Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok,
The two Loggerheads that I have are doing great, they'll eat worms and hatchling turtle food. But, is around 80 degrees too high of a temperature for them?? I just leave the light on all day until about 6 when I turn it off and the water warms up to about 80 to 83 degrees. Recently, for the past week, everyday I came home around 3 p.m. the smaller of the two was basking, today they both were, why do you think that is??
Michael
Michael's Place

>>Ok,
>>The two Loggerheads that I have are doing great, they'll eat worms and hatchling turtle food. But, is around 80 degrees too high of a temperature for them?? I just leave the light on all day until about 6 when I turn it off and the water warms up to about 80 to 83 degrees. Recently, for the past week, everyday I came home around 3 p.m. the smaller of the two was basking, today they both were, why do you think that is??
>>Michael
>>Michael's Place

The water temp for loggerheads should be 75-80F. Too high of a water temperature will make them bask alot. This could be the case here. Although they do bask sometimes as well.

J & S Herpetoculture

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Jeff H.
http://www.jandsherps.com

You should not be using a light to warm the water. It is very easy to overheat the water by doing it that way. AGAIN get a submersible heater! You can set the temp to 78 and not worry about the temps going over during the day and lower during the night. What watt bulb are you using over the basking area? You should only be using about a 60 watt, thats about 12in away.
Chris
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Hey whats up, I'm Chris and I currently have 1.0 Softy, 0.0.1 Midland Painted, 1.0 Bearded Dragon

>>You should not be using a light to warm the water. It is very easy to overheat the water by doing it that way. AGAIN get a submersible heater! You can set the temp to 78 and not worry about the temps going over during the day and lower during the night. What watt bulb are you using over the basking area? You should only be using about a 60 watt, thats about 12in away.
>>Chris
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>>Hey whats up, I'm Chris and I currently have 1.0 Softy, 0.0.1 Midland Painted, 1.0 Bearded Dragon

The wattage and distance of the light is reliant on the temperature of the basking spot...not just saying a wattage and how far away it should be. If room temperature is warm enough, you won't need a submersible heater. Also if the water is staying between 75-80 without a heater...and the light doesn't overheat it, there's absolutely nothing wrong with letting the light keeping the water warm.
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Jeff H.
http://www.jandsherps.com

The light keeps the temp. at somewhere around 80 degrees, usually a little higher. In a week or two I'll be switching back to the UV light because it's getting warmer outside everyday. The light that I'm using now is 60 watt. It's right over the basking area. And they'll only bask when the room is really quiet for atleast 10 minutes, they are way shyer than the recently deceased one. Their container is on a heat pad that keeps the temp. in the water around 72, while it's on "high" power, I just find it useless, as it be useless to use a submersible heater,as it would take up half of the container, and take away their swimming room.
Michael
Michael's Place