What do you think about these temps?

[Arjun&Yoshi]

basking 99F, cool side 70F, warm side 80F and night 62F?

I have a baby russian, came home on Friday. Thanks!

 

[lismar79]

I would up the night heat for a baby, but its just my opinion

 

[Tom]

Sounds pretty good. I kept my babies warmer than that at night, but that doesn't mean your temps are not okay. Let your baby's appetite and activity level be your guide.

 

[Arjun&Yoshi]

Thanks for the responses. He is eating well, and he'll sleep completely covered in his substrate. He isn't sleeping in his warm side hut though, but instead between the hut and his basking rock. I will see if I can get the night temp up. Perhaps keep the heat on longer?

Today is day 3 at home and he's sleeping a lot more. Day 1 he was all over the place!

 

[Arjun&Yoshi]

Another question, if these are my temps, why is he sleeping all the time? He's been home 4 days now, just normal for a baby?

 

[tortdad]

They sleep and hide a lot so don't worry. He was active the first day because he was looking for home. Now he knows he can't get back so he's hiding and sleeping. Soon he will realize the is home. I agree that you should bump the night temps a bit. The best way is with a thermostat so the heat comes on when it's needed.

 

[Arjun&Yoshi]

Thanks, that makes a lot of sense.

 

[mini_max]

Just my 2 cents, but I was letting my night temps get to the mid 60s and my baby Max was ok for the first week and a half, then slowed down a lot, and then became super sluggish in the mornings. He got puffy eyes, and blew some nose bubbles. The culprit, as concluded by most on this site, as well as my vet, were that night time temps were way too low...especially in conjunction with relatively high humidity. I bought a ceramic heat emitter bulb, and keep night temps more around 80. this change stopped the runny nose immediately and increased his activity level big time. I am even finding that keeping him at 80 on the cool side during the day keeps him way more active and he actually ventures to that side more.

Also, Max started sleeping during the day too! I thought he just slept a lot, until I discovered that he was waking up at 1 am and was active from then until noon! This sorted itself out when I ditched the coil uvb bulb. It was suggested to me that it was bothering his eyes and he was avoiding it. I also got rid of the infrared night time heater - perhaps he could see the light. Doing these two things changed the sleeping within days. He is a baby, so he wakes, basks, drinks, explores for a bit, poops, then goes for a sleep, then wakes up in an hour or two and does it all again.

Being also a mom of two little kids, it is my very newly formed opinion that baby torts in many ways are not unlike human babies and they do respond well to being full, warm and snug.

 

[Arjun&Yoshi]

Thank you for sharing your experience. It helps to learn from others for sure! I've upped his night temps to about 69F. I will buy the CHE and hope it'll make him more active during the day and also use the cool side more. Thanks

 

[Tom]

This time of year they all want to hibernate. I think your daytime temps are fine. Your night temps being warmer and your days being longer and brighter will help convince him its not hibernation time.

In your case, he is still getting used to this new and foreign land, so you have two things working against you.