Tone can't be told in the typed word, but what that breeder said is absurd. This is a sun loving reptile. This species is literally solar powered. Does the breeder really think that the dim light from a UV tube and basking bulb is brighter than the summer sun outside? Where do these people come up with this non-sense. Literally non-sense. It makes no sense... I'm not mad at you. I hope it doesn't come across that way. Its just such a silly thing for that person to tell you.
UV tubes should really only be on for a few hours mid day. That is what the sun does outside. There are not mid day equatorial levels of UV for 12 hours a day anywhere in the world, and certainly not where hermanni come from. This is why you need bright 5000-6500K LED ambient lighting, and lots of it, all day long, in addition to the heat of a basking flood, and then mid day, just like outside, that UV kicks in and makes everything even brighter. All of that put together is barely a fraction as bright as the sunshine outside mid day.
I'm glad you found us. Your poor tortoise would have been walking around in a dim red world all day if you hadn't. Please feel free to ask all your questions. It would be great if you would invite the breeder to come here and learn a few things. They may tell you to sod off, but at least you will have tried. If no one ever tries to tell them, they will never learn better. Sometimes they will tell several people to pound sand, but those first few people plant a seed. Eventually, that seed sprouts, grows, and comes to fruition. This will never happen if that first person doesn't plant that seed.
