Lighting/Heating Question

[clairem79]

Good evening all,

I was just wondering if anyone could offer me some advice please.

I have had my beautiful tortoise since January, it turned out she was actually a he and he was a Greek tortoise and 7 years of age. All has been great. He is in a 4 ft viv at the moment whilst the garden is being done, hopefully it won't be to much longer now and he has always drunk and ate great, popping and weeing fine.

Anyway, I then noticed a change in him, he went very quiet, sleepy and not eating, I was trying to wake him up to eat but he would just go back to his little house to sleep. I spoke to various people about this and they suggested the warm bath which I've always done anyway.

I went to pets at home and spoke to someone there and he told me the light bulb I am using has no UVA in it which is the reptile UVB, so he sold me a natural light, so now I have both bulbs in there. When I bring the tortoise out now she is eating thank god!! and stays out a bit longer but still sleepy. The temp in there has always been about 27/28 but it's now up to 30.
I'm just not sure if this is the right thing to do with these two bulbs. If anyone could help me I would be so grateful. I've included a pic of the two bulbs I am now using. The natural light one is the one I've just added.

Many thanks
Claire

 

[Tom]

Both of those lights can burn their eyes. We see this frequently here on the forum. I would switch to a regular low wattage incandescent flood bulb and use a long tube type bulb for UV.

 

[clairem79]

Thank you Tom, I'll get searching now. Do I keep them both on together for the 12 hours. .....?

 

[Tom]

That is what I do. I put them on a timer so I don't have to be there, but their "sun" rises and sets at the same time each day. I raise or lower the fixture to get the right basking temp directly under the bulb. You can also use a rheostat for this purpose if you are not able to raise and lower your bulb due to your particular enclosure. But ONLY the incandescent basking bulb can be on the rheostat. Not the florescent.

 

[clairem79]

Ok. Brilliant. Thank you [SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]

 

[Tom]

The timer makes it easy to do gradual season lighting variations for temperate species too, like your Greek. Longer summer days, shorter fall and spring days.

 

[tortnmutt]

The timer makes it easy to do gradual season lighting variations for temperate species too, like your Greek. Longer summer days, shorter fall and spring days.

Tom, the zoo med repti basking spot lamp is listed to be incandescent and gives out UVA. Thoughts on this bulb?