Habitat - Indoor :: Lighting, UVB, and shedding

[ljapa]

Tobi hasn't shed since March or April. That timing corresponds with two big changes. She went from daily pellets to every other day. I also replaced a ReptiGlo 10 bulb because it had been about 6 months. After about two months of no shedding, I tried a ReptiSun 10. Another month or so with no shedding and I tried a PowerSun 100w sometime in June.

She gets about 2 or 3 Hikari pellets a week and a blueberry or two a month. I've tried outdoor basking, but she won't get out of the water if I have water and finds a shaded corner to hide in if I don't.

I finally got a SolarMeter 6.2 yesterday. I didn't get a chance to read it until today because of how late I got home. I'm reading just 20 at 1 foot, which isn't even as close as I had it because of the temp. That seems low. Do I replace the powersun? Do I move up to a 160w? Do I add a coiled cfl?

Tobi seems active and healthy, other than some algae on her shell. I know she basks, but I can't say how much because she always dives off if we come into the room. But given how frequently that happens, I think she's an active basker.

[steve]

I think they shed more under a MVB because they bask more. Reptisuns should also produce more UVB, so I wouldn't use that as a factor. My RES get Hikari as roughly 1/3 of their diet and they've never shed well. How often was Tobi shedding before?

[ljapa]

Tobi had been shedding monthly or slightly more.

She was probably a year old sometime in May or June, so that may be a factor. Since she's had the MVB, she hasn't shed.

[steve]

Monthly shedding would actually be too frequent, is that all the scutes or just individual ones?

[ljapa]

That was probably too frequent.

The first week we had, before finding this site, we over fed. There was a large shed of skin and scutes a week or two later. That would have been early August. We cut back on feeding, and there was another in October. Again in Late November. Then late January. The last one was in late March or early April.

We were still a head full of pellets a day and greens.

Soon after the last shed, I noticed her growth rate had slowed, so the old we were giving was making her start to gain weight and the barest of serration to he edge scutes. We cut back to every other day on pellets with greens daily, pellets still enough to fill her head.

She still seemed overfed, so we cut the pellets back so that she gets between a third and a fourth a head full every other day. I think we've found the correct amount of food, though she still has some serration from way back when I first noticed it.

I started adding the occasional blueberry and a Hikari pellet every other pellet day sometime in June.

[steve]

I think an annual shed would be more normal, though there's a lot we don't know how it works. How big is Tobi now?

[ljapa]

Between 3" and 3.5".

I guess I was just used to the shedding of a young turtle.

She doesn't really show any signs of pyramiding. There are multiple layers of scutes, but most of them are close to each other in size, so they just stack up at the edges of the scutes.

I'll not worry much, but the UVB readings seem low to me.

Steve, I believe you've mentioned you have a SolarMeter. What are the UVB readings at your basking level?

[steve]

Were these just his baby scutes, and not whole new sections? Seems like a 50/50 shot they will shed that in the first year.

I take my turtles outside for a few hours a week, so I have no recent readings. Due to some previously bad experiences with UVB lights, I sometimes opt not to use them and use a richer pellet mix (that has Vitamin D3) instead during colder weather.

[slider_keeper]

I have noticed the low readings on my PowerSuns. I use the 100 watt. bulbs. I do readings every month and my last one was 30 July. It gave a reading of 50 uW/cm^2. Which personally I think is too low. The same day at the same time of day, the outside UVB reading was 368 uW/cm^2. So you can see the difference is pretty significant. I want to start exploring with other bulbs and see what I find. I know a couple companies have developed T5 HO UVB bulbs. I'm very interested in these. As well as, Metal Halide bulbs. But this will have to wait till I get a job that pays me lol.

[cutepanda86]

I switch my PowerSun out every six months (vet recommended idea) rather than listening to the packaging. Just as a tip.

[slider_keeper]

That reading was after a month of use so roughly 380 hrs. on the bulb! I change my bulbs when the readings get really low, some after 4-5 months.

[ljapa]

I have noticed the low readings on my PowerSuns. I use the 100 watt. bulbs. I do readings every month and my last one was 30 July. It gave a reading of 50 uW/cm^2. Which personally I think is too low. The same day at the same time of day, the outside UVB reading was 368 uW/cm^2.

And my reading is still 20.

I ordered a MegaRay, despite the horror stories on delivery.

I love that an MVB provides heat and UVB in one, but I'm tempted to add a cfl UVB to the mix, which just seems stupid.

I switch my PowerSun out every six months (vet recommended idea) rather than listening to the packaging. Just as a tip.

I got mine about two months ago. I know she basks.

[slider_keeper]

Yeah, I tried the Mega-Ray at the start of summer and never got a bulb or a reply from ReptileUV. I hope you get better luck. Not trying to scare you just telling you how my experience went. I ended up filing a claim with paypal to get my money back.

[ljapa]

I saw that and many other threads online. I still went for it because my gut tells me that she needs to shed and I'm not providing something necessary.

I was very influenced by some of the stuff you had posted a while back about your UVB lighting investigations. I really wish I could have gotten her to bask outside, but the times I tried, she was so terrified.

[slider_keeper]

yeah they can be very skittish and shy in new surroundings