UVB lights and adult RF
- Thread starter Blessed3x
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Some people uses UVB during the winter months. Some, who houses their torts outside 24/7 during the summer months don't use UVB during the winter months. Some, houses their adults outside all year long with a heat house and let the tort choose whether it wants to go outside or not. I am talking tortoises in general, not specifically RF
I'm on the pro UVB side: I'd always provided it unless you live in a climate where your tortoise only comes in at night or in severely inclement weather. Like Wellington said, opinions vary.
I am not aware of any solid studies comparing tortoises kept indoors over the winter with and without UVB, so I don't know that we can use science to solve this.
Some keepers feel that good sunlight over the summer stores up enough in the tissues to last all winter long. They point at their own breeding experiences and the needs of hibernating torts to support this. I don't know that the hibernating tort is a good argument considering all of the metabolic changes they go through in hibernation, but overall health and reproduction is a good argument itself.
However, UV affects more than just vitamin D production. It regulates sleep, seasonal metabolism, reproductive cycles, etc. I suspect that there ARE differences between tortoises kept with and without for several months in a row- but cannot prove it without a good study.
Some keepers feel that good sunlight over the summer stores up enough in the tissues to last all winter long. They point at their own breeding experiences and the needs of hibernating torts to support this. I don't know that the hibernating tort is a good argument considering all of the metabolic changes they go through in hibernation, but overall health and reproduction is a good argument itself.
However, UV affects more than just vitamin D production. It regulates sleep, seasonal metabolism, reproductive cycles, etc. I suspect that there ARE differences between tortoises kept with and without for several months in a row- but cannot prove it without a good study.
Exactly how long are we talking? 3 months...probably they could do fine without. Longer than that, I dunno.
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