Is it safe for heat lights at night?

[karleyreed]

I have a baby western Herman under 1 year old. I was advised by the man in the reptile shop where I bought him to keep his heat emmiter on 22 degrees C during the night. Is this necessary / safe? I live in the north east of England where winters are cold and harsh, I'm just worried he won't cope if I turn it off or will go into hibernation.

 

[ascott]

Yes, you can leave on a night bulb or heat emitter---you do not want to leave on a bright light for heat over him all day and night---they need to sleep too---you can use a black bulb for night heat and/or a ceramic heat emitter...if you are in an area where it is cold and rainy I also would provide night warmth for the little one...

 

[GBtortoises]

22c is more than warm enough (actually too warm) for a northern Testudo species like a Hermann's at night. Once in a while is fine, but constant night time temperatures that high will produce accelerated growth over time. They are evolved to tolerate temperatures in the 10-17c range at night just fine.

There is no need for night time heat with this species.

 

[Tortoise]

I turn off my mvb at night and they get room temps in the house and like Gary said they can go down quite low with no problems.
My babies are all active and growing very well.A fun species to own.

 

[karleyreed]

Even in my location though? My house gets pretty cold on a night, winters here are lucky to reach temperatures of 8 degrees C during the day and are much lower on a night. Perhaps I should get a thermostat for my room and measure the exact temperature within my room. Anything under 10 degrees C can't be good can it?

 

[wellington]

22c is more than warm enough (actually too warm) for a northern Testudo species like a Hermann's at night. Once in a while is fine, but constant night time temperatures that high will produce accelerated growth over time. They are evolved to tolerate temperatures in the 10-17c range at night just fine.

There is no need for night time heat with this species.

I would get a temp gun or thermometer probe and check you temps. Then adjust to the temps listed above.

 

[ascott]

Daytime Air Temperature: 70-90°
Nighttime Air Temperature: 60-65°
Basking Temperature: 90-95°
Humidity: 30-50%

The animals must be allowed to self regulate their temperature. This can be achieved by providing a temperature gradient in the enclosure, ranging from around 33 °C at the hot end to 18 °C at the cool end. The animal will then choose a position in the enclosure to reach its desired temperature.

http://www.ivis.org/journals/exoticdvm/9-4/franklin2.pdf

Just some additional references

 

[GBtortoises]

Northern Mediterran species and especially the Hermann's subspecies are more active in cooler temperatures in the high 60's to low 80's.
As high as 90 degrees as stated above is much too warm for an ambient temperature. Especially when kept indoors with few options for escaping the exhaustive heat. A Hermann's activity range is the high 60's-low 80's. When temperatures begin to climb above 84-85 degrees most will seek cooler shelter.
Again, the night time temperatures need to be within the inactive temperature range of the low 50's to the low 60's at max. They are evolved to experience a 15-20 degree, sometime even greater, temperature differential between day and night. This is very important to their rest/activity cycle.
The 30-50% ambient humidity range may be suitable for Desert and arid climate species. It is not suitable for Mediterranean species and is much too dry. A Hermann's "comfort zone" is within the 50-70% humidty range. They are also active at much higher percentages but typically become increasingly inactive at humidity ranges much lower than 45-50%.

 

[ascott]

A Hermann's "comfort zone" is within the 50-70% humidty range. They are also active at much higher percentages but typically become increasingly inactive at humidity ranges much lower than 45-50%.

GB, I totally get what you are saying D) my concern comes into play when someone keeps a tort indoors with high humidity and low temps..."ideally" when in the wild--a tort has much greater opportunity in seeking out what they need by what nature provides...."we" house them in a gazillion times smaller space and unlike in nature....I just hear often that someone is wondering why their tort is lifeless, hides, does not eat and all signs of failing and then they go onto express that they are doing the high constant humidity and have a basking light that is on from lets say 8am to 8pm--then they shut it off---well, we know what happens to substrate when it is moist/wet and the heat is removed from it---cold damp conditions for hours until the next morning when the heat lamp comes back on--then that takes a couple of hours to begin to warm the substrate itself---so that is alot of hours with cold damp/wet conditions....so please understand where my post here comes from....

Also, there is, I know, the flip side to this in that it seems as though the other extreme is dry, hot relentless heat....this is not what I am encouraging at all.....there should be a humid zone in every tort enclosure that is maintained warm constantly as well as there should be a cooler zone that is dry...this is my only clarification so that there is no misunderstanding by my comments....a happy medium so to speak

 

[karleyreed]

I've just received my thermometer and placed it in the middle of my enclosure. I'm awaiting another 2 for each end of the enclosure. The current humidity percentage is between 60-70%, is this ok for my herman? The temp at the cool end is around 26 degrees C and at the warm end around 30-32 degrees C, are these correct and safe for my tort? I also leave the heat emmiter on during the night but turn it down to around 15 degrees C, this is due to my location, I live in the north east of England where it gets well into the minus temperatures here in winter, and my house during the night doesn't have the heating on, making it cold even indoors, will this be ok??

 

[GBtortoises]

Night time temperatures at or very near 15c are fine as long as the daytime temperatures reach normal activity levels which based on your numbers above, do. A night time range anywhere in the 10-17c range is normal for the species. Even occasionally warmer up to around 20c is okay but shouldn't be constant. You didn't mention the basking temperatures but they should be warmer than the warmest ambient temperature. A good basking range for a baby or very young Western Hermann's is about 32.5-37.5. Again, occassionally slightly warmer is fine as long as it's not consistently so.