

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Kate, congratulations sounds like you worked really hard to set up a great enclosure for Trevor, one that makes for a happy, healthy tort; and equally hard so that you did not impeding on the aesthetics of our house while setting up his enclosure, so that you kept a happy fiancé. I know you will reap the rewards from Trevor, I just hope your fiancé is appreciative as to the thought and work you put into all this. Again Congratulations. And isn’t it always the way we post a question and the tort solves it for us. :)
 

tortoisenerd

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I think Trevor read my mind because whenever I'm having a "problem" with him, he seems to solve it. He's so far buried today I haven't seen him. The food is gone and he left me a present so he gets to be left alone for the night. Silly that a poop and an empty plate make me happy though! I had fun picking out yummies for him at the store today and now he doesn't get his snack since he's asleep. :( Bought some red organic dandelion greens (eating them for salad right now!) and some bulk greens they set out in a bowl--looks like some stuff the cheap spring mix I bought didn't have, lol.
 

Meg90

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Heat mats are a no-no......
 

galvinkaos

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tortoisenerd said:
I think Trevor read my mind because whenever I'm having a "problem" with him, he seems to solve it. He's so far buried today I haven't seen him. The food is gone and he left me a present so he gets to be left alone for the night. Silly that a poop and an empty plate make me happy though! I had fun picking out yummies for him at the store today and now he doesn't get his snack since he's asleep. :( Bought some red organic dandelion greens (eating them for salad right now!) and some bulk greens they set out in a bowl--looks like some stuff the cheap spring mix I bought didn't have, lol.

Isn't that funny, Kate. We talked about them doing that before. :p I too bought a cheap "organic spring mix" got it home and went through it and it was about 60% romaine and 20% spinach. Won't buy it again. I went to the store looking for good stuff to add in to dilute the romaine down and found a bag of "euro greens" - mustard, swiss chard, collard and kale. It gave me some good variety to add to the kids salad. I caught Fred eating around the good stuff but now he is eating it too. Doris just likes food of any kind. :D

Dawna
 

Yvonne G

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Now this is just MY OPINION! In my experience, pig blankets should only be used for the larger tortoises, and not for babies or very young tortoises. I don't like to think they are too stupid to move, but maybe its because their world is so very large that they don't realize they can walk off the mat when they get too hot. In any rate, larger tortoises or adult smaller tortoises just know that they can move off the mat if it gets too hot, but babies don't.

Yvonne
 

bettinge

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Plus, many reptiles cannot sense heat on their bottom side like they do on their top side, and are susceptible to burns!
 
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