Please help - new yellow bellied turtle set up

[Gizmoturtle]

Hi there,
I am hoping aeople on here can offer me some advice as everything I find online seems to be very conflicting!
Two days ago I bought a yellow bellied turtle from a pet store. His shell length is about 1 1/2 inches. Based on their advice he was brought home and put in my 2 1/2 ft tank with a large sloped rock so he had a land area and around 5inches deep of water in the rest of the tank. I was told this was all i needed.

After looking online I went out and bought a water heater to heat the water to 27ish degrees and a UV lamp which I had on for about 12 hours yesterday.

After further reading I am thoroughly confused about whether I needed the water heater in the first place? Do I need a heat bulb aswell (a 40/60 watt bulb) or is the 13w UV bulb sufficient??

Any help would be much appreciated - I just want to get everything right for this little guy and Everywhere I turn I find different advice!!!

[Gizmoturtle]

One more thing..... I bought a complete turtle dried food for hatchlings but he has not eaten yet. I'm pressuming this is due to new environment??!

[Turtle Jo]

Water should be around 23/24 degrees. As the turtle gets older, you won't need a heater at all (unless your house is unusually cold!)

Yes, you need a heat lamp and a UVB light. A normal household bulb is sufficient to provide heat. UVB light should be a minimim of 5% strength, but 10 % is preferable.

Basking temperature should be around 32 degrees

Sliders are strong swimmers. You should raise your water depth and provide a commerciall available floating turtle dock, or a a piece of cork bark (wedged in place) for a basking area

The turtle will take time to settle in, so don't worry about it not eating or basking just yet.

[Gizmoturtle]

Thanks Turtle Jo....

One more question - as far as light fittings go what would be the best to use over an open topped turtle tank? At the moment I have a desk lamp angled over the basking area with the UV bulb in. I can get hold of a small exo terra clamp lamp on Wednesday (shop waiting for order to come in) but I was worried about the possibility of this falling into the water?!!! What do you all use?

[Turtle Jo]

Clamp lamps are perfect. If you are worried about 'clamping' them to the side of the tank, you can get a lamp stand from zoomed, so you can suspend them over the tank (around £25).... but the clamps are pretty sturdy

Lamp stand (shop around for prices, this is just to show you what they look like)