Tortoise seems less active after installing UVB bulb

[kohailovely]

Hey all

After encouragement from both people on the forum and our vet, we decided to invest in a UVB bulb, we invested in an Arcadia T5 UVB12% bulb and as instructed, positioned it 15`` away from our Horsefield Tortoise Dr House

The day we installed it and a few afterwards, he was incredibly active but since then he has started spending a lot more time in his hide

My wife ensures us that because he's only 2 years old, he's supposed to sleep most of the day, but it feels like he is sleeping a lot more now and does things like climbing a lot less.

His enclosure is 40°c at the basking spot and 21°c at the cool spot, he is fed a steady diet of weeds, lettuce and one rotating vegetable (typically either cress, cucumber or kale) and we bathe him 15 minutes daily, so is my wife right or is my paranoia justified?

 

[wellington]

40c is too high should be 95-100F.
The cool end should be 75-80F
The cool.end you have, 21C should be night temps. Nights can go into the 60'sF
What are you using for the basking bulb? Should not be a mercury vapor bulb, halogen or coil, but should be a regular incandescent flood bulb or even a regular incandescent bulb

 

[jaizei]

15" is prob too close for that uvb bulb

 

[kohailovely]

15" is prob too close for that uvb bulb

The vet recommended 6-7UVI for horsefields and the manufacturer recommended 15'' to get 6.5UVI

 

[kohailovely]

40c is too high should be 95-100F.
The cool end should be 75-80F
The cool.end you have, 21C should be night temps. Nights can go into the 60'sF
What are you using for the basking bulb? Should not be a mercury vapor bulb, halogen or coil, but should be a regular incandescent flood bulb or even a regular incandescent bulb

we're using a regular incandescent flood bulb, I'll turn down the heat and see if that changes anything

 

[wellington]

we're using a regular incandescent flood bulb, I'll turn down the heat and see if that changes anything

Young ones do sleep a lot. However, a two year old should not sleep as much as a hatchling. I have noticed, with my leopards and Russian that when they are inside, they do sleep more than when they are able to be outside. Also, this time of year, a lot of Russians are slowing down to it getting into fall, cooler temps outside and closer to brumating time.
if the lowered heat doesn't help, raise the uvb a bit. Vets usually don't know much they are talking about when it comes to tortoises. Also, the uvb only needs to be on a few hours a day, 3-4. But, the enclosure needs to be bright like if they were outside in the sunshine, to help keep them awake more. Also changing the things around in the enclosure sometimes gives them a reason to investigate.

 

[Tom]

Hey all

After encouragement from both people on the forum and our vet, we decided to invest in a UVB bulb, we invested in an Arcadia T5 UVB12% bulb and as instructed, positioned it 15`` away from our Horsefield Tortoise Dr House

The day we installed it and a few afterwards, he was incredibly active but since then he has started spending a lot more time in his hide

My wife ensures us that because he's only 2 years old, he's supposed to sleep most of the day, but it feels like he is sleeping a lot more now and does things like climbing a lot less.

His enclosure is 40°c at the basking spot and 21°c at the cool spot, he is fed a steady diet of weeds, lettuce and one rotating vegetable (typically either cress, cucumber or kale) and we bathe him 15 minutes daily, so is my wife right or is my paranoia justified?

Good advice, comments and a question from previous posters.

To recap:
1. 15 inches is too close for a 12%HO tube. Get a meter and test this. Further 6.5 is pretty darn strong UV. Its not too strong, but its higher than what I do, and I do think that is too much for a bulb that is on all day long for 12 or more hours every day. I aim for 3-5 UVI, and I test this with a Solarmeter 6.5. If it is too strong, it will burn their eyes and cause them to hide and avoid it. Its called photokeratitis. You know how the sun burns your skin when you are sunburned already, and you reflexively get in the shade and cover up? Imagine that feeling on your eyeballs. Ouch.
2. The tube should only be on for 2-4 hours mid day. 2 hours a day in summer when the tortoise is hopefully seeing sunshine outdoors in a safe enclosure, and 3-4 hours in the cooler months when the tortoise is indoors all the time. Any more than that is completely unnecessary and very unnatural for them.
3. Its fall. All Russians should be slowing down in preparation for brumation. More on that here:

Tom's Brumation Thread

Every fall we get bombarded here on the forum with all sorts of questions and problems regarding hibernation and tortoises "slowing down" for winter. The purpose of this thread is to talk about all aspects of this subject, to dispel some of the myths and mysteries, and give a "how to" list of...

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