General Care Discussion :: dark skin

[laurapa]

When we got Oliver he had never been exposed to a UVA/UVB light. He had been kept under a visible light CFL bulb his whole young life!

Since we've had him, we've been using a ReptiGlo 5.0 UVA/UVB CFL bulb. It stays on for about 12 hours. It's 6-8" away from his basking spot.

The parts of his skin that he exposes when basking have become slowly darker. On his legs, the most exposed parts don't even show visible lines anymore. It's just pretty much solid brown.

Is that a normal thing, or is his lamp possibly too close? Or should we be using the UVA/UVB bulb for just a few hours a day?

I don't want to give my turtle skin cancer.

[Daniel3507]

turtles just get darker as they age. its normal. just make sure you also have a bulb for heat. its good that you have the light on for 12 hours a day

[laurapa]

We have a ceramic heat emitter that is always on because Oliver likes to bask at night sometimes. His water is a constant 74 degrees and his basking site is around 85 degrees, give or take a degree.

ETA: Oh, also, thanks for the reply! It makes me feel better.