Do I still need basking light when it's hot?

WillB

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Hi all,

Now that the weather is getting warmer. My indoor enclosure is around 85-90 w/o a 80w basking light and reach upwards of mid 90s in the enclosure and ~105-110 under the basking plate if I have the basking light on.

Do I still need to turn on the basking light or should I turn it off in the daytime? ( I have an HO8 light tube and ambient light in addition to the basking light) I've a 5-month Indian Star Tortoise which I know can withstands higher temperature but I'm not sure if that's too hot when I have the basking light on.

It'll be a different story when it gets so hot that I turn on the AC but we're not there yet ha!

Many thanks!

Best,
Will
 

Tom

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Hi all,

Now that the weather is getting warmer. My indoor enclosure is around 85-90 w/o a 80w basking light and reach upwards of mid 90s in the enclosure and ~105-110 under the basking plate if I have the basking light on.

Do I still need to turn on the basking light or should I turn it off in the daytime? ( I have an HO8 light tube and ambient light in addition to the basking light) I've a 5-month Indian Star Tortoise which I know can withstands higher temperature but I'm not sure if that's too hot when I have the basking light on.

It'll be a different story when it gets so hot that I turn on the AC but we're not there yet ha!

Many thanks!

Best,
Will
Yes, it needs to be on, but you need to adjust the bulb height or wattage to compensate for the warmer room temperatures. I have summer bulbs and winter bulbs for all my indoor enclosures.

85-90 is a good day time ambient for stars. Basking should only be 95-100 to reduce the effects of pyramiding.
 

WillB

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Yes, it needs to be on, but you need to adjust the bulb height or wattage to compensate for the warmer room temperatures. I have summer bulbs and winter bulbs for all my indoor enclosures.

85-90 is a good day time ambient for stars. Basking should only be 95-100 to reduce the effects of pyramiding.
Thanks Tom, I'll adjust the basking bulb to be higher. Appreciate it!
 
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Near_Vana

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Although I agree with Tom, I believe it's very dependant on what kind of heat we're talking about. For example, it hit 43°c for 8 days straight during a heatwave here last year. Record temps for us in Britain. Needless to say, they spent most of the days outside. In that kind of heat, it simply wasn't possible to have basking lighting on, for both them or us. We ended up having it on just long enough in the morning for them to warm up but turned it off until early evening when it had cooled to a reasonable temp. They'd sit under it for an hour or two before heading to bed for the night. That said, our enclosures also have ambient lighting so when the heat and UV is off they still have enough light to see clearly. If you're relying on the UV and heat bulb for lighting, it may get a little dark in there. Any other time I just lift/drop the bulb an inch or two though.
 

wellington

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Although I agree with Tom, I believe it's very dependant on what kind of heat we're talking about. For example, it hit 43°c for 8 days straight during a heatwave here last year. Record temps for us in Britain. Needless to say, they spent most of the days outside. In that kind of heat, it simply wasn't possible to have basking lighting on, for both them or us. We ended up having it on just long enough in the morning for them to warm up but turned it off until early evening when it had cooled to a reasonable temp. They'd sit under it for an hour or two before heading to bed for the night. That said, our enclosures also have ambient lighting so when the heat and UV is off they still have enough light to see clearly. If you're relying on the UV and heat bulb for lighting, it may get a little dark in there. Any other time I just lift/drop the bulb an inch or two though.
They need to warm up under a 95-100 basking area to properly digest their food and keep things inside working correctly. You should rethink what you are doing and adjust the height of the basking or change it to a smaller wattage that can still get the correct basking temp.
 

Near_Vana

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They need to warm up under a 95-100 basking area to properly digest their food and keep things inside working correctly. You should rethink what you are doing and adjust the height of the basking or change it to a smaller wattage that can still get the correct basking temp.
I'm fully aware. However, tortoises retain core heat for a long time once adequately warmed up. 8+ hours on average according to a study I read a few months ago that was done by a Tort conservation group in Spain. It also takes them around 25-45 minutes to become adequately warmed up. Considering mine are graeca which prefer to be between 24-35°c, when the ambient temp is 43°c *inside*, direct heat is no longer a concern. Heat will be retained with ease for hours. Tortoises don't and shouldn't spend every daylight hour basking, especially in the wild. Much of their time is actually spent napping in cool, humid burrows during the most extreme parts of the day. It's a process called aestivation.
 
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wellington

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I'm fully aware. However, tortoises retain core heat for a long time once adequately warmed up. 8+ hours on average according to a study I read a few months ago that was done by a Tort conservation group in Spain. It also takes them around 25-45 minutes to become adequately warmed up. Considering mine are graeca which prefer to be between 24-35°c, when the ambient temp is 43°c *inside*, direct heat is no longer a concern. Heat will be retained with ease for hours. Tortoises don't and shouldn't spend every daylight hour basking, especially in the wild. Much of their time is actually spent napping in cool, humid burrows during the most extreme parts of the day. It's a process called aestivation.
No, tortoises don't spend every day light hour basking. But they should be able to bask when they need to, not when we think they should. In the wild, they get to bask as they please and that's what we should give them. Also, depending on species, they should be able to go into a cooler area of their enclosure or burrow if they are of a species that does that.
As for the study, I'd love to know where to read that. Might be interesting.
 

Near_Vana

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No, tortoises don't spend every day light hour basking. But they should be able to bask when they need to, not when we think they should. In the wild, they get to bask as they please and that's what we should give them. Also, depending on species, they should be able to go into a cooler area of their enclosure or burrow if they are of a species that does that.
As for the study, I'd love to know where to read that. Might be interesting.
And if you reread my original comment, you will quite clearly see that they had the option to bask because they had the option to go outside. It just so happens that one sat in the shade by the back door monitoring the environment all day and occasionally napping while the other spent all day asleep in the shade of the hibiscus pots, purposefully shifting every hour or so to avoid the direct sunlight.

Like I said, once sufficently heated, they retain it for almost half a day. This is even more-so when the overall ambient temperature is warmer than their general basking tempterature. You don't have to have very much knowledge on thermodynamics to know how thermal exchange works. It's taught early in school-life and only requires a basic level of common sense. Things cool slower when background temperatures are warmer.

I don't have a link. It was posted on a facebook site run by a conservation & research group located in southern Spain along with a bunch of shots of them taking temperature readings of wild Tortoises in the area, so you should be able find it quite easily if you're genuinely interested.

(Edit: You'll also see that I clearly stated that 'any other time' I will simply raise or lower the bulb to accomodate for the indoor temperature changes. During a heatwave, that simply isn't logical or smart. For a start, Dehydration becomes a serious risk in those conditions. Secondly, their ideal core temperature is around 34°c. If they have warmed up to that point, and it's 9°c warmer in the general atmosphere, where is the logic there? Heating becomes redundant at that point. At those temperatures, they will aestivate whether given the option to bask or not. I've literally seen it for myself.)
 
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Tom

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...once sufficiently heated, they retain it for almost half a day...
I agree with most of your post, but study or no study, the basic understanding of thermodynamics that you mentioned should tell you that the above quote is not necessarily accurate. Certainly in some circumstances they could retain heat for half a day, but there are many factors that would influence this. A 500 gram tortoise sitting in a cool shady area is not going to stay 35C for half a day. They will if they move in and out of the sun and thermoregulate, but they won't stay that warm without a heat source of some sort. Depends so much on ambient temp and where they spend their time.
 

WillB

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Thanks for all the insights, the more I learn the more I feel like husbandry turns to be “it depends “ but you gotta use your best judgment and general best practice!
 
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