First Tort - Tonto!

[thisiscowboy]

Hello!

Just picked up my first Tort - Tonto (the Hermmans) this week! It's about a year old and settling in. I'm absolutely terrified of doing anything wrong so looking forward to reading through every post here!

I've already had a little bit of trouble with the lamp - my dimming thermostat isn't working so I've temporarily changed the bulb to a 70w one on constant; the air under it is nice and warm, and around the right temp, but the actual substrate can go up to 40, 42 degrees by mid afternoon before I spray it with some water. Tonto doesn't seem to mind that much and spends most of the day running around the entire table and up and down the little hills I've made rather than basking directly under it anyway. Is this alright?

Very lazy in the mornings though - The lamps come on at 8 and this morning he wasn't up by ten. Still tucked away in the cool end under his plant pot so I picked him up and gave him a warm bath before breakfast. Is that normal behaviour?

Looking forward to chatting with you all!

A slightly terrified David (and Tonto).

 

[Yvonne G]

Well, David, you've come to the right place! We have one of the very best care sheets ever written for Hermann's tortoises:

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/sticky-hermanns-tortoise-care-sheet-updated.101410/


Welcome to the Forum!

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I never let my babies cool down at night. Their insides need to be about 85 degrees to digest the food. If they are too cool at night, they are not going to want to ear breakfast....just my experience......warm soaking every morning is a great idea.......

 

[thisiscowboy]

Thanks! I have a feeling we might be dealing with that Tortoise from Family Guy here. Already blown 2 UV Bulbs and now one of my clamp lamps has died!

 

[Yvonne G]

Are you talking Mercury Vapor Bulbs? They are self ballasted, and will turn off at first. Then you have to wait until they cool down before they'll come back on. Also, it shortens their life to use the clamp fixture at an angle. They need to hang straight down.

 

[thisiscowboy]

Halogen! all I can get around here since everywhere went super eco friendly - looks like the fitting has gone though, nothing i put in is working! He'll have to make do with a desk lamp for a few days, smaller bulb but i'll be able to adjust it much better for temperature control!

 

[Speedy-1]

Hi and welcome David !

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hello David

 

[hingeback]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

The bulbs really don't blow. They are self ballasted, so if you bump a hot bulb or turn on the vacuum, the bulb will turn itself off for about 15 minutes. It will come back on it's own. Ain't no thing!

 

[Lyn W]

Hi David, welcome to you and Tonto.
Where are you located?
Eco friendly house bulbs aside, pets stores sell the bulbs for reptiles that provide essential uvb (such as mvbs) - just make sure you don't use the coiled or long thin loop cfl types. They have caused damage to torts eyes so not worth the risk.

 

[popeye tortoise]

Hi and welcome to the forum. And a hi ho silver to Tonto.