General Care Discussion :: temperature question about my hatchling.

[LeslieMW]

so i have a little florida red bellied hatchling, and that other turtle site austins turtle page says they like low to mid 70's for water temp.

my question is, is it ok for my hatchling to be in about 70 degree water at night? during the day her 100 watt basking light heats the water up to about 79, but at night it drops to like 69-71 degrees.

do you think this is ok?

[megcornell]

I don't know much about the red belly, but I did reference austin's care pages.
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/cs-flredbelly.htm

They say low to mid 70s. I would stick with the mid 70s, as I'd rather risk him being a little warm, than too cool.

Also, I don't think you want such a drastic change in water temperature. See if you can't get a less powerful basking bulb so you're not heating and cooling the water daily- that's a good way to give a turtle an RI. In smaller tanks, you just can't have very powerful bulbs, there's not enough water and it heats too quickly.

[LeslieMW]

ooh really? even if the water cools down slowly? what if i kept the basking light and uvb on for most of the day, and then only kept the uvb light on and then had both off..that way it might cool down more slowly?


so how can i keep the water at about 76 degrees but the basking area at around 90 without heating the water too much?

i do have a 60 watt so i guess i'll put that in.

[ScrewZoo]

78 and basking 90. im pretty sure its the same.

[megcornell]

When I had a tinier tank, I used a 40 or 60 watt bulb to get a good basking temp. You'll have to play around and see what works.

[MEL]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure, too, that a hatchling needs warmer water and that the temp has to remain consistent. My daughter's turtle died because she didn't keep the water temp constant. She mistakingly thought that the basking lamp was making the water too warm and didn't use a heater for her water then would turn off the lamp at night causing the water to cool down. Despite the fact that I told her that the turtle needed a heater and a basking lamp, she didn't listen and her turtle died after about a year and a half. It may help to have a temp gage in the water so you'll know at all times what the temp is and correct the problem if it gets too cool.

[LeslieMW]

oh wow, ok thanks. i'll make sure to get a water heater. i have the 60 watt in now and when i turn it off the water only drops a few degrees..so hopefully that will be ok for now