Is there a normal position during sleep?

[ashleym]

Sorry if this appears to be a dumb question. Everything temp/humidity wise seems to be really good. I have noticed some nights when the humidity drops a little, he prefers sleeping under the lamp. When the humidity is high (90s), he prefers to sleep in his "rock" hide. Tonight he decided to goto sleep before I sprayed some so the humidity was about right at 80 before I sprayed. He fell asleep under the light. I went ahead and sprayed to raise the humidity and it has helped but of course, he is still sleeping under the light. Sometimes he sleeps more cooped up inside his shell and sometimes he is more stuck out of his shell. What does this mean, if anything? Tonight he is asleep stuck out of his shell under the light but in sort of an odd.. sloppy position. He has been active the majority of the day and did alot of outdoor exercise earlier so I know physically, he seemed well all day. Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks.

 

[sibi]

Why is the light on when he's sleeping? I hope you have a CHE and not keeping a light on all night. Sullies, and I would suppose all torts, sleep better with no lights on. If he's sleeping with the light on because you want him to have heat, I suggest you get the heat emitter. It could explain why he may be so tired at the end of a day. Poor guy, he's beside himself at the end of the day Seriously though, no lights please when it's time for bed. He can't rest properly otherwise.

 

[Wewt]

I don't know much about temps and humidity, but I do know that my tortoise often sleeps in weird positions. Sometimes he is all sprawled out with his head resting right out and on the ground. Other times, he is tucked up tight with his face against a wall. *shrug* I don't think you need to worry about that aspect of it.

 

[ashleym]

Why is the light on when he's sleeping? I hope you have a CHE and not keeping a light on all night. Sullies, and I would suppose all torts, sleep better with no lights on. If he's sleeping with the light on because you want him to have heat, I suggest you get the heat emitter. It could explain why he may be so tired at the end of a day. Poor guy, he's beside himself at the end of the day Seriously though, no lights please when it's time for bed. He can't rest properly otherwise.

I actually just recently started leaving the same bulb on at night, usually turn it down some though. I was switching it out before his "bedtime" with a night time heat light bulb so that it would be hardly any light, but still have heat flowing but then he started sleeping in his rock cave area so I figured just dimming his regular bulb would be fine. I suppose I should try it with no lights one night and see how he does. I haven't tried it yet with no lights at all over night. I guess I just fear the heat would drop so much. I don't want the poor baby to get sick! Haha. I'm just so paranoid, not really being too familiar with anything in the reptile family or how their body works. Thank you for the advice though. I think I will go ahead and do that now actually.

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Also, sibi.. I have actually not looked into getting a CHE yet. Now that you mention it, I was just reading up on them and it does seem like a great alternative for night time. What do you recommend? I was actually looking at something online that is advertised as this: Exo Terra Solar Glo 125W Reptile Bulb UVB Basking Heat MVB Mercury Vapor. Is this the same thing?

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Lol.. nevermind. I just realized that's just a better daytime bulb for UV rays and heat in one. Which I am interested in for daytime anyways. He gets outside daily for hours, but I think some added UV in the enclosure wouldn't be a bad thing especially with winter approaching. I am now seeing some CHEs online.. some from ZooMed and others aswell. I'm not sure if the night time bulb I have is technically a CHE or not? It does give off a little bit of light but it's kind of similar to a black light. You know what I mean? Very naturally dim with a purpleish tint. I wish I still had the packaging. I can't remember the brand or anything but I do remember it being advertised for heat.

 

[ascott]

You can use a black light heat bulb, or
A Ceramic Heat Emitter (CHE), or you can use heat ropes, or
You can use red infrared heat bulbs


There are so many options...but a bright day light should not be used during night sleeping hours...and if you run high humidity then turning off all lights/heat sources could prove to be a bad health situation...

 

[ashleym]

You can use a black light heat bulb, or
A Ceramic Heat Emitter (CHE), or you can use heat ropes, or
You can use red infrared heat bulbs


There are so many options...but a bright day light should not be used during night sleeping hours...and if you run high humidity then turning off all lights/heat sources could prove to be a bad health situation...

Thanks. After looking at my "night heat bulb" some more, it is definitely a black light heat bulb. I went ahead and put it back in there and on for the night. I guess I will get back into the routine of switching them out every night and morning until I get a second lamp to make it easier to just turn them on and off.