Zilla UVB Flourescent Tube: Tortoise hides from it!

[W Shaw]

How big is your enclosure? How tall?

It's about 20 inches tall -- open air enclosure with fencing about 20" above the substrate. Way too small for him, but he was an unexpected rescue. so we're just making do for the moment and concentrating on temps, humidity and diet, while we work out the finances and details of building a proper one for him.

 

[W Shaw]

I think what you have there is a case of a tortoise just needing time to adjust to something new. Our tortoises are such creatures of habit, they often don't take to any changes without some adjustment time. I doubt that the bulb was any kind of a problem as far as damaging the tortoises eyes or anything like that.

I'm glad that your coil bulb was one of the ones that don't cause a problem, but when and if you encounter one of the ones that do cause a problem, you will understand why so many of us are dead set against them.

That's why I was getting rid of it. He's never reacted at all to lighting changes since I've had him, so it just seemed weird that he reacted so negatively to that change. Do you have a brand preference? I wanted to take the coil out early on, so I got an MVB, but it would just shut down randomly. Sometimes after a couple of hours, sometimes after 10 minutes. I'm away at work all day, so I need something reliable. .Also, it didn't put out anywhere near as much heat as a heat lamp of lower wattage, so I had to have separate heat anyhow. All the brands I looked at seemed to be generating the same issues in the reviews -- not enough heat, random shutdowns, and premature failure. So I went to the Zilla tube, then returned it when he hid from it. I'm going to have to buy something new in any case, so if you have a brand preference, I'd like to go with something you've had good success with.

 

[leigti]

I have used power son mercury vapor bulbs without any issues. If you do I unplug them or turn them off they will take 10 or 15 minutes before they will come back on. However, I've never had one just randomly shut off. If the bold is going to be 20 inches above the substrate you might consider a high output long fluorescent tube. I use 48 inch reptisun 10.0 hi output bulb in a high output fixture. It sits around 15 or 16 inches above my substrate. Of course I need something for heat but this provides UVB and light across the entire enclosure. Just something to consider. The problem with lighting is it is so hard to give specific recommendations because everybody's situation is slightly different.

 

[jaizei]

That's why I was getting rid of it. He's never reacted at all to lighting changes since I've had him, so it just seemed weird that he reacted so negatively to that change. Do you have a brand preference? I wanted to take the coil out early on, so I got an MVB, but it would just shut down randomly. Sometimes after a couple of hours, sometimes after 10 minutes. I'm away at work all day, so I need something reliable. .Also, it didn't put out anywhere near as much heat as a heat lamp of lower wattage, so I had to have separate heat anyhow. All the brands I looked at seemed to be generating the same issues in the reviews -- not enough heat, random shutdowns, and premature failure. So I went to the Zilla tube, then returned it when he hid from it. I'm going to have to buy something new in any case, so if you have a brand preference, I'd like to go with something you've had good success with.

The key is that you were observant and noticed the change in his behavior.

 

[Tom]

That's why I was getting rid of it. He's never reacted at all to lighting changes since I've had him, so it just seemed weird that he reacted so negatively to that change. Do you have a brand preference? I wanted to take the coil out early on, so I got an MVB, but it would just shut down randomly. Sometimes after a couple of hours, sometimes after 10 minutes. I'm away at work all day, so I need something reliable. .Also, it didn't put out anywhere near as much heat as a heat lamp of lower wattage, so I had to have separate heat anyhow. All the brands I looked at seemed to be generating the same issues in the reviews -- not enough heat, random shutdowns, and premature failure. So I went to the Zilla tube, then returned it when he hid from it. I'm going to have to buy something new in any case, so if you have a brand preference, I'd like to go with something you've had good success with.

Hmm…

Perhaps we start from scratch given all the problems you've experienced. You might have already seen this, but here is my typical lighting strategy in a post written for another member with heating and lighting questions:

