General Care Discussion :: There really is no replacement for natural sun rays.....

[jozzep]

Today i went to go visit my friend that has my 4 res in his pond. I took a look to see how the turtles were doing, and they look like 4 completely different turtles!

The 3 females had "dove tailed" rear marginal scutes.Well now the dove tailing is dramatically reduced if not gone and their carapaces are much smoother than when i had them indoors. The natural sun light made them shed at least 3 layers of scutes.
I use mega-ray mvb bulbs, and they should be the best reptile bulbs in the industry, but they did NOTHING compared to what 3/4 months of natural sunlight has done.

In substance, take your turtles outdoors as much as you can. I'm starting to highly doubt that these expensive bulbs we buy help our herps at all after seeing what i did today.

I'm on the works of buying a home, and of course i'm looking for a large back yard and spacious basement. Can't wait to be able to keep my turtles outdoors 6 months out of the year.

[emma]

I take my turtles out as much as I can in the summertime. I wish I could get a pond in my backyard, but its only decent here 2-3 months out of the year. Thats the downside of living in Minnesota.

It does seem like pond turtles always look very healthy, no matter what they are eating, things like that.

[jozzep]

I take my turtles out as much as I can in the summertime. I wish I could get a pond in my backyard, but its only decent here 2-3 months out of the year. Thats the downside of living in Minnesota.

It does seem like pond turtles always look very healthy, no matter what they are eating, things like that.

3 months is a lot more than no months.

Pond turtles are ALWAYS smoother than any counterpart that was raised indoors with the best habitat available. Just by looking at an adult turtle, you can tell if it was raised indoors or out, captive or not.

[steve]

I'm a huge believer in the sun too, though I don't think I'll keep my turtles in an outdoor habitat. They will get about 3 outings per week for at least 2-3 hours.

[Diamondbacks4Life]

I always think my turtles shells start looking brighter once their outside during the summer. Also shedding certainly goes smoother. I like the small turtles. They become olympic swimmers outside and fly around non stop with the warmer water temps. Also grow like crazy.

[jozzep]

I wish i had a camera to show you guys and gals the difference cause it was mind blowing.
It gave me a totally new perception of turtle keeping, and making me start to reconsider if keeping our turtles indoors year round is the right thing to do.
Oh well...I'll probably get over it in week or two lol