First week with a RF- am I getting it right?

Status
Not open for further replies.
T

thejoie

Guest
Ok! I brought home Little Foot- a cherry headed RF last Sunday!

We have a ceramic bulb... and an under tank heater.
During the day- it gets to be around 85 degrees... at night I cover the tank with a glass top, turn off the ceramic heater and it usually hovers around 72-75.

I like using the glass top at night because it REALLY helps keep the humidity in there.

Little Foot is a VERY active hatchling. He has two hides. One is one of those logs from Petsmart. The other a regular ol' container... he seems to prefer the log. But still.. he is VERY rarely in his hides. He sometimes likes to burry himself under the moss.
He is always in a different place when I come upstairs to visit him.

His eating is WOW! There is nothing he doesn't like. His staple diet right now is dandelion, endive, escarole, with an occasional hibiscus leaf and flower (I have an indoor tree!). He also gets squash, zucchini, a little bit of pepper, and a little bit of carrot. His fruit platter includes cantaloupe, plum, strawberries, blackberries... he's not picky..

My ONE issue is the UVB issue.
I understand that because of where they are located and the fact that hatchlings hide a lot.. it isn't a MUST. I've also read that just having them outside a few hours a day would be sufficient. But I'm in CHICAGO.... an area where apparently the new ice age is upon us.
It's freezing, gross, and did I mention cloudy? I have a sunroom (that we JUST bought a heater for!) so I'm thinking I can put him in there for a little while everyday.. but the sun has been scarce.
Would it be ok to take a UVB light (we have one on our turtles) and put it over him for a few hours every other day or so? I just want to make sure he gets a good start :)
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,388
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
From what I've read on the forum, the redfoot doesn't need that much UV because he can get his Vit. d from his food. The only thing I saw in your post that I don't agree with is the under-the-tank heater. In my opinion, heat is best coming from above.

Yvonne
 

Jacqui

Wanna be raiser of Lemon Drop tortoises
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Joined
Aug 28, 2007
Messages
39,941
Location (City and/or State)
A Land Far Away...
Even cloudy days can give you good UV...and sunburns. :D Of course it also depends on what kind of glass the sunroom has as to how much of the rays can come in.

You can try the light and see how he likes it. I had an enclosure with two cherryheads and two normal redfoots all pretty much the same size youngsters. One of the RFs loved to bask, the other RF was more of a shade seeker, and the two cherryheads were some where in the middle. The sunlover is not as typical to find, but this one seems to need more sun then any of the others. Years later, she is still basking more then any of the rest.

I like to offer it and see what the tortoise itself wants and go from there. It won't hurt it to have the light and if it seems to dislike it, discontinue it. Just keep the light at a lower level (amount of wattage, not distance from substrate:p) and shorter time period.

I have used the UTHeater on a few of the tortoises and they seem to really enjoy having the warm substrate it creates to burrow in. As of yet, I have saw no problems coming from it for them. However, there could be possible chances of burns, if it would heat up too much and the tortoise lay on top of that bare area. I do keep the substrate deep and moist over the mat's area. I don't use it as a way to heat them up for digesting food, more just to keep the substrate as a warm moist area.
 

Madkins007

Well-Known Member
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Joined
Feb 15, 2008
Messages
5,393
Location (City and/or State)
Nebraska
Under the tank heaters got a bad reputation when the older models got really, really warm and pretty near fried a lot of reptiles. The newer versions, especially those with thermostats, tend to run cooler and safer. I fully support keeping the soil gently warm (80ish) to better simulate nature.

My concern is that many of us have troubles keeping the soil warm when we need the high humidity- it is SOOO easy to make the soil clammy. It worries me that if something blocks the heat (like a tortoise), then the soil under the blockage can get cold.

A REAL benefit of soil warming for humidity lovers is that the moisture in the soil conducts the heat, and the heated water vaporizes up through the soil making a nice high humidity right at the tortoise level.
 
T

thejoie

Guest
It's a very small heaters and BARELY contributes to the heating.... our house runs at 70 degrees and the thermometer reading over the under the tank heater brings it up to 75...

I'm eventually probably just going to get a stronger ceramic bulb. We went with a 60 watt bulb but probably should have gotten the 100 watt....

I'm not sure about the glass in the sun room. The plants in there grow insanely well but I'm not sure. I think I'll just offer the little guy the bulb- he's got his hides if he needs them!
 

Madkins007

Well-Known Member
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Joined
Feb 15, 2008
Messages
5,393
Location (City and/or State)
Nebraska
Ceramic heaters: I REALLY recommend a good thermostat with these- that is, a control device that turns the heater on and off based on temps. There are many in the stores and on-line for reptiles.

By using a thermostat, I don't need to constantly monitor and adjust the height or position of the heater, and I can use a slightly too-big heater so it can heat even on very cold days without fear of baking the tortoises. On warmer days, the heater is just on for less time, which saves me money.

Understand- thermostats are not perfect. They can fail and either chill or overheat the reptiles, and most work in an on/off mode- when on, they are on full-blast until the target temp is reached (like most furnaces.) You may prefer a dimmer control, which actually limits how much electricity is moving through the heater- but dimmers do not really regulate the actual temps- you still need to do that. (The Big Apple Herp thermostat is an example of one that 'dims' AND goes by temps- http://www.bigappleherp.com/Herp-Power-Proportional-Thermostat)

I recommend thermostats on ANY heating elements that get over about 90ish, just to protect the animals and your property- mats, cables, Flex-Watt, ceramics, etc.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

New Posts

Top