Re: Don't Worry, Try This

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Posted by Matt Hybel on September 25, 2000 at 15:56:23:

In Reply to: Worried about my Russian (long sorry...) NEED HELP ASAP posted by Leslie on September 25, 2000 at 14:31:31:

I like the book by Brian Pursall on Mediterraneans (TFH pub.), critics of the TFH books notwithstanding, as follows:

I have kept a Russian indoors and now have a Hermann's. Pursall emphasizes that Mediterranean tortoises like to come out of hiding in the morning and bask under an overhead beam of sunlight for warmth/UV (incandescent 60- or 75-watt bulb indoors). When warmed up they go grazing.

I have found that this has worked well for me, and is currently working well for the Hermann's.

Three things come to mind:

1. If you have an incandescent basking spot already setup on one end of the enclosure, that's great. You may need to bring the tort out under the light each morning until it learns that it is there and comes to bask on its own.

2. Adding a red incandescent bulb for heat at night for a while may induce the desired behavior by raising the night temperature to that approximating the warm summer night temps that keep it active in the wild. This, of course, depends at what overall temperature you keep your house at night, as I know you mentioned you are keeping the ambient temp right.

3. In the summertime in the northern hemisphere where the Russian comes from the daylight period is longer than here, with sunrise around 4:00-4:30AM and sunset as late as 9:00-9:30PM. That gives a summer light cycle of 17 hours. You may want to adjust your light cycle accordingly (16 hours?) for a while.

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Re: Don't Worry, Try This-THANKS MATT - see update Leslie 09/26/00 (0)

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: I like the book by Brian Pursall on Mediterraneans (TFH pub.), critics of the TFH books notwithstanding, as follows: : I have kept a Russian indoors and now have a Hermann's. Pursall emphasizes that Mediterranean tortoises like to come out of hiding in the morning and bask under an overhead beam of sunlight for warmth/UV (incandescent 60- or 75-watt bulb indoors). When warmed up they go grazing. : I have found that this has worked well for me, and is currently working well for the Hermann's. : Three things come to mind: : 1. If you have an incandescent basking spot already setup on one end of the enclosure, that's great. You may need to bring the tort out under the light each morning until it learns that it is there and comes to bask on its own. : 2. Adding a red incandescent bulb for heat at night for a while may induce the desired behavior by raising the night temperature to that approximating the warm summer night temps that keep it active in the wild. This, of course, depends at what overall temperature you keep your house at night, as I know you mentioned you are keeping the ambient temp right. : 3. In the summertime in the northern hemisphere where the Russian comes from the daylight period is longer than here, with sunrise around 4:00-4:30AM and sunset as late as 9:00-9:30PM. That gives a summer light cycle of 17 hours. You may want to adjust your light cycle accordingly (16 hours?) for a while.

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