Adopted turtles... don't know what they are, can anybody help?

We adopted 2 turtles from a friend in dire straits. I don't know much about turtles so if you can tell me what these turtles are, I can figure out what I'm supposed to do for them. They don't like posing for pictures, so I only caught half of the turtle. Thanks!

http://i314.photobucket.com/albums/l...07/Speedy2.jpg

The whole set-up:
http://i314.photobucket.com/albums/l...turtletank.jpg

There's a basking lamp and a compact flourescent lamp on the hood of the tank. It's on a timer so it only turns on from 7am to 7pm.

I appreciate any help I can get.

Well, they are definitely not an Amphibian!

I'm honestly not sure what they are, I would need better pictures. But you need to get rid of the compact bulb, because it will end up killing him. And depending on what they are, I think you are going to need a much bigger tank. The rule for most turtles is for every inch long they are, you need ten gallons of water. For two turtles that means you need a huge tank.

Moved to the proper forum for ya....but the only turtles I can recognize at a glance are sliders...so the only helpful thing I can offer is that those aren't sliders. :P

I can offer this bit of advice, though. My sister has a red-ear slider that she's had for years...since it was the size of a quarter. She learned that feeding them in their own tank just makes a HUGE mess and gunks up the filters awfully fast. She has a simple plastic tub that she puts a couple inches of water in...places the turtle in the tub...and feeds it in there. When it's done eating, she simply plops it back into its tank and cleans up. The water in the tank stays clean and balanced for a very long time this way.

They look like map turtles.

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Originally Posted by Beardedragon

But you need to get rid of the compact bulb, because it will end up killing him. And depending on what they are, I think you are going to need a much bigger tank. The rule for most turtles is for every inch long they are, you need ten gallons of water. For two turtles that means you need a huge tank.

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I have read some articles on compact fluorescents being potentially blinding, but have used them successfully for years with my bearded dragons, turtles, and tortoises. I do agree however on the size of the tank. Looks like they're in a 20 gallon long? An upgrade will be needed soon.

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Originally Posted by MarkieJ

They look like map turtles.



I have read some articles on compact fluorescents being potentially blinding, but have used them successfully for years with my bearded dragons, turtles, and tortoises. I do agree however on the size of the tank. Looks like they're in a 20 gallon long? An upgrade will be needed soon.

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Ive successfully been adopting sick, compact exposed reptiles and bringing them back to health for years ;)

That one in the first picture looks like a false map turtle or a common map turtle.

I've never used compact UVB bulbs because I've read a lot bad studies about them. Stick with the long tube kind. A lot of studied show animals only basking under them with their eyes closed, which potentially means something is bad about the bulbs.

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Originally Posted by Beardedragon

But you need to get rid of the compact bulb, because it will end up killing him.

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That doesn't make any sense to me at all. Why would there be any difference at all between a compact fluorescent and a long tube fluorescent? They're the same thing except one is more compact.

Whoa. They came to me in the 10gal tank they've been living in. I moved them to the 20L thinking they need more room. I didn't realize they're going to be big. I have a 55 gal... I guess that won't be big enough either. Hmmm...

Yeah, what's up with the compact fluorescent...

From the pics my guess would be map turtle

The compact bulbs have been known to cause problems, many tests have been done to show that they produce too high intensity of a beam and can harm reptiles. While we think UVB is great, too much of it too directly, can be very harmful. They ARE different then the long tube flourescent bulbs.

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Originally Posted by AkHerps

The compact bulbs have been known to cause problems, many tests have been done to show that they produce too high intensity of a beam and can harm reptiles. While we think UVB is great, too much of it too directly, can be very harmful. They ARE different then the long tube flourescent bulbs.

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Do you have a link for these tests?

There's a couple out there, you can just google compact flourescents and they pop up, many bearded dragon care sheets also worn against these, but give me a bit, I'll find them.

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Recent tests (2007) have shown that some brands of compact lamp now produce very intense UVB light at close range. We strongly advise caution when placing a new lamp in the vivarium

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One study..http://www.uvguide.co.uk/compactlamps.htm

http://www.beardeddragon.org/bjive/v...c.php?p=707674

Just something else, we aren't the only people who know it's not good.

