Hides all day . Not basking .

[Sasami32]

Hello ! I have a juvenile Hermann tortoise Zeus . Zeus sleeps all day:hides in its hide area which is dark area . Zeus will come out and eat fine , poop fine and pees fine . Eats very well even comes back for 2 nds. Then goes back to hiding in the hide area in corner sometimes while being burrowed. I got him/her 3 months ago and Zeus is now starting to do this snice about 3 weeks ago or more . Zeus won’t bask at all or stay out of hide area. He gets soaks to and when he is taken outside he is active and seems to smile . He goes back inside enclosure Zeus will hide again . Not sure why . My enclosure is My indoor enclosure for my Hermann juvenile tortoise is 6ft long ! Has a width of 30 inches and 15inches high . The hide dark area is about 16 inches width. It’s inside . I take him a lot outside to roam as well, when it’s warm. It’s been hot out to lately but Zeus has lightning and warm / cool side . It’s a 100 w Mercury bulb . Zeus was under before many times . The humidity is fine . Any suggestions? He would go in there before and then come out and bask he even would do laps around to . All has stop . Even has water for him . Humidity does go up and down but idk if that’s the issue because Zeus has been trough it before . I try my best to keep Zeus happy … this is really buging me . Also no nasal drips or bubbles , eyes are fine . Breathing seems normal to . Let me know thanks !!!

 

[TeamZissou]

Mercury vapor bulbs are not good for tortoises. Better to use a regular incandescent flood bulb that can be purchased at a hardware store/home depot, and alter the wattage or height to achieve a basking temp of around 95F. A 100 W MVB hanging at only 15 inches high is likely too intense for your tortoise and is causing it to hide. The problem is something likely related to lighting or temperatures.

What is the humidity?
What is the temperature under the basking lamp?
What is the temperature in the rest of the enclosure?

Rather than a MVB, find a T5 HO tube style fluorescent bulb. For such a short enclosure height, a 5.0 may be appropriate. The only way to know the UVI for your tortoise is to measure it using a Solarmeter 6.5.

All this and more explained in this thread:

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

I would discontinue using the MVB immediately and replace it with a flood bulb and see if things improve.

 

[wellington]

Without more info, answers to the questions above, we can't really help you.
Post pictures of the enclosure too.