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I woke up at about 6 in the morning today to find that a turtle was making that chirping/squeal sound again, just in a different tone (I'm a musical person ). See http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3367&sid=c1e4fbd77cf66be26acf2b81a8cefc49.
Now this is starting to worry me because I assume it must be something serious if it is this frequent.

Sorry I've forgotten--no other symptoms? And there's no "pattern" to the chirping (time of day, place in the tank, etc.)? If not, and your turtle appears healthy and is eating, what is the water and basking area temp?

It normally happens around morning feeding time as the turtle begs for food. There are no other symptoms and the turtle is healthy- it eats, basks, begs for food, etc. The water temp in the winter is about 70-78, and in the summer about 78-86. I haven't measured the basking temp, but it is roughly 82 at its peak in the noon hours.
It does get cold in Florida

while your range of temps you mentioned is fairly good for an RES, they shouldn't fluxate that much. Your water temp should be steady at around 78 for a hatchling and 72-75 for an older RES. Your basking temp should be about 10 degrees higher.

Should I get one of those things that heat the basking area, because the light bulb I have can't raise the temperature to 90 something degrees as hard as I would try to do so. I heard in another turtle site, that to reduce the water temp when it is too high, that you should put ice cubes in the tank. I've tried this a few times, but the turtles end up sooner or later eating up what's left of the ice or the ice has no effect. I don't want to put too much cubes in the tank because the water used in the first place is city water, and it contains things harmful to turtles. See http://www.teamua.com/files/waterquality.pdf. Is this really an effective way to reduce water temp? If there is a way to do this using other means, or if it is plain helpful, please post it.

FPUA's slogan is "Commited to Quality". The utility bill is outrageous!

you can keep some empty water bottles and fill them with water and freeze them, then place them in the tank. After they have melted you can refreeze them. Make sure they are clean before you drop them in the tank.

As for making the basking temp higher, moving the bulb closer, or a higher wattage will help. Don't know about raising it to meet the current too high water temp though. Just because the water temp is too high, doesn't seem like a logical reason to make the basking temp higher.

I've finally cracked the case on which turtle makes the chriping sound, in other words I've found out which one makes this sound. Shall I take him to a vet?

You said your water temp fluctuates, do you have a submersible water heater? What are you using to heat the basking area? All you need is a regular household light bulb. Just change the wattage until you reach the desired temperature.

DanielRES1180 wrote:I've finally cracked the case on which turtle makes the chriping sound, in other words I've found out which one makes this sound. Shall I take him to a vet?

Well what was causing the turtle to make the sound? We'd need to know that in order to tell you if it's something that warrants a trip to the vet or not.

Does the turtle make the sound in any particular place in the tank? Does he make the sound when his head is coming up out of the water? If it gets that cold in Fla, I'd get a submersible water heater to keep the water at a constant temp.

If you can't tell and/or your turtle continues to do it, I'd take him to a herp vet and see if the vet can't help determine what it is. It might ease your mind.

The chirping sound only happens around the morning feeding time, and later on when the turtle begs for food, he makes it when his head is out of the water. All I am using is a basking light to heat the place. The fluctuation in temperature here has sort of stabilized, and it isn't as rough as in the past few months (thanks Mother Nature ).
And since is is like this most of the year, I don't use a submersible heater.

I would use a submersible heater nevertheless. If the fluctuation in temp has "sort of" stabilized, it's still not constant. Better to be safe than sorry...

I'm curious to what the vet says about the chriping. My turtle does it as well and am thinking of bringing her in