Tortoise Cage Lighting

Video Transcript

"Next thing we're going to touch on, this is very important for tortoises and turtles, but it's important that we do this, is your proper lighting for your tortoise, and that's UVB light. That's what we're looking for here. UVB light comes in a couple different forms. It comes in either compact fluorescent, like this, or a long, tube fluorescent, like you would see in any regular fluorescent fixture. Now, these are all specially coated with a coating that's going to give them UVB light. "What's UVB light?" you're asking me. UVB light is a part of the spectrum of light that stimulates certain vitamins and such inside animals, you, as well as the reptile. Without UVB light, they get what's called Vitamin-Metabolic Bone Disease. And that's an ailment that's going to cause a spongy or rubbery-like jaw or other bones, and they become soft and malleable and deformed. And we don't want that. So, you need to use your UVB light. You're going to notice that they are rated for different ratings, like 10.0, 5.0, 2.0. That's percentages of UVB light inside the bulb. We're going to be shooting for a 10.0, as the Greek tortoise is a arid and desert-like species, and they're going to be getting a little bit more sunlight than, say, like a tropical species, which will be getting like a 5.0."