General Care Discussion :: will he be ok?

[Big Labowski]

i am going away from saterday till wednesday, and my mom said i cant have any lights on, or anything, so will my turt be ok for 5 days with no source of heat?

[jenaero]

My immediate reaction is, no, it's not a good idea. Turts need to be able to warm up. What is your mom's reasoning behind this?

[sonyj]

No, he needs a submersible heater on 24/7 and he needs his basking lights on a timer to come on and go off daily. If the water gets too cold it may lead to an infection that will not be good for him.

[cam722]

i am going away from saterday till wednesday, and my mom said i cant have any lights on, or anything, so will my turt be ok for 5 days with no source of heat?

I'm kind of confused here. I don't understand the "no source of heat" question. Are you using your lights as your turtles only source of heat? That's not a good idea. As sonyj said, you really need a submersible heater. I'd think that living where you do the water temperatures would fluctuate drastically without the lights on. Do you keep the lights on 24/7 to create enough heat? The big thing here is that they need their basking area kept warm for them to dry off. Not having them could cause them to get sick. I also wonder what your mother's reasoning is behind not having lights on. I thought having lights on with no one home is what they recommend for preventing break-ins

[Big Labowski]

well my mom is paranoid that it will start something on fire, and i will get a submersable heater on thuirsday,m so if i leave the heater on and no lights would it be ok?

[vieniebebe]

Do u have UVB light,that u turn on every day?If you do,than your turt should be fine without light for a few days,but you need to keep your heater on 24/7,and maybe you can just let your neighbors come over and turn the light on for a little bit,and feed your turtle.

[mikedpirone]

or you could use a timer...they cost a few bucks at home depot and set the time you want it to go on and off...helps alot so you know your turts get the proper lighting

[cam722]

actually they do need their uvb/uva light daily. A day or 2 without it they may be ok, but I'm not sure I'd let them go a whole week without basking and drying off. It could cause a lot of problems with their health. I don't really understand everyone's paranoia about leaving a light on when they aren't home. Do they unplug and turn off every electric appliance when they leave? Including the refrigerator? I bet most people don't know that a TV causes most of the fires in a home and it doesn't even have to be on. You kids better not be telling your mother that or you could have problems there too

[marisa]

Put the lights on timers as was suggested. Your turtles will get a day cycle and prowlers, etc. will think someone's home. (Use new bulbs to insure they won't stop working of you can.)

[Big Labowski]

i got a heater today, ill try and convinve her to at least let me use my night bulb, which is a 50 watt purple light. will this be good enought?

[cam722]

I thought I read on another post that those aren't good for turtles. You'll have to wait for someone else to post about them. Will she let you leave a regular light bulb on with a timer, that would be a lot better than the light you're talking about.

[steve]

yup, get rid of that purple light - stick with a regular light bulb or a ceramic heater.

[jenaero]

Ok, that sparked my interest. What's the deal with the colored lights? I use a blue bulb for a night light for my boxie. He's always under a log at night anyway so I'm not real concerned about it affecting his sight. It's for heat mostly. I use a red bulb for one of my res tanks. What are the pros/cons?

[steve]

It's mainly those ultra violet black lights that I'm worried about. Since RES can see in the same spectrum as we can, long exposure could be dangerous and could cause eye damage. Same reason why we shouldn't stare into a UVB lamp. Light color also has a psychological effect, which is important for breeding in some species, and I'm not sure how colored lights effect boxies. (though I'd like to know!)