CDTs

[Yvonne G]

Hi Walter:

I saw an ad in our "for sale" forum from Coastal. He's selling the UVB bulbs pretty cheap...and I think there's going to be a Black Friday discount tomorrow. Even though your spiral bulb is only a 25 watt, I still think its pretty dangerous to use them, especially with babies.

 

[Angi]

Well it looks like they are getting a good meal.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Walter, I would stop using the spiral bulb and just use a an incandescent 100 watt bulb until you can get an MVB. Use a black light bulb for night and cover their tank with foil at night to help keep them warm. Have you mixed the coir with sand? You should mix it about 40/60 with sand and then they'll probably stop eating it.

 

[Tortuga_terrestre]

Thank you. I will be removing the coil bulb. Why are they dangerous?

 

[Yvonne G]

They send concentrated rays out the end of the spiral. Have been known to cause blindness in torts.

 

[Shelly]

You don't need a UV light if you just stick them outside in the sun whenever possible. Just something to provide warmth.

 

[tortoisenerd]

If you can't get the torts out in the sun on a regular basis due to cold conditions, a MVB is really necessary in my opinion. The output on fluorescent tube UVBs is very low, and yes, those spiral bulbs scare me even though they say the problems are fixed. Sure it may be a $50 bulb, but it is supposed to be good for a year (sometimes they burn out sooner, but if you have them mounted correctly there is less risk; most have a 6 month warranty), and they use one fixture for heat/light/UVB. Its the next best thing to natural sun. Lots of annecdotal stories of owners installing one after having a different type of bulb, and all of a sudden their animal is crazy basking & active & happy. I would not want to a see a hatchling go any amount of time without good UVB from a sun or bulb. Unfortunately about the only MVBs available in stores are Powersuns at Petco for about $70-80. You can get bulbs much cheaper online, where Mega Ray & T-Rex Active UV Heat are the best, then Powersun, then others (in my opinion). You need a ceramic socket hood fixture, and a set up to mount the bulb face parallel to the substrate, adjustable vertically (I like the ZooMed large lamp stand). You adjust it up and down between 12 and 18 inches from the tort to get the right temp for basking.

 

[Tortuga_terrestre]

Thank you for the great advice. Im going to be obtaining a 10.0 Zoo Med UVB bulb and a Ceramic Bulb for heat. I have a friend who owns a Pet Shop and is giving me a good deal-No Taxes too!. I stopped using the Coil bulb.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Thank you for the great advice. Im going to be obtaining a 10.0 Zoo Med UVB bulb and a Ceramic Bulb for heat. I have a friend who owns a Pet Shop and is giving me a good deal-No Taxes too!. I stopped using the Coil bulb.

I go along with the group telling you that the Zoo Med 10.0 flourescent bulb is a very low output bulb and it will not help your babies much at all. I have used them in the past and if you use a UVB gun to test the output it would tell you the UVB rays are very low. I, my opinion it is very important to take the best care possible of those babies and that means getting the best bulb possible. I believe Coastal right here on TFO has a MVB bulb for $39 and that is not too much to spend on those babies. It's a
Zoo Med PowerSun Mercury Vapor Bulb... I just checked and he does...

 

[Shelly]

Little Godzilla and Gamera are really doing great. They have grown from 30 and 45 grams to 55 and 75 grams. They are really active and have great personalities. Thankfully the sun is back out so they have been getting lots of time outdoors. They are loads of fun!

 

[Yvonne G]

Are you sure I didn't slip in a couple sulcatas? They're growing nicely!

 

[Shelly]

Truth be told, I'm probably feeding them a little too much. I love to watch them eat for some reason. I'll probably scale it back a little from now on.

 

[armandoarturo]

:O
nice!!!
look how big they are getting!
congrats!

 

[Shelly]

A couple new pics from today. They have both gained 8 grams in the 2 weeks since the last pictures. I have cut back a teeny bit on the food.
They even have a little burrow now. If you look closely you can see one hiding inside. Industrious little boogers!

 

[68merc]

Cute, this one must be kin to my Thing One.

 

[Shelly]

Cute, this one must be kin to my Thing One.

All 4 are siblings, aren't they?

 

[Yvonne G]

I had two separate clutches with the same father but different mothers. I think that 68 merc's came from each clutch. I don't know about yours, John.

 

[Shelly]

two separate clutches with the same father but different mothers.

Sounds like my wife's side of the family.