Slowing down or do i need more UVB on my tortise

[Chuckd]

Hey,


So i am thinking my russian tortoise might be slowing down. He still eats when he wants but mostly sleeps now since the weather is getting colder. I am in the Midwest(Chicago Area). I am wondering though do i need to add some UVB on him. He usually stays by the heat lamp where there is very little UVB reaching him. As you see on my attached picture i have decent amount of uvb lights in the enclosure when he walks around. The temp level ranged is 100-71, so that is fine. I just checked the other uvb lights and they are still good. Im pretty sure he is slowing down but i wanted to ask maybe it could be he has not got a lot of UVB recently?

 

[Tom]

Hey,


So i am thinking my russian tortoise might be slowing down. He still eats when he wants but mostly sleeps now since the weather is getting colder. I am in the Midwest(Chicago Area). I am wondering though do i need to add some UVB on him. He usually stays by the heat lamp where there is very little UVB reaching him. As you see on my attached picture i have decent amount of uvb lights in the enclosure when he walks around. The temp level ranged is 100-71, so that is fine. I just checked the other uvb lights and they are still good. Im pretty sure he is slowing down but i wanted to ask maybe it could be he has not got a lot of UVB recently?

Slowing down in fall is normal and it has to do with light levels and light duration, not UV.

Colder weather outside should have little effect on your tortoises temperature inside, but they still know somehow when this time of year hits. You could try adding more light and keeping lights on longer, but I would not add more UV. UV tubes should be mounted near the basking area.

I see four florescent fixtures in your picture. Are those all UV tubes? If yes, that is way too much. You only need one UV source over near the basking bulb, and UV should only be on for a few hours mid day. You need more ambient lighting in the form of LED strips of bulbs in the 5000-6500K color range and they need to be on for 13 hours a day unless you are preparing for brumation.

Give this a read:

Tom's Brumation Thread

Every fall we get bombarded here on the forum with all sorts of questions and problems regarding hibernation and tortoises "slowing down" for winter. The purpose of this thread is to talk about all aspects of this subject, to dispel some of the myths and mysteries, and give a "how to" list of...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[Chuckd]

I moved it, Those are all UVB, so should just switch those with just regular florescent lights?

 

[Tom]

I moved it, Those are all UVB, so should just switch those with just regular florescent lights?

I prefer LEDs to save electricity and keep my closed chambers from overheating, but with your open table the heat wouldn't be a concern, so florescent tubes could work.