Okay, I'm confused. I researched the hood I got and it is exactly this:

http://www.bigappleherp.com/Zoo-Med-...=2&category=22

Now, it came with these bulbs:
http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products...cent_bulbs.php

and
http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products...o_lighting.php

They're all designed for reptiles, so I don't know how they can sell those as reptile lighting if they are harmful to reptiles. :confused:

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Originally Posted by anatess

Whoa. They came to me in the 10gal tank they've been living in. I moved them to the 20L thinking they need more room. I didn't realize they're going to be big. I have a 55 gal... I guess that won't be big enough either. Hmmm...

Yeah, what's up with the compact fluorescent...

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Go ahead and set up the 55, I think they will be fine in that.

Here is an Article I wrote that describes exactly why the are bad, and what they do.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=83658

And trust me when I say they are bad. Im not just talking about what I have read or heard, its from personal experiance and treating sick animals from it.

As far as why can they sell that if its bad, look at 80% of the crap petstores sell.

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Originally Posted by MarkS

That doesn't make any sense to me at all. Why would there be any difference at all between a compact fluorescent and a long tube fluorescent? They're the same thing except one is more compact.

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I am not actually sure what the difference is, maybe the Material? I just know the main difference is how much UV they put out and how fast it puts it out.

I wish I had saved an email be and a friend had a year or two back, he had a UV meter and tested all of his bulbs ( He was a bearded dragon breeder, and this helped him know when his MVB bulbs reached the end of their life so he did not have to stay to the normal one year and throw some out earlier than he needed to)

With every MVB bulb you get, you are supposed to let it have an hour burn out period when you first get it, because in the first out it pours out way to much UVB, and then starts giving out its normal amount. Essentially he said Compact bulbs keep pouring out UVB for the first month like that, some actually not even being able to produce hardly any UVB after that.

You would be heart broken to see a Lizard or a Turtle with PKC, their eyes are swollen, they are lethargic, and hardly eat. Very luckily the healing process starts as soon as the bulb is removed. One tortoise I had was 100% better after just a week with no medical attention, and he was a pretty severe case.

He was actually half way healed by the time I took this video, before he looked half dead.

YouTube - New tortoise

Many things that are designed for reptiles work, but that doesn't mean they are safe.

Rawhide for dogs is VERY unsafe. If pieces are ingested without being chewed they expand inside the dog and cause blockages and deaths. Dogs should get bully sticks, not rawhide.

That little tortoise is adorable! xP

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Originally Posted by AkHerps

Many things that are designed for reptiles work, but that doesn't mean they are safe.

Rawhide for dogs is VERY unsafe. If pieces are ingested without being chewed they expand inside the dog and cause blockages and deaths. Dogs should get bully sticks, not rawhide.

That little tortoise is adorable! xP

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Notice how he closed his eyes tight shut when I picked him up, poor thing :oops:

Well that certainly puts a stop to some of my plans. Is this a certain manufacturer that this problem can be attributed to or is it all of them? One of my favorite sites is www.reptileuv.com they have a lot of good info, I remembered that they do sell compact florescent's but then when I looked back again it's only full spectrum and not ones that put out any UV and they recommend that they be used in conjunction with one of their mega ray flood lamps for the UV needs. The more I read about lighting for turtles the more I'm beginning to realize that it's hard to keep turtles with just one type of light source. Most places seem to recommend multiple bulbs of different types for different jobs.

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Originally Posted by MarkS

Well that certainly puts a stop to some of my plans. Is this a certain manufacturer that this problem can be attributed to or is it all of them? One of my favorite sites is www.reptileuv.com they have a lot of good info, I remembered that they do sell compact florescent's but then when I looked back again it's only full spectrum and not ones that put out any UV and they recommend that they be used in conjunction with one of their mega ray flood lamps for the UV needs. The more I read about lighting for turtles the more I'm beginning to realize that it's hard to keep turtles with just one type of light source. Most places seem to recommend multiple bulbs of different types for different jobs.

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I would just go with the MVB bulb, it basically is a compact bulb ( In the fashion of what makes them appealing to people who do not want Tubes) but actually works great. Costs more, but is worth it. My turtles/torts where under them and did great.

MVB's are good, I've used them with beardies before. Cheaper online! There $90n at Petco, $40 online! They are heat and UVB in one bulb.

