Nightly heating

Leroy23

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I'm a beginner in the Russian Tortoise family. Should I leave a gas heater on in the same room the Tortoise? Also the heat lamps be on the whole night?
 

wellington

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If you are not brumating/hibernating him for winter then there needs to be heat day and night to keep him up. No lower then 70 at night but no lights at night just heat. Normal lights and a range of day temps of 75 to 80 along with a basking spot of 90 to 100.
 

Leroy23

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If you are not brumating/hibernating him for winter then there needs to be heat day and night to keep him up. No lower then 70 at night but no lights at night just heat. Normal lights and a range of day temps of 75 to 80 along with a basking spot of 90 to 100.



So there's options wither or not to hibernate or brumate them?? I didn't know. So I live in southern California. It's cold here at night now. Maybe 50 to 60 degrees at night. So I don't need to leave the heat lamps on nor the UV light? Also how can you tell the sex?
 

wellington

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To brumate them there is a process that has to be done first and they need to be kept at a constant cold temp.
So far you have not done this so you do need to keep the night temps at 70 or above not the 50 or 60 you are having. In spring, summer and early fall when they won't naturally go into brumation there is no need for heat at night.
If you want to brumate him, first you need to have him off all food for at least two weeks. @Tom has a thread about how to do the brumating.
 

Tom

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I'm a beginner in the Russian Tortoise family. Should I leave a gas heater on in the same room the Tortoise? Also the heat lamps be on the whole night?
Hello and welcome to the forum! :) I live just north of you in SCV. I grew up on the border of Hawthorne and Gardena.

The answer to your question depends on what the temperature is dropping to at night in the enclosure. Most people here keep their houses in the high 60s during these winter cold spells like we are having right now. If the room where your tortoise is living stays above 60 at night, there is no need for night heat of any kind, AS LONG AS the tortoise can warm up properly each day.

What do you mean by "gas heater"? Are you talking about a wall mounted unit that uses natural gas?

Its important to understand that almost all of the tortoise care info out in the world, online, FB, YT, vets, pet stores, and even most tortoise breeders, is all wrong. Its been wrong for decades. New people come in and do "research" and all they find is this same old wrong info repeated over and over. This same wrong info is where vets, breeders, pet shops, and internet personalities, all learn how to house and care for tortoises. Its a terrible situation and we are working to correct it here. Having said that, here is the correct care info:

The above thread should answer most of your questions and get you started on the right path. I recommend you read through the whole thing at least twice, and questions are welcome.

Here is the brumation thread mentioned by @wellington if you want to learn more about that:
 

SinLA

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Welcome from another Angelino. There's good information here, don't hesitate to ask questions and read the links Tom has provided. They are dense, but really rich
 

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