Burmese Brown Tortoise and UVB

JoshSloane

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Sep 3, 2015
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Hey All-

I will be ordering a Burmese Brown Mountain Tortoise here in the next few weeks and wanted to get some husbandry issues settled. I recently read Yvonne's post that Burmese Brown's as a forest species do not require a full time UVB bulb, and that she noticed that when she did add a UVB bulb to the enclosure that they all hid the entire time it was on. I am wondering if this is universally true, and if anyone had this same experience.

During warmer months I plan on getting the tort outside for some sun once in a while, but during the winter months he will be exclusively indoors. I do have a closed chamber setup with a UVB strip bulb setup for my young sulcata indoors. I was thinking that I could put the Burmese brown in a tub, punch some holes in the lid, and put that inside the sulcata enclosure once in a while to get a bit of UVB. How does something like this sound?

Thanks!
 

Millerlite

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My guys always basked and unused a uvb basking light when I did keep them I door. The rest of the enclosure was not bright just the basking area. The basking area also wasn't hot hot but warmer spot. They say under it everday. I.have them outdoors now and have lots of shade. But they still bask in the sun quite often. Younger mt tortoises can be shy and hide a Lot by nature. With time they get more and more friendly.

Kyle
 

JoshSloane

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Ok. What kind of uvb and heat source did you use for hatchlings? Would you mind describing your setup? My area is extremely dry, so I am not able to use typical tortoise table setups to maintain high humidity. For my sulcata I have a closed chamber design.
 

Yvonne G

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My Mep are in a table in the Manouria shed. I have a shelf across the back and the tube type UVB light is above the plants on the shelf - that diffuses the light so it's not real bright down at floor level. I also have a black light hanging over the area for warmth.

Manouria tort table b.jpg Manouria tort table c.jpg Manouria tort table d.jpg
 

JoshSloane

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Yvonne, what kind of UVB bulb do you use? 10.0 or 5.0?

I guess I'm confused because I see multiple posts of yours where you say that you don't use a UVB bulb with Burmese browns.
 
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Yvonne G

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Normally I don't because I usually have babies outside. But this year I have a couple babies indoors, so I have a 10.0 bulb over their table. But it's up pretty high with plants under it. Because you can feed the Manouria animal protein, they will be getting some of their D3 through their food. Also, the shelf the plants are on provides a lot of shade down at ground level.
 

JoshSloane

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Sep 3, 2015
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Ok. Now I'm thinking of a t5 5.0 UVB bulb about 14 inches above the tortoise, with a ton of plants for shade. Thinking of constructing a pvc cube and draping plants over it to simulate a shaded rainforest with some sun coming through.

What do you think?
 

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