General Care Discussion :: Temperature problem

Taking care of your turtle's overall health.

Post Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2016 10:24 pm   Temperature problem

It's summer where I live now and it's really hot most of the time. The water is cool enough but my turtles' basking area is 34 degrees Centigrade, 2 degrees hotter than the suitable temperature (the SPCA gave a guide to me around a year ago). Is there any way to make the enclosure cooler? It's not like I can put a fan with the UV lamp and ice cubes in the water. I've already lost a turtle to the heat (Rest In Peace, Oak :cry: ) and I never want that to happen again.
1 RES Evergreen
1 Razorback Musk Acorn
1 Common Musk Charcoal ( Rest In Peace :cry:)
1 Red-Bellied Turtle Hermes
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Post Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2016 11:49 pm   Re: Temperature problem

34 is fine, I think the main thing you can do is have a large basking area and the light focused on one end. That way your turtle can move around to the temperature it wants. You could also move the lamp further away.

Sorry about Oak :(

If they are outside, can you tell me more about their setup?
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Post Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2016 10:54 am   Re: Temperature problem

Err... a tank with water. The basking rock is in the middle so they won't escape. The rock's lifted up by 2 more pebbles and there's a little hollow there. The filter's in the corner. The UV lamp is above the rock. There's always algae everywhere. EVERYWHERE. In Evergreen's tank, There are 2 rocks in the corner as basking area, and the filter's in the corner. The water is way more shallow than the big one, where Hermes and Acorn are. Evergreen's setup has to be more simple because we had to separate him after he bit off Hermes' tail (don't worry, he's fine now). We usually don't use the lamp because it attracts mosquitoes. We've already had loads of maggots in our tank. Ew!
1 RES Evergreen
1 Razorback Musk Acorn
1 Common Musk Charcoal ( Rest In Peace :cry:)
1 Red-Bellied Turtle Hermes
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Post Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 1:34 am   Re: Temperature problem

How much light is reaching the tank?
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Post Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 1:46 am   Re: Temperature problem

For the big one, it's directly shining there. For Evergreen's, not very much but some of it still reaches the stones.
1 RES Evergreen
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1 Common Musk Charcoal ( Rest In Peace :cry:)
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Post Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 1:53 am   Re: Temperature problem

It doesn't take much to get algae started and once it settles, it's pretty hard to get rid of.
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Post Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2016 12:29 am   Re: Temperature problem

But sometimes Hermes does eat some of the algae and I scrub some of them off.
1 RES Evergreen
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1 Common Musk Charcoal ( Rest In Peace :cry:)
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Post Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2016 9:54 am   Re: Temperature problem

It's a cycle. Also, what kind of lamp? I don't think mosquitoes are attracted to light.
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Post Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2016 4:30 am   Re: Temperature problem

Just the normal UVB ones. But we live in a humid area so it's quite common. Common, but *really* annoying!
1 RES Evergreen
1 Razorback Musk Acorn
1 Common Musk Charcoal ( Rest In Peace :cry:)
1 Red-Bellied Turtle Hermes
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Post Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2016 10:52 am   Re: Temperature problem

Mosquitoes are attracted to standing water and people (or likely the carbon dioxide we exhale). Humidity is a different kind of problem :(
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Post Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2016 6:58 am   Re: Temperature problem

OK! But the turtles live outdoors so I guess that's natural.
1 RES Evergreen
1 Razorback Musk Acorn
1 Common Musk Charcoal ( Rest In Peace :cry:)
1 Red-Bellied Turtle Hermes
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mythicalpet
 
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Post Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2016 6:13 pm   Re: Temperature problem

Is there any surface agitation in their water?
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