Uvb question

[stinax182]

I might be making this up but i believe i read online somewhere that if your tortoise can get real sunlight for more than half the year that they don't need a artificial source of uvb. I'm just wondering this. I have a ebt that doesn't hibernate but RARELY unburies herself over the winter and i was wondering if she needed the light for the 5 months she's inside.

 

[wellington]

I have seen this said too, I believe by Tom. If your EBT were hibernating, she wouldn't get the uvb, so she should be fine without it even though she isn't hibernating.

 

[stinax182]

I do believe it was tom as well. I also believe he was talking about tortoises though....

 

[leigti]

I have a Boxturtle but I keep inside in winter. I would definitely provide the UVB. It will not be nearly as powerful as the sun but it will provide something. Five months in my opinion is too long to be without it.

 

[johnsonnboswell]

If you want the turtle awake, active, eating & digesting in the winter, you need to replicate summer; to do that you need to have a UVB light on for 14 hours a day.

 

[stinax182]

Thanks guys. This is her second winter with me and the first she wouldn't eat for weeks or move despite my trying. Half the time i couldn't find her because she was buried so deep. But so far she's still eating and is active.... Would she have already started to show down by now?

 

[leigti]

Besides the UVB light on 14 hours a day you also need to keep the enclosure warm, and relatively bright. like summertime. But give her some hides and plants to go under also, piles of leaves etc.

 

[Tom]

We used to have a moderator here, Kristina, who lived in MI. She had all sorts of turtles and tortoises. Hers lived outside for the warmer parts of the year and then she brought them in for the winter. She used absolutely no indoor UV bulbs of any kind and her animals were healthy.

Personally, if they are inside and not hibernating, I would offer some UV, but due to Kristina's experience I won't say it is "necessary". I prefer MVBs or HO tubes. Offering indoor UV, and offering it correctly depending on which product you choose, will certainly not hurt anything and may be beneficial, even if some people's animals seem to do okay with out it.

 

[johnsonnboswell]

I live in the Frozen North, and for many years did not have UVB lights for my turtles in the winter. I don't think they were available in those days. The habitat was in a sunny spot, and the turtles seemed okay. However, when I introduced the lights, I saw an immediate change for the better: better appetite, more activity, even better coloration. When they get new bulbs, they mate.

They can get through the winter without bulbs, especially in a sunny spot, but they seem to do better with the bulbs, in my experience.

 

[stinax182]

Thank you for that guys!

The ebt does have the same setup as summer. 90° basking spot down to 75° cool side and a 48" reptisun 5.0 tube fluorescent. I offer her greens daily which she never eats and super worms or earth worms every other day. Her enclosure is 3-7.

And i ordered one of the new high output fixtures and bulb for my bearded dragon and plan to for my leopard as well.