ShellingtonTheFirst
Active Member
He managed to crawl out of bed to go and take a little early morning snooze underneath his lamp. :’)
Sleepy Boi
- Thread starter ShellingtonTheFirst
- Start date
He managed to crawl out of bed to go and take a little early morning snooze underneath his lamp. :’)
This is not necessarily bad, but what is the ambient temperature? And have you verified that the temperature directly under the bulb is correct at tortoise shell height by laying a digital thermometer on its back and letting it cook under the lamp while raised up on a pice of wood or something to get it to the correct height?
ShellingtonTheFirst
Active Member
I wasn’t saying it was good or bad. Just showing a picture of Shelly having a morning snooze under his lamp? This was literal minutes after he’d woken up (and went back to sleep…) He looked cute and I wanted to show him off.
His ambient is somewhere between 26-30c depending on where I shoot for temps in his enclosure, and yes, I took your advice and laid a bowl upside down beneath the lamp for a couple of hours at a time over the course of a few days to get him a reliable basking spot of 37c.
ShellingtonTheFirst
Active Member
What are you referring to being ‘not necessarily bad’ by the way? I’m a bit confused. I didn’t think there was anything bad at all going on in this pic? lol
I was trying to preface my questions by stating something to the effect of: Everything might be totally fine, but...
There is a common problem of tortoises getting "slow-burns" on the carapace from heat lamps that are not set and checked correctly. Also, excessive basking (Not necessarily your case, but when it happens...) will cause pyramiding, and possibly thermal damage. Excessive basking will sometimes happen when basking temps are too low. That was the reason for my questions.
Soooooooo, to make a long story shorter, you were just intending to post a cute pic of your tortoise, and I ruined your fun by doing my usual routine of making sure everything was safe and sound for your tortoise. Sorry for being a wet blanket on your fun, but I've just seen so many tortoises get injured or killed, and it makes me feel better if I can try and prevent more damage. Its not an insult to you or your abilities. Its my long term experience and all the problems I have seen, along with the misery associated with these problems. When I see a potential problem, I try to make sure the person is aware and ensure that there is no problem. I wish someone would have done that for me decades ago. It would have saved a lot of the aforementioned problems and misery of me having to learn all these things the hard way.
There is no problem there in your enclosure, so I will butt out and stop interrupting the tortoise fun.
ShellingtonTheFirst
Active Member
No worries Tom, I appreciate your expertise! But yeah, his temps are fine and I’ve triple checked the upside down bowl method to check his basking temp. He doesn’t bask an excessive amount I don’t think, but he does bask first thing in the morning when he wakes up — he’ll usually drag himself out of bed and then go right back to sleep underneath his lamp until he’s warmed up enough to start bulldozing around the place.I was trying to preface my questions by stating something to the effect of: Everything might be totally fine, but...
There is a common problem of tortoises getting "slow-burns" on the carapace from heat lamps that are not set and checked correctly. Also, excessive basking (Not necessarily your case, but when it happens...) will cause pyramiding, and possibly thermal damage. Excessive basking will sometimes happen when basking temps are too low. That was the reason for my questions.
Soooooooo, to make a long story shorter, you were just intending to post a cute pic of your tortoise, and I ruined your fun by doing my usual routine of making sure everything was safe and sound for your tortoise. Sorry for being a wet blanket on your fun, but I've just seen so many tortoises get injured or killed, and it makes me feel better if I can try and prevent more damage. Its not an insult to you or your abilities. Its my long term experience and all the problems I have seen, along with the misery associated with these problems. When I see a potential problem, I try to make sure the person is aware and ensure that there is no problem. I wish someone would have done that for me decades ago. It would have saved a lot of the aforementioned problems and misery of me having to learn all these things the hard way.
There is no problem there in your enclosure, so I will butt out and stop interrupting the tortoise fun.
A question though! Sometimes, not in the morning, I do find him sprawled out sleeping beneath his lamp. Should I move him if he’s flat out asleep underneath it? I’d hate for him to burn himself.
If your lamp is set correctly, and ambient is relatively warm, there should be no danger of a burn, and no reason to disturb him. It is normal and good for them to want to bask. If he is basking too much, like hours at a time, you probably need to increase the ambient temp. If the tortoise never basks, ambient may be too warm. This is all part of the "fine tuning" the is necessary for every enclosure. We suggest a good starting point to aim for, but ultimately, your thermometers and your tortoise's behavior should help to tweak things to perfection.
jeff kushner
Well-Known Member
What a cool pic....Splayed~! LOL
I do love seeing them so comfortable!! Great pic!
I do love seeing them so comfortable!! Great pic!
