Temp

[Dbrocato2]

does anyone stagger when their uvb+light and heat light do on? I feel like 80°at 8am might be a bit much. Currently I have my arcadia t5 and led bulb (for light only) on the same timer, 7am and my heat light 8am. I do this to more gradually bring the heat up like in nature.. do you think it matters? Just curious

 

[method89]

my led's go on at 7am, RHP 7:20am and my basking goes on at 7:30am. UVB turns on at 9:30am. I think it gives them a "natural" awakening. I'm sure if i did some research I could stagger it better but this seems to be working

 

[Tom]

does anyone stagger when their uvb+light and heat light do on? I feel like 80°at 8am might be a bit much. Currently I have my arcadia t5 and led bulb (for light only) on the same timer, 7am and my heat light 8am. I do this to more gradually bring the heat up like in nature.. do you think it matters? Just curious

What species?

I do generally try to stagger lights, heat and UV. I seems to work without staggering too, but I feel better about it. I wouldn't say that staggering is "necessary", and I can't even say that there is tangible benefit from it, but I still prefer to do it.

 

[Markw84]

If we are using UVB to allow D3 metabolism, then staggering is not a good practice. To metabolize D3 the tortoise needs both UVB and heated skin. The bulk of the time in the sun for reptiles is heating the skin to facilitate the conversion from Pre-D to D3. Once basking, the initial conversion to Pre-D is actually quite fast - a matter of minutes. That requires UVB. But the conversion of that Pre-D to D3 takes much longer and needs the skin to be heated to dramatically facilitate. This takes a few hours with heated skin.

SO the basking reflex does seem stimulated by a strong, bright light with UV. If they are then assuming the basking pose, the heat from a basking light would be needed as well.
Basking light without UV light is fine. But when the UV light is on - the basking (heat) light should also be on.

Always position the basking light as close as possible to the main UV zone produced by your light.

 

[Dbrocato2]

my led's go on at 7am, RHP 7:20am and my basking goes on at 7:30am. UVB turns on at 9:30am. I think it gives them a "natural" awakening. I'm sure if i did some research I could stagger it better but this seems to be working

This was my thinking also?

 

[Dbrocato2]

What species?

I do generally try to stagger lights, heat and UV. I seems to work without staggering too, but I feel better about it. I wouldn't say that staggering is "necessary", and I can't even say that there is tangible benefit from it, but I still prefer to do it.

He is a 10 week old eastern hermann's

 

[Dbrocato2]

If we are using UVB to allow D3 metabolism, then staggering is not a good practice. To metabolize D3 the tortoise needs both UVB and heated skin. The bulk of the time in the sun for reptiles is heating the skin to facilitate the conversion from Pre-D to D3. Once basking, the initial conversion to Pre-D is actually quite fast - a matter of minutes. That requires UVB. But the conversion of that Pre-D to D3 takes much longer and needs the skin to be heated to dramatically facilitate. This takes a few hours with heated skin.

SO the basking reflex does seem stimulated by a strong, bright light with UV. If they are then assuming the basking pose, the heat from a basking light would be needed as well.
Basking light without UV light is fine. But when the UV light is on - the basking (heat) light should also be on.

Always position the basking light as close as possible to the main UV zone produced by your light.

Thats good knowledge. But I'm just referring to morning and night on and off time.. in nature at 7am its not 80°typically so for me it made since to turn the the uvb and light on to gradually wake the little one up with the heat turning on 45ish minutes later. Since the uvb does produce heat the temp will gradually increase over a slightly longer time. Same with bed. Im just curious if others do it as well

 

[Gijoux]

Thats good knowledge. But I'm just referring to morning and night on and off time.. in nature at 7am its not 80°typically so for me it made since to turn the the uvb and light on to gradually wake the little one up with the heat turning on 45ish minutes later. Since the uvb does produce heat the temp will gradually increase over a slightly longer time. Same with bed. Im just curious if others do it as well

The window to my Tortoise room faces east. I have noticed that when I awaken before the lights come on, the baby hatchlings are starting to awaken, with just the sun coming in from the window and start heading for the food dish. The lights come on about 1/2 hour later so they get a gentle awakening. The temperature is set to 80℉ at night and 84℉ during the day. I have a proportional thermostat that allows me to "ramp" up my heat slowly, which I have set for a 45 minute ramp period.

 

[Markw84]

Thats good knowledge. But I'm just referring to morning and night on and off time.. in nature at 7am its not 80°typically so for me it made since to turn the the uvb and light on to gradually wake the little one up with the heat turning on 45ish minutes later. Since the uvb does produce heat the temp will gradually increase over a slightly longer time. Same with bed. Im just curious if others do it as well

I purposely qualified my response saying if we are talking about the UVB for the production of D3. And that as long as the UVB light is on, the basking light should be on. I wanted to avoid confusion as your post stated the UVB and LED are on the same timer and a different period than the basking.

