My first concern is like I had elluded to in replying to your previous message, is that you need to make sure your Softy is recieving UVB light. This can ONLY be given by DIRECT sunlight or UVB fluorescent bulbs particularly ZooMed Reptisun 5.0 or 10.0 or the Mystic Bulb. Reptisun 5.0 is made for basking areas within 8-10 inches of the light fixture, Reptisun 10.0 within 12-20, and Mystic Bulbs further than that as they are very high powered. Remember, these are fluorescents so cannot screw into a normal socket, you will need to set up fluorescent fixtures. Check out Big Apple Herpetological to purchase these bulbs. UVB light must come in direct contact with the turtle, it cannot have glass, plastic, fine mesh, etc. between it as these substance, absorb, diffuse, or refract the light. Also, UVB only penetrates the first several centimeters of water before it attenuates.

Here is my suggestions for your Softy. Softys normally find extreme shallow water, mud flats, or the very edge of their "pond" to bask as this is very unobtrusive to their soft bodies. This being their natural history, you should set up your tank in a fashion so that you have a deep end, medium-shallow end so the Softy can sit on the bottom with its head fully extended and be able to snorkle without moving, and an extreme shallow end (1 cm water or less)leading to a dryer area with a soft substrate where the Softy can haul up to bask. Set up your UVB light over the medium-shallow and "basking" end of the tank. Direct a basking bulb toward the extreme shallow basking end. You only want about half the tank under UVB light so the animal can move in and out of it. You yourself wouldn't want to be in UVB all day, unless of course you like being sunburned.

Also, remember Softys get quite big, so you may want to think about providing a fenced in outdoor pond if it can be accomodated at some point. This way the turt would also get natural UV rays.

Lastly, I personally set up my UVB bulbs with a two bulb fluorescent fixture. One bulb is the UVB and the other is your normal daylight bulb which you can get at a hardware store. This will provide more light as well as balance out the fixture. You could quite well notice a change in your turtles activities if you make these changes. The foods you currently offer are pretty high in calcium, so keep it up. Also, like i had noted in my last post, pay attention to your light timing cycles and possibly keeping your tank away from visible windows, etc.

Good luck.

-JG

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