Need Help (cold tortoise)

CarolM

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Hi Everyone.

BeastMaster7 sent me this message and needs help. However as I don't have stars, I would prefer to post it on the forum so that those with stars can give the correct help.:



Monsoon season has begun and started problems for me! NEED HELP

They started to show signs of cold as I was unable to give them sunlight for almost 2 weeks because of the cloudy weather outside.
please tell me how to make them warm, I also don't have any UVA /UVB light bulb as they are not easily available in India. Till now I was relying on natural sunlight only to give them warm and bask regularly! I don't want to lose them.

How do you care for star tortoise in Winter and Monsoon? (without UVA/UVB bulbs ? )

THANK YOU!

@BeastMaster7 - I would say that you would need to build a night box for them with insulation and a heater. Tom has quite a few threads on how to build them.

Having said this, please wait for someone who has stars to also advise.

I also cannot remember how old your stars are.
 

G-stars

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@BeastMaster7 - What Are your temperatures like outdoors during the winter and monsoon season? In some regions of India the weathrt is ideal for star tortoises.
 

BeastMaster7

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@G-stars Its 22 celsius outside and inside it's like 25-29 celsius fluctuating. I also think that one of my stars has a cold. Bubbles were coming from her nose and also making a weird noise of popping. My stars are somewhere between 9-11 months old. I also don't have access to UVB /UVA bulbs here in India.
 

CarolM

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@G-stars Its 22 celsius outside and inside it's like 25-29 celsius fluctuating. I also think that one of my stars has a cold. Bubbles were coming from her nose and also making a weird noise of popping. My stars are somewhere between 9-11 months old. I also don't have access to UVB /UVA bulbs here in India.
Remind me again, are your stars kept outside or inside?
 

G-stars

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@G-stars Its 22 celsius outside and inside it's like 25-29 celsius fluctuating. I also think that one of my stars has a cold. Bubbles were coming from her nose and also making a weird noise of popping. My stars are somewhere between 9-11 months old. I also don't have access to UVB /UVA bulbs here in India.

For the UVB/ UVA, as long as you take your tortoise outside to get some sunlight for a few hours a week he should be fine.

Yes it does sound like your torptoise has some sort of respiratory issue/ cold. Soak daily and keep him warm. When inside provide a bulb for him to be able to bask under so that he can warm up. Try to get a basking temperature of 35-38 celsius with a normal flood bulb. Outside the sun would naturally do this. I know it’s hard to find a reptile vet in India, but your tortoise will probably need something to get rid of the respiratory infection. Which was most likely caused by keeping him too cold, what does you enoclosure look like?
 

Yvonne G

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You don't necessarily need to use a UVB light to keep your tortoises warm in cold weather. You can buy these online:

ceramic heat emitter.jpg
and mount it in a regular dome fixture. The Ceramic Heat Emitter (CHE) gives off heat with no light.

You can also just use a regular incandescent bulb to provide heat.
 

BeastMaster7

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cool, I bought BOYU GL-01 basking lamp from my local store(after hours of searching and traveling). the only problem now is I found UVB bulbs very costly here so temporarily I bought a simple heat bulb of 60watts. It is heating somewhat decently and my tortoise is also active now. I find them gathered below the light every time I check on them. Now one question I also happen to have a heater fan. Is it viable to use that small room heater for my tortoise?
 

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