Hi! Introduce yourselves here. :: Hello from FL

[Amazing Iceman]

I've been doing more research, and I found this link:
http://www.turtlepuddle.org/health/skin.html

It basically says that one reason why my turtle could shedding could be excessive heat in the basking area. It says the temperature should never exceed 85F, so I'm going to be careful about it.

Today I replaced the useless 20W SuperUV Coil-Lamp with a 20W Repti Glo 5.0 Fluorescent lamp. I found some research that says that the coil-lamp has almost no UVB power, and after just a few weeks, it drops even more.
Here's a very interesting link: http://www.uvguide.co.uk/lightingsurveyintro.htm

There's a lot of contradictory information out there, but here's another link:
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Articl ... ghting.htm

Anyways, this new lamp has 30% UVA light and 5% UVB light, so my question is: should I use a low wattage bulb for the basking area, instead of the 70W UVA floodlight I was using before? Or get a lower wattage UVA floodlight?
It should produce enough heat for basking, without burning my poor turtle's skin. Then again, the other turtle doesn't seem to have been affected by the heat at all. His shell looks flawless, and he does bask a lot. I guess no turtle can be compared to another one.

cya!

-John

[sonyj]

Generally the basking temp should be ten degrees higher than the water temp. But some turtles will not bask unless the temp is in the low 90's. I have found that anywhere around there is fine, but each turtle has their own tastes. You should do what works for your turtle temp wise (but I wouldn't go any lower than 85). If you drop the basking temp a little and it's too close to the water temp then he won't bask and that's not good. So keep it at the temp that encourages him to bask and that he enjoys basking in the most.

[marisa]

Generally, a basking temp in the range of high 80's to 90 is one that most turtles/RES will bask at, and is the range I've most often seen suggested. My RES likes to bask at around 88F, and my eastern painteds will bask at a temp of 82-85F (their water temp is about 71-72F).

I personally think it's good for a healthy turtle to be basking at a lower temp than a higher one. Too high, and it will enourage shedding and speed up the metabolism, leading to faster growth.

You need to do some experimenting about what temp your turtle finds to be acceptable. If you have a good set up that allows your turtle to adjust his body temp to his needs, you shouldn't have to worry about him burning himself.