General Care Discussion :: Compact Fluorescent?

[mello]

i recently bought a new tank that comes with a Compact Fluorescent 9W. I wonder if i also have to buy a UV light? Is a Compact Fluorescent good enough?

Btw: i am new in this forum
here is my tank:
2 turtles




ABOVE: this one basks almost 95% of the time
he was sick, but now he seems much better after we got this new tank
you see its eyes? its eye is puffy. it had its eye closed for like 2 days. Good thing its eyes opened these 2 days after we gave it aids.


ABOVE: this one is active and likes to swim around a lot
better pic of him next time

[SpotsMama]

Hello mello, Welcome to the forum.

I doubt that the compact fluorescent is what your turtle's need. Just any compact fluorescent won't do. The ones that turtles need have a special coating on them that causes them to emit UVB rays. A good brand for a compact fluorescent is a ReptiGlo 5.0 26 watt bulb. There are others out there too, but beware of bulbs with packaging that says "basking bulb" or "full spectrum bulb" or some such. These are misleading in that they don't provide the UVB rays that a turtle has to have to metabolize calcium. Only bulbs that you buy in the reptile section of a pet store that say UVB and specify the amount emitted (like 5% or 7.0) on the package are good. Bulbs weaker than 5.0 are too weak to do any good.

One more thing on lighting - you need a heat bulb in addition to the UVB bulb. The heat bulb can be a regular household incandescent bulb, like a 60 watt or 75 watt bulb. I can't tell from the photo whether there's a second bulb in your setup.

On your turtle that was sick, is he the one in the second photo? he's very sweet. His eyes are still swollen, and he's basking most of the time? Did he see a vet? I wonder if he's not still sick. If he is and has RI, then the other turtle will probably get it too as it is contageous. It's best to separate a pair of turtles if one starts acting sick to try to keep the other one from coming down with the same thing.

[mello]

One more thing on lighting - you need a heat bulb in addition to the UVB bulb. The heat bulb can be a regular household incandescent bulb, like a 60 watt or 75 watt bulb. I can't tell from the photo whether there's a second bulb in your setup.

On your turtle that was sick, is he the one in the second photo? he's very sweet. His eyes are still swollen, and he's basking most of the time? Did he see a vet? I wonder if he's not still sick. If he is and has RI, then the other turtle will probably get it too as it is contageous. It's best to separate a pair of turtles if one starts acting sick to try to keep the other one from coming down with the same thing.

I had a regular incandescent bulb lights for my old tank, but now i have this new tank, i am just using the compact flour. light, which i just got yesterday, and they just started living in it today.
So i guess i must use the incandescent lights too.

The turtle in the first picture (pure green shell) was the sick one. He didn't eat since then. I will be feeding it tomorrow hoping it will eat.

He does seem better now, but he always lie on the platform. He is always like that.
My mother got it a month ago, and since then, it was always shy.

The 2nd turtle is very active and healthy, always swimming around. it doesn't bask as much.

thanks for the advice.
i will go hunting for a uvb light

another question. is the flour. light too close to the turtle?

[SpotsMama]

Actually, the fluorescent does look pretty close. The package should say at what distance to position the bulb - it varies according to the type of bulb. Most compact UVB fluorescents need to be about 12" from the turtle.

[mello]

i think this flour. light is good for warming
and then, a uvb light for basking.

is that fine?

[steve]

The fluorescent light will not entice basking but rather heat. That's why most of use also use an incandescent or halogen bulb.