My new baby russian hasn't eaten for 11 days

[Tom]

This morning when she was having her daily bath she was making these noises like a croaking hissing and a loud squeeky sound I cut her bath short and put her near the heat lamp and the noises stopped is this normal?

Your temperatures sound good, but with what you've described, I would try warming things up a bit. Your basking temp is good, but get daytime ambient up closer to 26-27 for a while, and only let the night drop down to around 21-22C.

Adding the LED, and switching to a 6% Arcadia HO tube might also help.

 

[Deanlfcladd]

Your temperatures sound good, but with what you've described, I would try warming things up a bit. Your basking temp is good, but get daytime ambient up closer to 26-27 for a while, and only let the night drop down to around 21-22C.

Adding the LED, and switching to a 6% Arcadia HO tube might also help.

Thanks for all the info. how do I increase daytime ambient temps without cooking the basking spot it's winter here so my Che is used of a night to prevent my temps dropping too low

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

If you run CHE on a thermostat, move the thermostat probe away from the basking area and set the desired temperature. If you don't have a thermostat consider getting one - it makes things much easier. A simple plain on/off thermostat will work just fine.

To reduce UVB lamp intensity you can try to remove the reflector from the lamp fixture. If this helps, then you can switch to a 6% lamp and put the reflector back.

 

[Tom]

Thanks for all the info. how do I increase daytime ambient temps without cooking the basking spot it's winter here so my Che is used of a night to prevent my temps dropping too low

BN Link makes a thermostat available on Amazon that will keep a separate temp for day and night. They only cost about $30. I use several of them and they work great.

 

[Deanlfcladd]

If you run CHE on a thermostat, move the thermostat probe away from the basking area and set the desired temperature. If you don't have a thermostat consider getting one - it makes things much easier. A simple plain on/off thermostat will work just fine.

To reduce UVB lamp intensity you can try to remove the reflector from the lamp fixture. If this helps, then you can switch to a 6% lamp and put the reflector back.

I have my heat bulb on a dimming thermostat and my Che on a pulse thermostat the Che faces towards the cool side where she sleeps I will be changing the uv bulb ASAP too. If forgot to mention after her short bath today and a warm up I caught her eating abit of the Coco coir fiber so I put a little of her food near and she did eat a tiny bit of romain I cut into small pieces so hopefully she's beginning to gain an appitite

 

[Tom]

I have my heat bulb on a dimming thermostat and my Che on a pulse thermostat the Che faces towards the cool side where she sleeps I will be changing the uv bulb ASAP too. If forgot to mention after her short bath today and a warm up I caught her eating abit of the Coco coir fiber so I put a little of her food near and she did eat a tiny bit of romain I cut into small pieces so hopefully she's beginning to gain an appitite

The heat lamp needs to be on a timer, not a dimming thermostat. You don't want the "sun" turning on and off all day. Adjust the temperature by raising or lower the fixture, using a different wattage, or setting it on a rheostat at one setting.

Your CHE should be on a regular thermostat that turns it on when temps drop below the set point, and off when temps rise above the set point.

Here is a breakdown of the four heating and lighting essentials:

1. Basking bulb. I use 65 watt incandescent floods from the hardware store. Some people will need bigger, or smaller wattage bulbs. Let your thermometer be your guide. I run them on a timer for about 12 hours and adjust the height to get the correct basking temp under them. I also like to use a flat rock of some sort directly under the bulb. You need to check the temp with a thermometer directly under the bulb and get it to around 95-100F (36-37C).
2. Ambient heat maintenance. I use ceramic heating elements or radiant heat panels set on thermostats to maintain ambient above 80 degrees day and night for tropical species. In most cases you'd only need day heat for a temperate species like Testudo or DT, as long as your house stays above 60F (15-16C) at night. Some people in colder climates or with larger enclosures will need multiple CHEs or RHPs to spread out enough heat.
3. Ambient light. I use LEDs for this purpose. Something in the 5000-6500K color range will look the best. Most bulbs at the store are in the 2500K range and they look yellowish. Strip or screw-in LED bulb types are both fine.
4. UV. If you can get your tortoise outside for an hour 2 or 3 times a week, you won't need indoor UV. In colder climates, get one of the newer HO type fluorescent tubes. Which type will depend on mounting height. 5.0 bulbs make almost no UV. I like the 12% HO bulbs from Arcadia. You need a meter to check this: https://www.solarmeter.com/model65.html A good UV bulb only needs to run for 2-3 hours mid day. You need the basking bulb and the ambient lighting to be on at least 12 hours a day.

 

[Deanlfcladd]

The heat lamp needs to be on a timer, not a dimming thermostat. You don't want the "sun" turning on and off all day. Adjust the temperature by raising or lower the fixture, using a different wattage, or setting it on a rheostat at one setting.

Your CHE should be on a regular thermostat that turns it on when temps drop below the set point, and off when temps rise above the set point.

Here is a breakdown of the four heating and lighting essentials:

1. Basking bulb. I use 65 watt incandescent floods from the hardware store. Some people will need bigger, or smaller wattage bulbs. Let your thermometer be your guide. I run them on a timer for about 12 hours and adjust the height to get the correct basking temp under them. I also like to use a flat rock of some sort directly under the bulb. You need to check the temp with a thermometer directly under the bulb and get it to around 95-100F (36-37C).
2. Ambient heat maintenance. I use ceramic heating elements or radiant heat panels set on thermostats to maintain ambient above 80 degrees day and night for tropical species. In most cases you'd only need day heat for a temperate species like Testudo or DT, as long as your house stays above 60F (15-16C) at night. Some people in colder climates or with larger enclosures will need multiple CHEs or RHPs to spread out enough heat.
3. Ambient light. I use LEDs for this purpose. Something in the 5000-6500K color range will look the best. Most bulbs at the store are in the 2500K range and they look yellowish. Strip or screw-in LED bulb types are both fine.
4. UV. If you can get your tortoise outside for an hour 2 or 3 times a week, you won't need indoor UV. In colder climates, get one of the newer HO type fluorescent tubes. Which type will depend on mounting height. 5.0 bulbs make almost no UV. I like the 12% HO bulbs from Arcadia. You need a meter to check this: https://www.solarmeter.com/model65.html A good UV bulb only needs to run for 2-3 hours mid day. You need the basking bulb and the ambient lighting to be on at least 12 hours a day.

My heat bulb is on a timer and a dimming thermostat for 12 hours a day the dimmer maintains the temp so that my 150w bulb doesn't cook her uv is on a separate timer for 5 hours a day and my Che only kicks on when temps get below 20°c of a night it pulses to keep the ambient night temps I don't think the bn link thermostats are available in the UK so I rely on my heat bulb to raise ambient temps during the day hope this clears any confusion there might be withing my heating/lighting setup I may try to increase the basking spot temps a little to bring up the ambient abit

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

My heat bulb is on a timer and a dimming thermostat for 12 hours a day the dimmer maintains the temp so that my 150w bulb doesn't cook her uv is on a separate timer for 5 hours a day and my Che only kicks on when temps get below 20°c of a night it pulses to keep the ambient night temps I don't think the bn link thermostats are available in the UK so I rely on my heat bulb to raise ambient temps during the day hope this clears any confusion there might be withing my heating/lighting setup I may try to increase the basking spot temps a little to bring up the ambient abit

I would tweak CHE thermostat to raise ambient temps. If a combination of dimming and pulse thermostats work for you, perhaps no reason to change it, only make some adjustments.

CHE works better if you put it in the wide dome and point straight below. It doesn't have a strong directed "beam" of heat (only to a small extent).