watch out for heat!

[sara]

So, i learned a new lesson. Heat. last few days Bert was rather lathargic. He was eating and his eyes were clear as was his nose, but something was off.
then i figured it out. Heat was the culprit. we have been having temps over 100. his tort table was reading up to 85! day time. so, i have managed to cool off his room ( we have the A.C. on in the house but have the vents closed off in his room) I keep the door open to his room and got the temps down to a comfy 75-80. and after a couple days of a good 20 minute soak, he is right as rain agian.
poor baby. I felt soo bad! Bad momma! bad!

 

[tortoisenerd]

Thanks for the reminder. I like to check temps with my temp gun at least every other day. I have a russian and if our house temps get extreme I'll just turn off his bulb and use ambient lighting to cool him down. We don't have a/c and at one time got house temps in the 90s for almost a week because it wasn't cooling down at night. It was disguising. Had to keep him in the dark and do soaks but he survived just fine.

For a redfoot, 80-85 is actually a good temp apparently. Why do you want to keep him at 75-80? What kind of heating do you have? By checking temps regularly you should be able to adjust the bulb/s up and down to keep them steady with room temperature changes.

 

[sara]

Thanks for the reminder. I like to check temps with my temp gun at least every other day. I have a russian and if our house temps get extreme I'll just turn off his bulb and use ambient lighting to cool him down. We don't have a/c and at one time got house temps in the 90s for almost a week because it wasn't cooling down at night. It was disguising. Had to keep him in the dark and do soaks but he survived just fine.

For a redfoot, 80-85 is actually a good temp apparently. Why do you want to keep him at 75-80? What kind of heating do you have? By checking temps regularly you should be able to adjust the bulb/s up and down to keep them steady with room temperature changes.

well, I was told by the fella i got him from that day temps should be around 80 and night temps around 70. sometimes bert likes to stay under his lamp a little too long and will start to sweat. when the temps got up to 90, he was sweating even in his hide away from all heat sources. ( i only use the uv lamp a few hours a day unless its cold. then he likes to bask in it long as he can. ) I use the heat lamp at night. he uses it for awhile then by mornng is in the corner at the other end. away from it. I get late afternoon sun that beats on the side of the house his room is on, so that adds to it.
So this time i learned about heat and dehydration! what a lesson. I dont want to do that agian! my poor baby!

 

[TortieGal]

Maybe something else is going on to make him look like he's sweating? because a tortoise can't sweat. Glad to hear he is feeling better.