lights go out

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so I got my first tortoise today (Sulcata hatchling) Just wondering what they do when the lights go out ? Do they stay put or can they see enough to cruze around ? should the lights dim before they go dark ? I searched but didn't find what I was looking for.
Thanks
Jack

 

[jsheffield]

The lights in my redfoot's enclosure are on a 12:12 onff cycle, with no dimming period.

The camera I have in Darwin's enclosure has infrared capabilities and it occasionally shows him wandering around in the dark, but the vast majority of his activity occurs during the "daytime".

Jamie

 

[ascott]

so I got my first tortoise today (Sulcata hatchling) Just wondering what they do when the lights go out ? Do they stay put or can they see enough to cruze around ? should the lights dim before they go dark ? I searched but didn't find what I was looking for.
Thanks
Jack

I have four Redfoot inside....two of them sound like they are running track once the lights go out....this time of year the room they are in stays pretty warm so at night the lights get turned off and it is dark....They have some yummy critters (some type of little beetle things) that I believe they hunt at night....and sometimes they just search out pieces of dinner that they stored for night munching....the other two never move once the lights are out...go figure, just like anything else, some like to party at night and others prefer to snooze...

 

[Tom]

so I got my first tortoise today (Sulcata hatchling) Just wondering what they do when the lights go out ? Do they stay put or can they see enough to cruze around ? should the lights dim before they go dark ? I searched but didn't find what I was looking for.
Thanks
Jack

Generally, tortoise go to sleep when the lights go out.

I've done enclosures with varying timers and room lights, and found no difference in their behavior between creating and artificial "dawn or dusk" and just having the lights click on or off.

The lights should go off, but you still need a heating element of some sort in there controlled by a thermostat to keep night temps around 80.

Have you already seen all of these?
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/

 

[Action]

Thanks.....