Too much uv?

[sheilae04]

Now that it's spring, I've been able to take my Russian ,Saturn, outside almost every day for about 30 minutes. He loves it! My question is, is he getting too much uv with his uv lamp on for 12 hours as well? He sleeps in his hide for about 3 of those hours and here and there throughout the day.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

No.
Just make sure that there is a night cycle with no light, also.

 

[Pearly]

Nah! Just be sure he has places where he can get away from the lamp.

 

[Tom]

What sort of UV lamp are you using?

 

[Markw84]

The part of the process used to create Vitamin D3 that requires UVB happens extremely quickly in the skin. A matter of minutes with proper exposure. The conversion of that "pre-D" into D3 actually takes much longer but only requires heat. So most basking time is actually for heating the skin. The skin will not produce more D3 than is needed - so no overdose can occur by this natural process, and as long as the UVB is not too intense to cause other problems, like eye irritations, etc, it is not a problem. D3 also remains available in the body for a few weeks, so periods of 2-3 weeks with no UVB is not a problem if there is normally adequate UVB available. Keep in mind if you are providing adequate UVB and THEN add D3 supplements, you can overdose. The skin productions will not overdose as it self regulates, but too much ingested D3 on top of that can.

I personally like the brighter, more intense HO 12.0 UVB tubes to simulate a bright mid day basking. However, I limit it to just 4 hours by timer. The incandescent flood lamp I use for basking heat is on 14 hours along with a double T-8 6500K fluorescent (without UV) for lighting. Since I adjust my UVB to provide about 2.5 UV index at tortoise basking areas, I personally don't like the UVB on more than the 4 hours. A lot of the year, they are outside when the UVB would be on so they are not even in the indoor enclosure when the UVB is on.

I never supplement D3 other than the little amounts in the Mazuri and Rep Cal foods I offer a few times a week on top of the greens.