The long tube like kind of flourescents also don't seem to pose a problem, all of my reptiles have done good on them. You can get lower UVB emmiting ones too.

I have used the compact UVB bulb with my water turtles for over 2 years now with no problems what so ever.

I know that turtles don't get the same amount of UVB exposure as Beardies or Geckos since that are in the water most of the time and UVB don't penetrate the water very deep. I am on a turtle forum and I have never heard of the compacts causing problems.

Then again my bulbs are far enough from where the turtle basks and most of them are mud turtles that bask very little. I will research more on this.

By the way, you got very map turtles there! I don't know which subspecies, but you could always post pictures on this forum in the turtle identification section, there is a few experts on there and they can identify anything blindfolded :gj:

http://www.turtleforum.com/forum/upl...?showforum=111


Edit: I clicked the link about the surveys and they said the tests were done in 2005 and the compact bulbs emitting have been changed since then thus the results are no longer applicable and new tests are in progress.

I am on the same forum and there have been threads about the compact uv bulbs causing problems the search doesnt seem to be working tho. Will look better after lunch

I went to the petstore yesterday looking for a lighting alternative.

I found this one that will also fit in the hood that I already have:
http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/tSo...mdWE4NEtfz3JXR

It is a different type of compact UVB... it doesn't "coil" but is mostly straight with a u-shape on the end. Is this bad too?

Okay, I'm joining that other forum. Same name. Hope to see you there.

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Originally Posted by Mephys

I have used the compact UVB bulb with my water turtles for over 2 years now with no problems what so ever.


Edit: I clicked the link about the surveys and they said the tests were done in 2005 and the compact bulbs emitting have been changed since then thus the results are no longer applicable and new tests are in progress.

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I think it is from what you said, they do not use it very often. If at all actually, I would still change it. And no, it does not matter that the tests are no longer applicable. I treated that tortoise in that video one year ago, 2009, so obviously there is still a problem with the new bulbs.

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Originally Posted by anatess

I went to the petstore yesterday looking for a lighting alternative.

I found this one that will also fit in the hood that I already have:
http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/tSo...mdWE4NEtfz3JXR

It is a different type of compact UVB... it doesn't "coil" but is mostly straight with a u-shape on the end. Is this bad too?

Okay, I'm joining that other forum. Same name. Hope to see you there.

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Still bad. Does the hood you have make the bulb point sideways? ( That is what I see most do) if it does you do not want the hood as it is, compact or not.

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Originally Posted by Christine

I am on the same forum and there have been threads about the compact uv bulbs causing problems the search doesnt seem to be working tho. Will look better after lunch

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The search option on TF have been broken for a while so when doing a search you need to use google or yahoo and type what you are looking for followed by turtle forum in it.

Bearded dragon: I see you asking if the bulb is pointed sideways or straight, does that make a difference ? Because I use clamp lamps so the bulbs are pointing down.

ok here are some of the threads from turtle forum in regards to the coiled uv lights

http://www.turtleforum.com/forum/upl...howtopic=80294

http://www.turtleforum.com/forum/upl...howtopic=99452

here is another one
http://www.turtleforum.com/forum/upl...owtopic=109533

Here is a pinned topic in the habitats section about the problems associated with these kinds of light
http://www.turtleforum.com/forum/upl...owtopic=113523

Thanks Christine, I'm going through them right now.

I've tried signing up on that forum twice now and I haven't been able to, I don't think they want me over there. :oops:

Thanks for the links though, very interesting reading.

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Originally Posted by Mephys

Thanks Christine, I'm going through them right now.

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your very welcome:)

Okay, I have a definite ID from the turtle forum:

I got farm mutt map turtles. And one of them added, "and very pretty ones at that!".

They both appear to be males so they are going to be smaller than the females. About 5" each turtle.

So, that's 10" which is 100 gallons. I need a canister filter good for at least 200 gallons. Yikes. This is getting to be a very expensive adoption!

Hiya, on my 125 I am running a ehiem 2217 classic and a cascade700 . I have a large cooter and a musk turtle in the tank and the water is very clear. ehiems can be a bit expensive but I find that they run great and filter really well. I like the cascade also but I think the ehiem is a better filter.:)