Reptile & Amphibian Forums

alright so i finally got carl (my 3 inch res) into the new tank and have some quick questions, first off i had put an old seashell in the tank for decoratioin it had some barnacles on it (def decomposed lol) but yea he was nipping at them so i was sounderingif this could harm him for would it just be an extra source of calcium, my other question is, is uvb really necessary for him to have and if so does it need to be full length, or just over the basking spot, thanks a lot for the help
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my animals
1.0.1 leopard gecko (goliath, gebco)
0.1 hypo red bearded dragon (puff the magic dragon)
0.0.1 schnieder's skink (ghandi)
0.1 white's dumpy treefrog (un-named)
0.0.1 red eared slider (carl)
0.0.1 fire belly toad (escaped..)
1.0 lop eared wabbit (oreo)
0.0.2 pink toed tarantula (mambo mambo, and un-named)
0.0.1 green iguana (iguanadonatello)
the rest of the animals in the hizouse
1.0 westie puppy (gabriel)
1.0 plain ol' outdoor alley cat (joey)
0.1 indoor rag doll kitty (tinkerbell)
2.0 goulian finchs

I can answer about the UVB. Yes your RES needs UVB. Direct unfiltered sunlight is the best but if you are not going to allow the RES outside any you must have a good UVB bulb such as a ZooMed Reptisun 5.0. It's NOT an equal substitute for sunlight (not filtered through glass or anything) but may help some. I don't think the UVB rays penetrate much into the water so it must shine some on a basking spot. The light needs to be less than 12 inches from the spot. There must not be anything like glass between the bulb and the basking spot. With age, UVB lights start loosing their effectiveness after a year or so, so you may have to buy a new one every couple of years even if it isn't burned out. See this link for good diet and care info.
Gulf Coast Turtle & Tortoise Society

Just a note, UVB bulbs should be replaced every 6-12months, not every year or so. The amount of UVB rays they put out decreases rapidly from the second you turn them on and they dont have a long life.
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1.0 green iguana-Deitrich
1.1 Common Boa-Un-Named, Ursula
1.0 Ball Python-Anabell (go figure!)
1.0 Red Tegu-Uteg
1.0 Albino Cal King-Pig
0.1 Mexican Black King-Morticia
1.1 Bearded Dragons-Unnamed, Hanabil
1.0 Albino San Diego Gopher-Unnamed
0.1 Hermans tort-Esio
1.1 JCP-Milton, Medusa
1.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn-Unnamed
0.1 Snow Corn-Unnamed
1.0 Hypo Okeetee Corn-Unnamed
0.1 Motley Okeetee-Unnamed
1.0 Western Hoggie-Wyrm
0.0.1 Rose Hair Taruntla-Unnamed
2.0 Leopard Geckos-Reptar, Pogo
4.1 cats-Tucker,Poe,Abhib,Emerald, Felicity
0.1 Bullmastiff-Asha

I don't know about the sea plants, but usually go for better safe then sorry. YES you DO NEED UV Bulbs, and these must have the UVB in them. If a turtle doesn't get the UVB then they cannot process vitamins and will develop Metabolic Bone Disease or SoftShell. It would have to be a long light because they don't make the UVB bulbs in spotlight form. (at least as far as i'm told.)
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~Akira
1.0 African Fat-tailed Gecko
0.0.1 Leopard Gecko (hypo tangrine circle-back?)
0.0.2 Red Ear Slider