Reduced tortoise appetite

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Oh. Forest 6% lamp isn't cool... Thanks Littleredfootbigredheart for bringing this up!

12% lamps are mounted at 18-21 inches above substrate and this makes a good coverage over basking zone. With 6% lamp we need to put it at 15 inches and make an elevation out of substrate towards the basking area where lamp should be at 11-12 inches (because the tube is long). This could be a cool terrarium landscaping project and a UV gradient... Yet, I'm not sure if you want to go this way right now. If the shop can send you 24", Desert 12% lamp instead of this one - that would be the easiest option.

You can use the "all-one-one" basking bulb for a while. But you need to adjust height to get UVI 3-4 under the lamp (look at lamp's box or booklet inside to find the required height). Then check basking area temperature - leave the thermometer for 1 hour. If temperature is too low, you will need to add incandescent floodlight to the mix or turn on ceramic heat emitter.

That's one of the "greenhouse visuals": https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/indoor-greenhouse-thoughts.186381/

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

It’s amazing how panic makes you buy giant bulbs 😂

Oh those visuals are soooo useful! I’m going to become a proper DIY expert now 😂 I’ll get this sorted tomorrow. Thank you so so much.

I’m not sure why they opted for the 6%. Perhaps it was because of the bulb length?

@Alex and the Redfoot Would you have any visual examples of the greenhouse top? So sorry for all of the questions again 😅

In the meantime, can I use the UV basking bulb as pictured? I didn’t realise the light was addictive! 🙈

Hopefully Alex’s response helped, if you asked for the 12% that was naughty of them to change it on you, it would definitely be easier of you could swap, least that will give you time to get a stand situation sorted😁

Then in the meantime, even though that old uv basking bulb you have isn’t ideal, I understand if you want to get your guy in there sooner, follow Alex’s suggestions and use it temporarily until you get a floodlight and decide what you’re thinking for the uv😊

Btw here’s a little visual of the greenhouse topper idea, we’ve recently been helping this member set up for a young sulcata🙂
You’d need to make sure all of them are on chains, she hadn’t got to the last one in the photo but they’re all on chains now.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Alex’s topper example is definitely better than mine lol, but hopefully you get the idea🙂

 

[CaggyQ]

Thank you both so much! Just to make it clear - this is my error. I didn’t know about the 12% requirement: just asked for a T5 UV setup. Honestly I’ve been in such a tizzy about it all, and they’ve been incredibly patient. I’ve been sounding like a frantic tortoise owner. 😂 It was contained in the T5 box; I’ll contact to see if they can swap it out for me! I was measuring how close it needed to be to be effective and I was thinking it was pretty close.

In other news, I gave him some of the prickly pear and he started to eat it like he hadn’t eaten in months (which tbf, he hadn’t really). However he then made a hit of a choking gesture, spat a bit out and then refused to eat the rest. He ran off into his hide then. I was feeing him by hand too - and if anything goes wrong he tends to blame me for it as well.

Do you think I’ve scared him off prickly pear for life? I’ve a giant leaf of the stuff 🙈

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Thank you both so much! Just to make it clear - this is my error. I didn’t know about the 12% requirement: just asked for a T5 UV setup. Honestly I’ve been in such a tizzy about it all, and they’ve been incredibly patient. I’ve been sounding like a frantic tortoise owner. 😂 It was contained in the T5 box; I’ll contact to see if they can swap it out for me! I was measuring how close it needed to be to be effective and I was thinking it was pretty close.

In other news, I gave him some of the prickly pear and he started to eat it like he hadn’t eaten in months (which tbf, he hadn’t really). However he then made a hit of a choking gesture, spat a bit out and then refused to eat the rest. He ran off into his hide then. I was feeing him by hand too - and if anything goes wrong he tends to blame me for it as well.

Do you think I’ve scared him off prickly pear for life? I’ve a giant leaf of the stuff 🙈

Aw no worries, it was in our responses about the 12% but I should’ve double checked you’d ordered the right one, sorry😣hopefully they exchange it for you, I believe there’s hardly any price difference if any👍I’d go with the 24” like Alex says, it’ll be cheaper and will work just as well, it doesn’t need to be as long as the enclosure🙂

lol bless him, to me he sounds like he was having a grumpy moment🥲I doubt you’ve scared him off it if he likes it, he’ll try it again don’t worry, I think all the changes haven’t helped with him being a bit stressy, hopefully once he’s all set up, he’ll start getting better once he’s settled in❤️

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Thank you both so much! Just to make it clear - this is my error. I didn’t know about the 12% requirement: just asked for a T5 UV setup. Honestly I’ve been in such a tizzy about it all, and they’ve been incredibly patient. I’ve been sounding like a frantic tortoise owner. 😂 It was contained in the T5 box; I’ll contact to see if they can swap it out for me! I was measuring how close it needed to be to be effective and I was thinking it was pretty close.

In other news, I gave him some of the prickly pear and he started to eat it like he hadn’t eaten in months (which tbf, he hadn’t really). However he then made a hit of a choking gesture, spat a bit out and then refused to eat the rest. He ran off into his hide then. I was feeing him by hand too - and if anything goes wrong he tends to blame me for it as well.

Do you think I’ve scared him off prickly pear for life? I’ve a giant leaf of the stuff 🙈

Prickly pear is tasty, he will get back to it And what's good - it can be stored for a long time without a fridge.

 

[CaggyQ]

Aw no worries, it was in our responses about the 12% but I should’ve double checked you’d ordered the right one, sorry😣hopefully they exchange it for you, I believe there’s hardly any price difference if any👍I’d go with the 24” like Alex says, it’ll be cheaper and will work just as well, it doesn’t need to be as long as the enclosure🙂

lol bless him, to me he sounds like he was having a grumpy moment🥲I doubt you’ve scared him off it if he likes it, he’ll try it again don’t worry, I think all the changes haven’t helped with him being a bit stressy, hopefully once he’s all set up, he’ll start getting better once he’s settled in❤️

Gosh you have no need to apologise! ❤️ It’s all my fault. The 12% advice got lost somewhere in my brain. I’m doing a PhD at the moment which involves writing a novel, so my mind has reached full capacity atm. All I could say to the reptile shop in Dublin was “T5. A long T5.” 😂 I’ll call them tomorrow to see if they can swap it around.

I’m glad you’re both saying he’ll get back to the prickly pear; you’re so right when you’re saying he’s having a tough time at the moment. And I could tell in that moment he was blaming me 😂

What’s the best way to store prickly pear?