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I still dont know what to do about the light my turtles get. I have a timer for one light but they are already swimming around when i get up in the morning. When its been 12 hours, i turn off their lights and put a blanket over the tank so its dark for them. Is it that important to have the right amount of light and should i just leave them awake for an extra 4 hours? I would like to watch my turtles swim around after 6.

I have Alpnose's tank lights set to turn off at 10 pm and turn on a 8am. I would say it would do not harm for them to have a couple of extra hours off light.

How about 4 or 5 hours of light because their lights go on at 6 and I go to bed at about 10.

Can you set the timer so the lights don't come on until around noon? I think they need more time with the lights on. What if they don't want to bask in the evening? What if they want to bask in the afternoon?

When do you feed them? Turtles like to bask after eating because the heat helps with their digestion.

Sorry, I meant 4 or 5 EXTRA hours which is 16 or 17 hours total.
I feed them mostly reptomin.

Oh! Thanks for clarifying!

What time of the day do you feed your sliders?

I feed my turtles at around 7 which is right before I turn off their lights.

OK. Why don't you set the timer to turn on the lights at around noon. As long as the room is pretty dim they should doze and stay quiet until the lights go on, even if they wake up for awhile when you get up. Then leave the light on at night for a couple of hours after they eat so they have an opportunity to bask under the light and digest their food. Feed them as early when you get home as you can.

Let us know how it goes!

I personally have my timer set to be on 11am-11pm (roughly). I find he's awake before me (7ish) and he stays awake until I go to bed. My room is usually twilight-ish when his basking lights are off, and I'm not sure what he does in those 4 hours before the light goes on, but I suspect he just swims around and causes trouble by uprooting his plant or trying to knock down his dock >:-[
4 or 5 hours extra light might be a bit too much.

That's actually an interesting point, now that you bring it up. I wonder what the turtle prefers? A few extra hours of twilight , "sunlight", or complete darkness?

My turts are always up in the AM before I turn their lights on. I think that's okay. And it can be dark in here.

So its ok for them to be up before i turn on the lights which will be about 10

Yes. They don't sleep continuously through the night like we do. I know Spot will sometimes decide to play with his rocks in the middle of the night - clank clank! They are up and down during their quiet time.

ok, thank you

My turts lights basically go on at 8:30 - 8:45 am and off at about 8:00 -8:15 pm at the moment (the lights don't go on an off at the same time). I open the curtain to let in the morning light around 7:00 am, and sometimes they're already awake. I really don't think you have to be so particular about the lights going on and off at exactly the time it gets light out or when the sun goes down (what do you think they do in the wild?). You just want to give them a day and night cycle.