new owner with questions….
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I own 2 adult RES, 1 painted and just adopted a hatchling Diamondback. I have him in a 20 gallon with a basking area, heater + uvb lighting. The lights go on at 8 a.m. and he gets fed in a bucket and eats very well. Lights are out at 7 p.m. and they get covered with black towels to block out any light. Here is my question. The Diamondback has been with me for only 5 days, when should I get concerned that he will not get out of the water to bask? I realize that he is still getting used to his surroundings, but I don’t want him to become ill…..
Just to clarify – the hatchling dbt is in a 20 gallon alone? Hatchlings can be a bit shy and secretive about basking, but they generally adapt by 5 days or so. Have you double checked the surface temp of the basking area? Todd Melinda
Melinda, You mentioned you had a heater and a UVB light BUT do you have a heatsource for the basking area? IE. a Basking light? The UVB lights generally do not give off much if any heat unless you have something like the Powersun from Zoomed which does uvb/uva in one. You want a lightsource on the basking area to imitate the heat from the sunlight. Considering you have other turtles I assumed you might already know this but I wasn’t sure. Lastly, is your basking area for the hatchling EASILY accessible? I generall have a slight slope which starts underwater and goes up to the actual basking area for my younger turtles and hatchlings. Each turtle is different though so… I mean, one of my hatchling DBT was basking on the first day and isn’t very shy about it… some of my others were shy and still are shy about basking when they sense someone’s presence. The other thing is they can be very smart about guessing the times when you will be in the room so when you are not home or at work he/she could be basking. -= Chris C. ———- Original Message ———————————- From: “Melinda”
He is in the 20 gallon by himself… I also have a basking lamp and a UVB. He has gone up there to check things out, but quickly goes back into the water. I will add this, and this might be why he isn’t leaving the water: I adopted this little guy, he is about the size of a 50 cent piece, but wasn’t taken care of properly. He was kept in a sand filled aquarium with a bowl of water to “drink & eat” from. The person thought he was a tortise. I think he just might be soaking….. The basking area temp. is 80 degrees.
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