Other Turtle Discussion

Every since putting the new basking area in Toku's tank I have been observing his actions. I have read and heard more than once aquatic turtles will move their body positions while basking thru out the day. I have witnessed Toku doing this more now with the larger basking area. Before with the ZooMed platform I couldn't really notice it. He will bask facing head towards the lamp, then swap to the other direction, rear end facing the lamp with the back legs stretched out. And he will move different distances from the lamp while still staying on the branch(basically thermoregulating while yet still basking). Anyone have any other thoughts on this cool subject?

P.S.: I wanna give a shout out for Tiger! What a chip on 16!!!!

I have noticed another aspect I haven't paid attention to before, Toku is pulling his hind legs in and tail in then he will move a leg out about an hour later(the tail was out as well), it was the left leg to be exact. He is still positioning his rear to the lamp. This is very intriguing! Overall I have be witnessing this thru out the day.

My male RES likes to push his butt towards the basking lamp too. Sometimes he just throws his feet towards it. He does like to get real warm, sometimes more than the 10F warmer suggested on the site.

Oh yeah Steve thats a good point too. Toku will position himself to get 100 degrees of heat sometimes! No signs of hyperthermia, I have always thought that he would be used to higher temps due to being from the Rio Grande. He does have the choice to move out of the extreme temp but choses to stay in it.

Same here. Are you using a temp gun? It's pretty awesome for this kind of stuff

I wish I want a temp gun, a lux meter and a UVB meter maybe for christmas this year! Then I can really step up my research and husbandry techniques. I really like to study the behavior of these fascinating creatures. I also want to aquire a scale. I don't have a way to measure his weight progression. I just take measurements, you know. I should have been a herptologist, lol!

LOL, I wish I did a better job measuring and weighing. You can look for used UVB meters on their group (they sometimes pop up here: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/UVB_Meter_Owners/)

Hey, I'm in that group are you in the group too?

Nope, though I do see a used one for $115 in the group listing right now (from 5/22).

yeah thats still a steep price for me (college & flight training)

If Toku's getting some of that Arizona sun, I wouldn't worry too much about the UVB from your bulbs.

He is getting those good ole rays from Bob. I'm just curious as to the decay rate of the bulbs and I'd like to see the actual temps he does prefer. I do know the bulbs work tho cause he doesn't go outside from Sep. thru Apr. It snows where I live. Heck, we had snow in mid Apr!

Other Turtle Discussion :: Basking position adjustments by aquatic turtles

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