Just got a 3" Spiny Soft-Shell turtle - he's in a 29 Long tank, with sandy substrate, heater at 78 degrees, a floating, basking shelf, and another shelf with enough sand to bury in, and still have his head out of the water. Water is 11 inches deep & filtered by a Fluval-3. He LOVES wax worms & crickets.... will try dried krill, and the Retp krill pellets. Doesn't seem at all interested in minnows, either alive or dead.

He seems quite content. But I'm concerned about how to set up the UVB light... and the pet store says that he doesn't need the basking light???? How far away from the basking shelf should the UVB light be? And how many hours should it be on?

Also, he doesn't use the basking shelf - I videotape him, when I'm not in the room... and he's climbed onto the shelf only 3x, and left it within a minute. The air temp is 77 degrees.

Thanks for any comments

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