Hello everybody! My lil tort (Eastern Hermanni Tortoise) has moved into a new enclosure.
I was a gullible tort owner and believed everything that the tortoise breeder said. He recommended a vivarium, 99% humidity, and only pumpkin for food. Luckily, I have some common sense and questioned his advice with research. I did buy the vivarium before I got the tort because that is what had been suggested on Korean sites, but I have taken the glass out so one side is completely open like a tortoise table. It’s situated by a large glass window so it can ventilate all day.
I have a problem with the UVB lighting. There’s just a lot of conflicting information online, and I just want my tort to grow up happy and healthy without eye problems. I currently have a compact coil bulb that I’ve turned off (as research shows it can lead to eye damage).
Currently in Korea it is 22 degrees from 9am-3pm so I take him out for two to three hours and let him hang in my balcony garden. I would let him stay there but he is tiny, and there are birds - I unfortunately cannot fight them off all day and night (as much as I want to! I have to earn money so I can feed him lol) It also drops to 11 degrees at night, so I don’t want to keep him outside until I can sort out a proper outdoor enclosure which won’t be for a while (at least until next summer). I worry that in a month or so I can’t take him outside at all because temps will drop massively where I am at. I want to figure out UVB lighting before that happens!
Is two hours of sun time three times a week enough UVB? Should I purchase a bulb to be safe? He is very very small (5.1cm SCL) so would 50-80W mercury vapor bulb be sufficient? Are compact bulbs dangerous and be avoided completely? Please let me know.
Also a little unrelated but I am planning to plant some succulents on the left side of the enclosure. If you have any suggestions for how I can make this tort table vivarium thing more exciting/better for him, let me know. I am using loam compost 70 sand 30 and then some coco husk on top for ample digging experiences. He is a big climber and digger.
*my thumb is for reference sorry about the silliness. he is eating some weeds from my garden, the flat green is dandelion leaf*
I was a gullible tort owner and believed everything that the tortoise breeder said. He recommended a vivarium, 99% humidity, and only pumpkin for food. Luckily, I have some common sense and questioned his advice with research. I did buy the vivarium before I got the tort because that is what had been suggested on Korean sites, but I have taken the glass out so one side is completely open like a tortoise table. It’s situated by a large glass window so it can ventilate all day.
I have a problem with the UVB lighting. There’s just a lot of conflicting information online, and I just want my tort to grow up happy and healthy without eye problems. I currently have a compact coil bulb that I’ve turned off (as research shows it can lead to eye damage).
Currently in Korea it is 22 degrees from 9am-3pm so I take him out for two to three hours and let him hang in my balcony garden. I would let him stay there but he is tiny, and there are birds - I unfortunately cannot fight them off all day and night (as much as I want to! I have to earn money so I can feed him lol) It also drops to 11 degrees at night, so I don’t want to keep him outside until I can sort out a proper outdoor enclosure which won’t be for a while (at least until next summer). I worry that in a month or so I can’t take him outside at all because temps will drop massively where I am at. I want to figure out UVB lighting before that happens!
Is two hours of sun time three times a week enough UVB? Should I purchase a bulb to be safe? He is very very small (5.1cm SCL) so would 50-80W mercury vapor bulb be sufficient? Are compact bulbs dangerous and be avoided completely? Please let me know.
Also a little unrelated but I am planning to plant some succulents on the left side of the enclosure. If you have any suggestions for how I can make this tort table vivarium thing more exciting/better for him, let me know. I am using loam compost 70 sand 30 and then some coco husk on top for ample digging experiences. He is a big climber and digger.
*my thumb is for reference sorry about the silliness. he is eating some weeds from my garden, the flat green is dandelion leaf*