Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I moved "Drippy" from his previous container (holds about 3 gallons of water) to his new 40 gallon aquarium. Boy does he look like he is enjoying his new home! I also bought him a basking dock, a UVB emitting light bulb for his lamp ($27.00 for a light bulb...ugg!) and a bigger filter. We are moving along quite nicely but I have a few more questions:

The aquarium came with a ceramic heat lamp. Does he need this besides the UVB basking light? The ceramic lamp seems to give off way more heat than the UV basking light does. Do you leave the basking light on 24/7? Finally, he has a little flap of skin on the back of his neck that looks like its been scraped almost off. Should I just keep an eye on it or take him to the vet. I don't know how the vet will ever see it because I doubt if the turtle will come out of his shell if we take him in anyway.

Thanks for the help.

It is hard to say how many or how few heat emmiters you will need for your turtle, because it all depends on the temps in the room and the size of the tank. Put a thermometer above his basking platform, the temps should be in the high 80's to low 90's. If they are not getting that high, then add another heater, if they are getting that high then you dont need to add anything. You can turn all the heat lights off at night, if the room he is in gets REALLY cold at night then you might want to leave a heat emmiter on over night, as long as its ceramic or otherwise puts off no light it wont upset the turtles night cycle.

As far as the scrape its hard to say for sure without taking a look, can you get a pic? I will say that if the skin is ripped, exposing flesh underneath then you need to be careful. Turtles get infections easily because they are constantly in the same water they poop in. Keep his tank very very very clean, and a quick check up at the vet might be advisable.
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Does the UVB light emit any heat? If not, then you need some heat source during the day. Do not leave lights on 24/7. Try for 14 hours of light a day dirrectly over the tank.

Katrina