Turtles require very specific conditions in order to stay happy and healthy. One of the most important aspects is the amount of heat and lighting turtles have access to. Not maintaining the correct conditions can lead to illness and in severe cases death. This means that, like us, they need periods of day and night in order to function properly. This will impact their immune system and overall health, just like it does in people. The easiest way to achieve this is to use a timer.
Turtles are also ectothermic cold-blooded , so rely on their environment to regulate their body temperature. Wild turtles are able to do this easily by spending time in the water and then coming on land to bask in natural sunlight. As a turtle owner, you have a responsibility to replicate the natural conditions your pet would have in the wild.
Turtles need to bask in order to dry, warm up, absorb essential nutrients and regulate their metabolism. Although they spend much of their time in water, turtles need the opportunity to completely dry out. In the home aquarium artificial UV light provides the same benefits.
Too little UV exposure results in metabolic bone disease, stunted shell growth and premature death. Your turtle will get adequate UV light if you leave the light on 10 to 12 hours per day. While UVA rays help your turtle maintain feeding, breeding and activity, it is the UVB light that is crucial to processing nutrients. It's not a perfect solution, but it's better than nothing.
When using any UVB lamp, it's important to place it at the right distance so that the turtle will get the right amount of UVB light. Usually this is about 12 inches for a UVB 2.
The companies that make these lamps usually have excellent information on their Web sites that provide detailed instructions. Please note that UVB light doesn't penetrate glass or plastic, so don't use a glass or plastic cover on your turtle habitat or over the lamp itself. The best kind of cover for the basking area is a metal screen reptile tank cover. A screen-type reptile tank cover will block as much as 50 percent of UVB light, so you should compensate by using a lamp with higher UVB output or placing it closer to the basking area.
Lamps that get hot like incandescent, halogen, or mercury vapor lamps should have a screen under them because they occasionally explode when they get splashed by water, and the glass can injure your turtle.
Fluorescent lamps and LED lamps don't need screens because they rarely, if ever explode or shatter. UVB fluorescent lamps are available in two styles: Tubular sometimes called Linear , which are straight and come in various lengths for different size fixtures for example, the inch T8 lamps are very popular ; and Compact UVB lamps shown on the right , which usually are squiggly-shaped and screw into a regular light socket.
When the compact UVB lamps first came out, there were a lot of problems with them. Some of them didn't generate enough UVB light, and others seemed to generate too much. Some of them also seemed to irritate turtles' eyes. The companies that made these lights went back to the drawing board and re-designed them, and most turtle experts believe that the problems have been fixed.
Some, however, still prefer the tubular lamps. One thing that most experts agree about, however, is that if you choose to use a coil-type UVB lamp, you shouldn't use a mirror-type metal reflector with it. That concentrates the UVB light too much.
Use a fixture with a satin metal or white-painted interior, not a mirrored one. If your turtle shows any sign of eye irritation for example, if it gets puffy eyes, rubs its eyes, or stops basking , then turn off the coil light for a few days and see if it clears up. They have to be replaced at regular intervals even if they still light up. Some lamp manufacturers say to replace them at six months, and others at a year.
What I do if a lamp still lights when it's time to replace it is set the old one aside as a spare in case the replacement fails prematurely. Then I can use the old one temporarily until a new one arrives. The other kind of light that turtles must have is a basking lamp , which is sometimes called a "daylight lamp. Either way, they produce heat as well as light.
Some basking lamps have built-in reflectors that focus the beam. Others are round like regular light bulbs or are of unusual sizes that need to be used with special turtle lighting fixtures.
Basking lights should be aimed at a spot near the center of the turtle's basking area and placed at a distance that heats that spot to the high end of your turtle's temperature range. For most adult aquatic turtles, the temperature at the hottest spot of the basking area should be about 85 - 90 degrees Fahrenheit or For babies and turtles who are sick, it should be between 90 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit What you want to do is create a range of basking temperatures so your turtle can choose the one he or she likes.
The hottest place -- right where the light is pointed -- should be the high end of the range for your turtle specie. The coolest part of the basking area should be at the low end of the temperature range. By creating a range of temperatures, you're giving your turtle a way to regulate its body temperature by moving from one spot on the basking area to another.
That's why it's important to build or purchase a big enough basking platform. The turtle needs room to move around to find the right temperature. Don't guess about basking light placement and temperature! Use a reptile terrarium thermometer instead.
They are available in the reptile section of pet stores and are not expensive. If you place your basking lamp too far away, your turtle can catch a chill and come down with an RI respiratory infection , which often is fatal to turtles.
If you place it too close, you can burn your turtle. So don't guess about the temperature. Be smart and use a thermometer. When taking temperatures, take them with the tank cover or screen in its usual position. Tank covers affect how much light and heat get through.
When you remove the tank cover for example, to feed the turtles or work on the habitat , put it back as soon as possible so the basking area doesn't overheat. If you must leave the cover off for more than a few minutes, turn off any heat- or UV-producing lamps or temporarily move them farther away from the basking area. Remember to put them back where they belong when you replace the cover. Other manufacturers make similar products, but I think this one is a good value.
I've also had good success with Zoo Med lighting products in general. If I were setting up a new aquatic turtle habitat today and didn't already have a bazillion turtle lamps stored away in my basement, this is the one I'd buy.
Now that I think about it, I actually do use the heat lamp included in this set as a separate basking light on one of my habitats, and the turtles like its light just fine. The halogen lamps are also pretty long-lasting as reptile basking lamps go and save some electricity.
Another thing I like about this combo set is that the basking lamp is halogen and the UV lamp is fluorescent as are most UVB turtle lamps , so it saves quite a bit of money on electricity.
You'd be surprised how much electricity is necessary to power the heating and lighting in a turtle habitat. Depending on where you live, it can add quite a bit to your electric bill; so saving wattage wherever you can is a good thing as long as you're still providing good light and proper heat for your turtles.
0コメント