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Do turtles need like some kind of infared heat light on at night? I know at night, the temp around their basking area is a little cooler than the water temp. I didn't know if they need heat at night too.

No. They only need the heated basking area during the day. Just remember you are replacing what they would normally have in nature.

I use one only because the room the turts are in is pitch black. I've noticed that some of them like to bask under the night light too. It's really not needed, but that's just the way I am

well the temp around their basking area gets down to about 70. And our room is pitch black also. I just thought it would be a little cool for them.

My turtles' temp in their tanks drops about 5 degrees at night. I used to use a red heat light to warm the ambient air at night, and I still use them for newly-hatched turtles. The red heat lights do not interfere with their sleep cycles. A slight drop in the temp at night is normal, and certainly occurs in the wild.

What I will do to keep more warmth in the tanks at night is to cover a good portion of them with plexiglass (cardboard works too). Doing so help keeps the heat created by the submersible water heater from leaving the tank and will keep the ambient air warmer.

marisa wrote:What I will do to keep more warmth in the tanks at night is to cover a good portion of them with plexiglass (cardboard works too). Doing so help keeps the heat created by the submersible water heater from leaving the tank and will keep the ambient air warmer.

That's probably why my tank temp stays constant and never flucuates. My above tank basking area completely covers the left opening and I have a glass panel top covering the right opening so the heat stays in. Plus I have a submersible heater on both ends so it helps to maintain the temperature.