My little tutle hasnt basked yet

[Pierced Soul]

I got my first turtle on sunday arvo. it's a Murray River short neck. He's in a 4ft fish tank which ahs been cycled. there's plenty of plants in the tank with driftwood on either side of the tank which slopes out of the water for him to crawl up. I have a UV light across the whole tank (with no lids) plus two desk lamps at either end with light bulbs to give some heat.

it's only been two days so i'm not if I should b worried that he hasnt seemed to come out yet. he'll sometimes sit/float in the plants near the surface, and from what i can see the driftwood is accessible for him to come out. Should I be worried?

 

[freerider]

You probably wont see him bask for a long time, little turtles are very shy and will often do it when your not home/around.
Just make sure he can get out of the water and the bask site temp is right then leave him alone, he will bask when he wants too...
Nothing to worry about

 

[lilmissrazz]

i wouldnt be.... let him settle in for a weekish....was he freighted to you?? and is he still eatting??

 

[Pierced Soul]

cool, i figured it was shyness but wanted to make sure it wasnt something else. yes he's eating bloodworms and seems pretty happy swimming around the tank. 'Ive got some guppies in there as well with some fry so i figure if he gets a chance for a moving snack he can take

 

[lilmissrazz]

sounds good pics would be awesome ;-)

 

[Rennie]

If its anything like mine (3 Murrays), you'll be lucky to catch it basking. Everytime I catch mine out of the water they dive straight in as soon as they see me, as someone else said they are very shy at that age and feel much safer in the water than out.

 

[hornet]

yea, he may just be basking when your not around or not at all. I catch my guys every 2-3 weeks basking but my mary river normaly gets seen daily

 

[Kimbully]

My Murray sounds similar, I never see him basking, but my long neck is always basking. Sometimes first thing in the morning, the short neck is on top of the long neck, both snoozing.
He is only shy out of the water, but an absolute piggy in the water.

Kim

 

[scorps]

i used to have saw shelled turtle juvies they always basked in front of me i sold em before they got bigger though

 

[crush the turtle]

i allways see my 3 eastern long neck turtles basking,, but when they c me they think that there gonna be feed and dive into the water

 

[hornet]

i dont think they dive because they think they are gonna be fed, its just the natural instinct from the to dive when a larger animal comes along

 

[Pierced Soul]

 

[Duke]

Nice setup, but are all three of those plates at the top glass? UV doesn't pass through glass...

 

[Pierced Soul]

just the middle part is glass, the other two open parts are some sort of grill which i cut up, at the front is a few glass pieces but these dont actually cover the UV light