Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Dear Members,

Last Saturday I was cleaning my turtle's tank. He was about 3 1/2 years old, healthy and active.

I put him in a an empty plastic basin outdoors for a few hours. I thought the fresh air and natural sunlight would do him good, especially since he loved to bask near his basking light.

I occasionally checked up on him to ensure he didn't escape or that no cat came near, etc. He was fine.

Finally, after a few hours when I went to get him he wasn't moving. I quickly took him and poured cool water on him, but he was stiff. I put him in his tank, but he sank like a stone. I took him out and left him in a cool spot, but he was dead.

Did the sun kill him? I thought they liked heat. It was about 30 degrees celsius (@85 degrees F).

I thought RES could survive outside of water for a few hours since they normally bask.

Basil

I would assume that your turtle overheated. Being cold blooded they rely on outside factors to regulate their body temp. They do bask in the warm sun, but then they cool off in the water. If the outside temp was 85 a sunny spot in the direct sun would be much hotter than that. Hot enough, apparently, to kill your turtle.

Sorry about your loss. Perhaps others will learn from it. Nancy

Most definitely he overheated. Sorry for your loss. The thing is that just because the air temperature is 85 degrees it does not mean that the surface that the turtle was resting on was not much hotter than that. For example when you are at the beach on a sunny day the air temperature can be a comfortable 75-80 degrees but it can burn your feet to walk on the sand.

Turtles basking in the outdoors need to have access to a body of water too. This way if thing heat up too much for them they can dive into the water to cool off.

Again -- sorry that this terrible accident happened to you and your poor little turtle.

Steve