Russian is hiding in new enclosure, worried about him not getting enough uvb

[ReddyFreddy]

So I recently moved houses and upgraded Freddy to a new enclosure double the size of his old one. It has been about two weeks and he has just been hiding an not eating. I`m worried about him not getting enough UVB since he isnt out basking and roaming. Is this normal? He has been in his old tortoise table for around six years. His current uvb is provided by a solarglo mvb and two arcadia 12% (the hoods with the black sides.) Temps are high 90`s to 105 under his basking, depending on the time of day it drops to 77-73 on on his cool side. Enclosure is 8.5x5.5 ft

 

[wellington]

Stop using the MVB as it is too hot and drying to the tortoises shell. Use an incandescent Flood bulb for basking and heat.
Try adding some plants for cover and give him some time. They hate change and he went from 6 years in his home to a new place. He will come around.

 

[TammyJ]

That's right. He has been uprooted and placed into a huge, wide open, strange place. His survival instinct is telling him to hide.

 

[ReddyFreddy]

Stop using the MVB as it is too hot and drying to the tortoises shell. Use an incandescent Flood bulb for basking and heat.
Try adding some plants for cover and give him some time. They hate change and he went from 6 years in his home to a new place. He will come around.

Yea I only have the MVB as a stop gap because my t5 hood broke in the move. I use a halogen as this basking. The last time I used MVBs they ere too finiky, he gets as weekly soak regardless.

 

[ReddyFreddy]

That's right. He has been uprooted and placed into a huge, wide open, strange place. His survival instinct is telling him to hide.

Thats what I figured.

 

[Tom]

Yea I only have the MVB as a stop gap because my t5 hood broke in the move. I use a halogen as this basking. The last time I used MVBs they ere too finiky, he gets as weekly soak regardless.

Don't use a halogen either. Very desiccating. Use a regular cheap incandescent flood bulb for basking.

You have way too much UV going on in there. One 12% HO tube is plenty. All those bulbs running at the same time is probably burning his eyes. Tortoises only need a few minutes of UV per week to do what they need to do. They also store D3 in their bodies in times of plenty and can literally go six months on those reserves with no UV whatsoever.

Replace the basking bulb with an incandescent flood bulb, remove one UV tube, or replace it with an LED strip, and run just one UV tube near the heat lamp for a few hours mid day. It should be bright and "sunny" in the enclosure, but you don't need more than one artificial UV source.

Also, it is normal for them to hide a lot after making such a big change, but the excessive UV probably isn't helping.

 

[ReddyFreddy]

Don't use a halogen either. Very desiccating. Use a regular cheap incandescent flood bulb for basking.

You have way too much UV going on in there. One 12% HO tube is plenty. All those bulbs running at the same time is probably burning his eyes. Tortoises only need a few minutes of UV per week to do what they need to do. They also store D3 in their bodies in times of plenty and can literally go six months on those reserves with no UV whatsoever.

Replace the basking bulb with an incandescent flood bulb, remove one UV tube, or replace it with an LED strip, and run just one UV tube near the heat lamp for a few hours mid day. It should be bright and "sunny" in the enclosure, but you don't need more than one artificial UV source.

Also, it is normal for them to hide a lot after making such a big change, but the excessive UV probably isn't helping.

I have a day light incandescent I have been using, I just put in the halogen today. I was using one 36" 12% in his old enclosure that ran for 4 hours, but since this new enclosure is twice as long I thought I may need more, but I can remove the second.

 

[Kevboosh]

It took my russian almost 2 months to stop hiding and start eating after I brought him home.