anyone help?- yellow bellied sliders

[Lyonsy]

Hi, can anyone give me some advice with this?
Last week we bought two yellow bellied turtles from our pet shop. We had the tank set up already with filter, heater, basking area, uv light etc. The turtles we bought are quite small and spend all of their time in the basking area, rarely moving and i have yet to see them in the water.
Also they are not eating yet (pet shops said it could be a week before they will eat). Does this sound normal or should i be worried there is somethign wrong with them?

[Graham]

It's not unusual for them to not eat at first, an unfamiliar environment can cause all sorts of abnormal behaviour until they become used to it. What are you feeding them, the same food as they got in the shop, were they definitely eating then?

Do they go in the water at night when the basking lamp is off?

What are your water and basking spot temps?

[Lyonsy]

Thanks for reply. Water temp is 22 degrees, basking area 26 degrees.
They are being fed a turtle food containing river shrimp and white shrimp and some frozen cockles that they were eating in pet shop though as yet have not eaten for me. As far as i know they were eating in the pet shop though i didnt ask.
Havent seen them in the water at all even when lamp is switched off.
Any tips appreciated.

[Topbell]

Graham's the expert on here for turts. He'll be back soon. In the meantime...

The water temps prob not too bad (which is odd seeing as they are out all the time) but you could try raising it by a couple of degrees.

The basking area should be about 30-32 degrees. Have you got a reflector spot lamp? Or just a UV tube?

Also is water quality Ok - have you used a conditioner?

How long are your lights left on?

[Graham]

They're too cold and that's probably not helping, I assume they're hatchlings (less than 1 year) in which case the water temp should be 25-26°C, and the basking spot should be around 32°C.

You mentioned a UV lamp, what type of lamp is it, and do you have a spotlamp for heat as well? If it's a flourescent UVB, whether conventional tube or compact, then you need a spotlamp as well as you'll never achieve the neccessary basking temp without one.

Can you provide more details of your setup, filter make and model, UVB lamp type and strength (% UVB output), and maybe post some photos of the setup and turts to see if they give any clues?