General Care Discussion :: UV Light

[Stinky Monkey]

Hey there. I have a Red Eared Slider that I rescued from another pet owner. My question is, I have a Heat lamp for him, but no UV light. In the morningtime the natural light will shine on his tank. It seems he will bask in it. Is this enough UV for the turtle ?

From you tube, this is the turtle that I have. Aprox 2 yrs old.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZV1misskpM

[steve]

Your window glass will filter out the UV rays from the sun. The turtle in the video also has a bit of pyramiding, you might want to cut down on pellets/protein or at least re-evaluate his diet.

[Stinky Monkey]

Thanks Steve. I see what you mean about the pyramiding, so we will try to adjust his diet. As he is but 2 yrs hopefully this will correct as he ages. However, the glass window is nice condition, but 15yrs old. No UV protection or tinting at all. If I drive with the sun to my left, I still get a sunburn. So doesn't that mean some type (UVA/UVB) is getting through?

We will likey bring him outside during the spring /summer into a wading pool, but want to get him some UV rays during Winter too.

[penelope]

You still need a light for the UVB.
I found a skin care (human) blog that sums it up pretty well - they say "Normal glass blocks all of UVB but allows UVA to come through."
Turtles need UVB, so the window alone won't do the trick

Source:http://www.drbaileyskincare.com/blog/do-uv-sun-rays-go-through-windows/

[Into_the_Mystic]

Wow! that some serious over eating he's done... Look at the width of the lines.. I hope you cut back to just every other day feedings of the pellets and just the size of his head (about a nickle/quarter maybe size amount)