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My Red Ear Slider use to sit under his heat lamp for hrs each day but has now got into a habit of going into a cave that I made out of rocks. He will spend most of the day under water in his cave and just come up for air. He doesn't sit under his heat lamp anymore. I can't imagine that this is good for him. Any comments?

what is your set up like? Basking temp and water temp would be helpful. If the water is too warm, your turtle has no incentive to get up and bask. Do you have UVB and a heat lamp? Tell us more!

Are there any other changes? How long has this been going on?

My tank has both UVB and heat lamp. The temperature of my water is 70-72 degrees just where it's always been for years. The cave formation is just what it sounds like rocks on both sides with a rock over the top so he can fit almost his whole body into it. Thinking I might have to take it apart so he can bask. It's a very large turtle, about 10". Hate to see him come down with something/

What's the temp of the basking area? Is your turtle displaying any other symptoms? Is he eating? What is he being fed?

Temperature of basking area is about 82 degrees. I feed him Wardley Reptile premiun sticks and Wardley adualt Iguana premium diet fortified with calcium. He has a healthy appetite.

How big is your setup?

Can you up the basking area temp about 5 degrees to the high 80's?

He is in to small of tank for his size, 40 gallons, should be probably 100, but he's always basked before. I can raise the temperature 5 degrees to see if that helps.

Don't raise the temperature! You have it perfect. If the water is warm, the turtle won't find the need to bask, which is bad for him or her.

A fourty gallon tank? If you don't want to spend a lot on a bigger tank, you could always buy a really big kiddie pool for your turtle. Leave him in there most of the day, feed him in there, and bring him back to your current tank only for the night.

You do live in NY, though...so you might just have to buy, minimum, an 75 - 80 gallon tank. My turtle is 4'' and I see her huge -- I can't imagine a 10''.

Well I change my tank around and went to a bigger tank, 80 gallons, and made the cave smaller so he can just fit into it and his basking area is closer now to the light and he's back to basking. Thanks for all the great info.

I don't find a basking area temp of 82F to be perfect, and raising it 5 degrees would pose no problem (88-90F is a good range). Since the water temp of 70-72F is on the cooler side, I'd raise this as well about 4 degrees, and see if it makes any difference in the activity of the turtle. The difference of 10 degrees between the water temp and basking area temp should be enough to encourage basking. If not, try lowering the water temp just a bit.