Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

What are the ideal temperatures for hatchlings?
For:
1.water?2.basking to completely dry?
3.basking?
4.air?

Thank you!

Personally, I do this:

water: 74-76
basking area: 90-92
air: 65-76 (basically whatever your house is should be fine)

Make sure you have a source of uvb light also.

It also depends on if your turtle is an adult or hatchling. Hatchlings need more warmth, so for them I would have the water temp. a little higher, more like 78-80 degrees.

I will politely disagree....slightly.

They, being smaller, will not retain heat as long as a larger res. Therefore, they may be in and out of the water more often. Having higher water temps may make them stay in the water longer and not bask much at all...therefore causing an increased risk of shell rot.

That's my logic, at least...

I see your point. I can only give an opinion based on what I`ve read and been told (and has worked for me), namely, that hatchlings are more sensitive to temps. and they need greater warmth than adults. The basking area should be about 10 degrees higher than the water, and the range that was given was greater than that. I`d also keep the air temp. more toward the upper part of the range that was given. Just my two cents...

yes, I agree about the air temp being on the upper end of the range. I usually keep it about the same as the water... I guess you could say I don't use a heater, I just keep water at room temp.

I've had no problems getting them to bask.

From what I've seen it's almost as if some of the books were written by people in the 70's and many things I've read just seem very odd.

Yeah, I know what you mean about the books...sometimes, the more I read, the more contradictions I see. I have to use a heater in the winter, as well as a heat source for the air in addition to the UVB bulb (no central heating in Tokyo). Summers are scorchers, though, so all heat is off for the next several months. I keep my turtle`s water temp at about 77 degrees and the basking temp at about 86 degrees--he won`t bask if it gets 90 or above.

Hmm. Our RES is probably close to 2". So far we've only had a few inches of water in the tank and are about to increase it. It isn't near a heat source and we keep our air on this time of year. The water stays around 82-85. We have a flat smooth rock for a basking area. I don't know the temp of the basking area, but the only heat we have comes from our basking light over the rock. I can only assume the basking area is indeed warmer. What do you think of this? He/she does come out and bask when we're not around. Think it's good enough?

If the basking light is not a UVB light, he needs one in addition to the light now being used. A thermometer to check the basking area would be good. At 82-85 degrees, the water seems a little too warm (a thermometer for the water would be good, too.) Take a look at your UVB post.

I have a hatchling and it loooooves the basking area so i would have to disagree with u and it rarely goes into water only to feed..

Sorry, but I have no idea what or who you`re disagreeing with.