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Old 21-08-2007, 09:58 PM
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Default light on map turtle basking area.

My new map turtles seem ok. The guy in the shop sold us a Hagen Life-Glo 24" flourescent which is in the hood of the tank but I think they need more light. Should I invest in something like a ARCADIA D3 COMPACT REPTILE LAMP 23W ! Weird keeping these. Its like starting keeping fish all over again lol.
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Old 21-08-2007, 10:28 PM
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The Arcadia Compact is an excellent UV lamp for turts, it concentrates the UV over the basking spot where thay can actually make use of it, unlike tubes which distribute it throughout the whole tank.
Use it with the correct lamp holder and reflector though, without a reflector you'll be wasting a lot of valuable UV, and remove the protective grille for the reflector as it blocks a lot of the UVB. The grille is only there to stop climbing reptiles like snakes and lizards from touching the bulb, obviously not a problem with turts!
Like all flourescent bulbs the Compact doesn't give out much heat though, and you need to supplement it with an ordinary incandescent 40W spotlamp, or a higher wattage one wired through a dimmer switch for temperature control.
The Hagen Life-Glo lamp doesn't emit UVB and is totally unsuitable for turts, if I were you I'd take it back to the shop and ask for a refund, it's "unfit for purpose" so you are quite within your rights to do this.

What's the rest of your setup like? Tank size, turt sizes?

I just noticed you said the tank has a hood, this is bad as any kind of hood or lid creates high humidity which can cause respiratory problems, potentially fatal especially in young turts. The tank should be open-topped.
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Old 22-08-2007, 08:28 AM
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Wonderful helpful reply. Thankyou. Am going to get a heat lamp and hopefully the arcadia lamp too. Will remove the lid but will have to shut my pesky cats out the room lol.

Thanks again.
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Old 22-08-2007, 08:35 AM
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You could just put some wire mesh across the top.

What size is your tank and filter?
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Old 22-08-2007, 03:39 PM
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As they say about great minds I have just read your post after buying some mesh to put across the top. I have a D3 arcadia lamp coming tomorrow and have a red bulb (40W) that I need to get a fitting for so they can have that on at night time. What about a heat lamp? Think I need one of these too.
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Old 22-08-2007, 06:37 PM
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You don't need a red bulb or any kind of light at night, just switch all the lighting off. For heat all you need is an ordinary spotlamp, a 40W is usually adequate, or you can use a higher wattage and wire it through a dimmer switch for precise temp control.
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Old 22-08-2007, 06:40 PM
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Brilliant help. Will post some pictures when I am finally happy with the setup.
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