"Let me break down the heating and lighting thing. You need three or four elements:
1. Heat. During the day this is best accomplished with 65 watt flood bulbs from the hardware store set on digital timers. These also give some light. Move them higher or lower to get the basking temp under them correct. I buy them in 6 packs, so if they burn out I always have a spare on hand.
2. Light. Sometimes the basking bulb and ambient room light are enough. If not, use a tube style florescent strip light form the hardware store. Run it on the same timer as the heat lamps. Try to get a bulb in the 5000-6500K color range. The more common 2500K color range bulbs look yellowish.
3. Ambient temp maintenance and night heat. Tortoises need it dark at night, but still warm. This is best accomplished with the use of a CHE in a ceramic based fixture. Get the 11" ceramic based domes from Home Depot for all your heat lamps.
4. UV. Best to sun them for an hour two or more times a week. Its okay to skip a few weeks over winter and this will do no harm. Since you live in the frozen North (Okay, Midwest, but its a figure of speech…), you will need to provide some artificial UV. Several options for this:
a. Use a mercury vapor bulb, like the power sun for your basking bulb. Use this in the Home Depot fixture I mentioned, not in a small pet store dome or deep dome. Replace it every fall.
b. Use a long tube type 10.0 florescent bulb. These MUST be mounted no more than 10-12" from the tortoise to be effective.
c. Get an Arcadia 12% HO bulb from lightyourreptiles.com. These are great, but they make a lot of UV. Mount it at least 18" and as much as 26" away from the tortoise and put it on its own timer for only about 4 hours a day.

In addition, the problems you were having with the MVB are likely due to the fixture you were using. The typical pet store fixtures are too small. Both the "deep dome" and the regular 8" fixtures will cause an MVB to over heat and the built in safety will shut it down temporarily. If you run the same MVB in one of the $10 11" Home Depot fixtures they don't over heat and shut down like that.

 

[W Shaw]

Hmm…

Perhaps we start from scratch given all the problems you've experienced. You might have already seen this, but here is my typical lighting strategy in a post written for another member with heating and lighting questions:

"Let me break down the heating and lighting thing. You need three or four elements:
1. Heat. During the day this is best accomplished with 65 watt flood bulbs from the hardware store set on digital timers. These also give some light. Move them higher or lower to get the basking temp under them correct. I buy them in 6 packs, so if they burn out I always have a spare on hand.
2. Light. Sometimes the basking bulb and ambient room light are enough. If not, use a tube style florescent strip light form the hardware store. Run it on the same timer as the heat lamps. Try to get a bulb in the 5000-6500K color range. The more common 2500K color range bulbs look yellowish.
3. Ambient temp maintenance and night heat. Tortoises need it dark at night, but still warm. This is best accomplished with the use of a CHE in a ceramic based fixture. Get the 11" ceramic based domes from Home Depot for all your heat lamps.
4. UV. Best to sun them for an hour two or more times a week. Its okay to skip a few weeks over winter and this will do no harm. Since you live in the frozen North (Okay, Midwest, but its a figure of speech…), you will need to provide some artificial UV. Several options for this:
a. Use a mercury vapor bulb, like the power sun for your basking bulb. Use this in the Home Depot fixture I mentioned, not in a small pet store dome or deep dome. Replace it every fall.
b. Use a long tube type 10.0 florescent bulb. These MUST be mounted no more than 10-12" from the tortoise to be effective.
c. Get an Arcadia 12% HO bulb from lightyourreptiles.com. These are great, but they make a lot of UV. Mount it at least 18" and as much as 26" away from the tortoise and put it on its own timer for only about 4 hours a day.

In addition, the problems you were having with the MVB are likely due to the fixture you were using. The typical pet store fixtures are too small. Both the "deep dome" and the regular 8" fixtures will cause an MVB to over heat and the built in safety will shut it down temporarily. If you run the same MVB in one of the $10 11" Home Depot fixtures they don't over heat and shut down like that.

Cool! Thanks! That's a huge help! I was running the MVB in a ceramic, open wire cage type fixture to prevent overheating, but it's possible it was anyhow.

 

[Tom]

Cool! Thanks! That's a huge help! I was running the MVB in a ceramic, open wire cage type fixture to prevent overheating, but it's possible it was anyhow.

I just noticed your signature and it made me laugh. I'm the guy who makes them act like monsters on TV.

 

[W Shaw]

I just noticed your signature and it made me laugh. I'm the guy who makes them act like monsters on TV.

Aha! So it's YOUR propaganda I'm always trying to combat, is it? At least you're there to try to keep the abuse to a minimum. Hopefully CGI will get to a point where there won't be a call for live animals in the film industry.

 

[Tom]

Aha! So it's YOUR propaganda I'm always trying to combat, is it? At least you're there to try to keep the abuse to a minimum. Hopefully CGI will get to a point where there won't be a call for live animals in the film industry.

Umm… You hope I won't have a job? Why would you not want live animals in the film industry?

I hope that day never comes.