Turtle basking requirements

[Sassythesawshell]

Hi all,

I have a macleay river turtle and a saw shell turtle and they seem to have different basking preference. Ie. Saw shell is rarely spotted out of water basking and my macleay is frequently spotted on her dock.

now I try to keep the basking temp at around 30 degrees Celsius, Both of their shells look good, No white sections.

just wondering if anyone happens to know the preferences of these two species, so I can determine nothing is wrong.

thanks in advance.

 

[Friller2009]

@Flaviemys purvisi would be best for this.

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

G'day mate, crank the heat up.... you'd want an absolute minimum basking temp of 36°. Mine are between 45 - 55° and they bask freely. Increase the temperature and you'll see a change especially coming into winter now, in the wild basking is starting to decrease as the ambient temps drop.

 

[Sassythesawshell]

G'day mate, crank the heat up.... you'd want an absolute minimum basking temp of 36°. Mine are between 45 - 55° and they bask freely. Increase the temperature and you'll see a change especially coming into winter now, in the wild basking is starting to decrease as the ambient temps drop.

No worries, What wattage do you use? I have a 127L tank for them and I have found 150w only just gets to 33 degrees Celsius

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

No worries, What wattage do you use? I have a 127L tank for them and I have found 150w only just gets to 33 degrees Celsius

Are you able to move the lamp closer to the dock?? At the moment I'm running a 100 watt over a 600 litre tank and a 125 watt over a 200 litre tank. My lamps are in deep dome reflectors with adjustable height lamp stands.

 

[Sassythesawshell]

Mine is sitting directly above but I will try retrofit to have it hang lower