UVB questions

[eternalnewb]

Hi everyone,
I posted a thread recently about how my Powersun MVB had stopped working after only 2 months. Since then I have been using a basking bulb and taking Torty outside in the sun. Since the MVB died Torty has been coming out of his hide everyday. He is a 4 month old Russian and I posted before about how he always stayed burried and I was having to dig him up to soak him and get him to eat. So I was really surprised so see him come out on his own the other morning, and he has come out everyday since. He'll eat and lay out under the basking light and stay out for hours before retreating to his hide.
Has anyone had experiences where their tortoises didn't like the MVBs?
I feel horrible thinking that the bulb was the reason he was hiding. What would be the next best bulb for UVB? I've had the tube UVB light before but I know that some are better than others. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[wellington]

The MVB may have made the temps too high. Russians don't need as high if temps as some. I would use a fluorescent bulb. Nit as good as the MVB, but for your tort I think it would be best. Plus, some members of TFO don't use artificial UVB. Their torts are outside during the summer warm months and they go without for the winter cold months. They have no issues with this way. Hope this helps

 

[ascott]

If you are getting your tort out for daily sun and you are seeing an improvement in his overall wellbeing...then the changes you have made are a positive one...now, the trick is to mimic this from this point forward....you live in Canada so I would imagine you have shorter tortoise season weather there than lets say I would here in the high desert of California

So, finding a successful source of UVA/UVB for the extended winter months is imperative...I personally prefer the idea of a long tube UVA/UVB strip light along with a separate heat light/source...if you have an enclosure that you have good control over the temp on a consistent basis then setting up a heat source that somewhat overlaps "part" of the UVA/UVB light would be ideal (again, in my opinion)...this would allow the tort to bask in the heat and the uv rays in the overlap area and then would allow him to move out of the rays to gain more heat and less uv rays and/or he could move out of the heat towards the uv rays to do the opposite....and if he wants to completely leave all he should have a heavily planted section/corner of the enclosure that is comfortable for him to go to....I believe that your substrate should be a minimum of 4 to 6 inches deep..this will allow heat to linger awhile and will also give a fun depth for your tort who is a species that really likes to dig down into the earth....

 

[eternalnewb]

Thanks for the reply Wellington, I will definitely keep a close eye on the temps and I'm going to switch to a fluorescent bulb and hope that it works out much better.

Thanks for the reply Ascott, I've been lucky that we have been having really nice weather lately, but then today it has been raining all day so you never know. I would be able to have the UVB tube overlap with the basking area, what fluorescent uvb light do you recommend? I think Petsmart has repti-glo and repti-sun, is one better than the other? I have some plants that are ready to be added so I will do that as well. Again thanks so much for the help