Over the years The Tortoise Lady has observed a number of very sick and weak tortoises due to their owners providing either no UV lighting or incorrect tupe of lighting such as UV strips. Many tortoises are sold in pet shops and start their life in a vivarium which is entirely wrong. Even a tortoise living in a tortoise table style enclosure requires the correct access to UV rays and a strip light is not adequate for a number of reasons.
The Tortoise Lady uses Real Sun 100watt UVA and UVB lamps. This combination lights means that you only need one light bulb to provide the many known benefits of natural sunlight such as heat, light, UVA and UVB rays.
UVA is extremely important in triggering many normal behavioural patterns such as feeding and reproducing. It is known that tortoises can see through the ultraviolet spectrum therefore affects the way tortoises percieve their food and surroundings.
UVB is important to tortoises for the synthyesis of vitamin D3 in the skin. vitamin D is important not only in the uptake of calcium but also plays a big part in protecting the tortoise and building up its immune system.
Vitamin D is essential to the absorption and utilization of calcium and phosphorus and plays an important role in bone formation. Below are a few facts to help new and existing tortoise keeper to understand the importance of purchasing the correct UV lamp.
- Tortoises in the wild are much less likely to suffer from vitamin D3 deficiency.
- In captivity a soft shell, osteoporosis and poor locomotion symptoms can be observed from tortoises which are deprived access to natural sun light or artificial UV sources.
- Plants do not contain vitamin D3 alone.
- Tortoises produce vitamin D through the oils in their skin which react with the UV.
- If a natural diet with a suitable ratio of ca:p is provided with adequate sources of UV availability, osteoporosis and poor locomotion shouldn't occur.
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