I do stagger my lights. I also use different on/off times for the seasons. This time of year (summer) I have the basking lights go on first around 6:30 AM. Then the ambient lights at 7:30 AM. Since the basking light (incandescent) is a warmer color temp - around 2500K - that best simulates dawn and dusk lighting. The ambient are LEDs that are 6000K so more like bright sunlight. Then the UVB comes on at 11:00 AM until 3 PM to simulate the spike in midday UVB in nature. The reverse with the other lights then occurs - the ambient goes off at 8:00 PM, then the basking goes off at 9:00 PM.

 

[Dbrocato2]

I purposely qualified my response saying if we are talking about the UVB for the production of D3. And that as long as the UVB light is on, the basking light should be on. I wanted to avoid confusion as your post stated the UVB and LED are on the same timer and a different period than the basking.

I do stagger my lights. I also use different on/off times for the seasons. This time of year (summer) I have the basking lights go on first around 6:30 AM. Then the ambient lights at 7:30 AM. Since the basking light (incandescent) is a warmer color temp - around 2500K - that best simulates dawn and dusk lighting. The ambient are LEDs that are 6000K so more like bright sunlight. Then the UVB comes on at 11:00 AM until 3 PM to simulate the spike in midday UVB in nature. The reverse with the other lights then occurs - the ambient goes off at 8:00 PM, then the basking goes off at 9:00 PM.

I missed the if part. I was reading it quickly at work. That schedule makes since. Im still very new to this. I thought the uvb was to be on for 12 hours? Or does your tortoise get alot of outside time too?

 

[Markw84]

I missed the if part. I was reading it quickly at work. That schedule makes since. Im still very new to this. I thought the uvb was to be on for 12 hours? Or does your tortoise get alot of outside time too?

With the newer T5 HO uvb and the 12% we can get a nice basking zone of UVI 3-4.5 in our enclosures. At that level we just Don't need it one that long. I am testing a theory I have that the excessive UVA these bulbs produce also contributes to the new keratin "curing" too fast as UVA is a great way to cure resins and paints and a primary aging issue with out own skin. Most enclosures are so barren the tortoise has no excape, so is bombarded with UVA way more that it would be in nature. I limit my UV bulb to about a 4 hour midday span to mimic the natural spike that occurs only when the sun is the highest in the sky. I also provide lots of plants for indirect "shade" basking and UVB exposure when it is on.

As stated earlier, UVB itself is needed for a very short time to start the metabolic process creating D3. The basking and heated skin is needed much longer. So limiting UV exposure is a very wise option in my opinion,

 

[Dbrocato2]

With the newer T5 HO uvb and the 12% we can get a nice basking zone of UVI 3-4.5 in our enclosures. At that level we just Don't need it one that long. I am testing a theory I have that the excessive UVA these bulbs produce also contributes to the new keratin "curing" too fast as UVA is a great way to cure resins and paints and a primary aging issue with out own skin. Most enclosures are so barren the tortoise has no excape, so is bombarded with UVA way more that it would be in nature. I limit my UV bulb to about a 4 hour midday span to mimic the natural spike that occurs only when the sun is the highest in the sky. I also provide lots of plants for indirect "shade" basking and UVB exposure when it is on.

As stated earlier, UVB itself is needed for a very short time to start the metabolic process creating D3. The basking and heated skin is needed much longer. So limiting UV exposure is a very wise option in my opinion,

Wow! I had that all wrong. I have both my basking and uvb light on 12 hours. The lights are going off shortly and I will add a 3rd timer for my uvb. I will adjust timing on all 3 tonight.

 

[Markw84]

Wow! I had that all wrong. I have both my basking and uvb light on 12 hours. The lights are going off shortly and I will add a 3rd timer for my uvb. I will adjust timing on all 3 tonight.

AND... YOur UVB bulb will last 3 times longer as it is only used/needed 4 hours per day instead of 12!

 

[Dbrocato2]

AND... YOur UVB bulb will last 3 times longer as it is only used/needed 4 hours per day instead of 12!

Seriously, thank you! Basking is now 630a-8p, ambient 730a-7p and uvb is 11a-3p

 

[method89]

Seriously, thank you! Basking is now 630a-8p, ambient 730a-7p and uvb is 11a-3p

I think everyone who is reading this is tweaking their lighting setup, I know I did. Thanks @Markw84

 

[Dbrocato2]

I think everyone who is reading this is tweaking their lighting setup, I know I did. Thanks @Markw84

It might be the wording but looking at all the care sheets on here it states 12-14 hours of light. I assumed that was all lighting. Im glad I asked this question or I never would have known!

 

[William Lee Kohler]

Only UVB light has timer. Ceramic emitters by thermostat and emit no light.