How Long Can Turtles Live Without a Heat Lamp?

If you are a turtle owner you might wonder why your turtle requires a heat lamp, is it really that important? And do you have to get it right away?

How long can turtles live without a heat lamp? Turtles can live without a heat lamp for a very long time, but they won’t lead a healthy life, and in the long run, their lifespan will be reduced greatly.

In short, turtles can live without one, but it won’t be good for them. So let’s take a closer look at why turtles need a heat lamp, and how to choose the proper heat lamp for your turtle.

Why Do Turtles Need Heating Light ?

Turtles are cold-blooded reptiles so the temperature of their body depends on the temperature of the environment. So the simplest answer to this is to warm up, this answer might seem too simple at the first glance but in reality, the only reason pet turtles need a heating lamp is to warm up, the light from the UVB light usually takes care of the rest of their needs.

How to Choose a Good Heating Light/ Heating Lamp

The thing that you have to look for in a good heating bulb is durability. You don’t want to have a bulb that will go out after only a couple of days of usage. Another important thing that you have to choose is the power, and the power of a light bulb is given by the wattage.

How to Choose the Wattage

Most heating light bulbs usually have 50, 75, and 100-watt options to choose from. And you can choose the right options by taking into consideration the following things: The size of the basking area, the number of turtles that will be using it, and the size of the turtles.

If you have just one turtle and a relatively small basking area then you will probably need the 50 watts light bulb. But if you have 2 big turtles and a medium-sized basking area then you can go with the 75-watt option. And if you have more than 3 turtles and a big basking area you will definitely need a 100 watt light bulb. In case you have 5+ turtles and a huge basking area then you will find even more powerful bulbs on the market, or you can just buy multiple 100-watt bulbs.

More watts mean more power, and more power means more heat. So basically when you are choosing the wattage of your bulb you are choosing the amount of heat that will be produced.

If you choose a bulb that is too powerful for your turtles, you can easily solve the problem by placing the bulb farther away from the basking area. Unfortunately, this trick doesn’t work too well if you want to place the bulb closer. Even if you put the bulb millimeters away from your turtle it still won’t be able to produce the needed heat in some cases. And placing the bulb too close can be dangerous and unhealthy for the turtle.

Here are the distances that you should put your heat bulbs away from the basking area ( they are not exact, but they will give you a basic idea ):

If you have a 50 watt bulb you should place it between 6-8 inches away from the basking area.
If you have a 75 watt bulb you should place it between 7-9 inches away from the basking area
If you have a 100 watt bulb you should place it between 9-11 inches away from the basking area.
If you have a 100+ watt bulb you should place it between 11-14 inches away from the basking area.

Turtle Basking Temperatures

Now that you know how to choose a heating light let’s talk about what temperature your turtle needs in the basking area.

For most turtle species the basking area should be 10 degrees Fahrenheit ( 5 – 6 degrees Celsius ) warmer than the water. Generally, a good basking area temperature is between 80 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

And here is a list of the most common pet turtles and their ideal basking area temperatures:

Florida Box turtle: 85-95 degrees fahrenheit
Eastern Box turtle : 85-90 degrees fahrenheit
Ornate Box turtle: 85-90 degrees fahrenheit
Red Ear Sliders turtles: 80-90 degrees fahrenheit
Map turtles: 80-90 degrees fahrenheit
Painted Turtles: 80-90 degrees fahrenheit
Mud turtles: 85-95 degrees fahrenheit
Musk turtles: 80-90 degrees fahrenheit

My Favourite Heating Light

I am a long-time user of the Exo Terra Swamp Glo Basking Spot Lamp. Depending on your needs you can choose between the 50, 75, and 100-watt options. Those bulbs will last a long time and they will produce enough heat for your turtles. Because I had no problems with them I didn’t feel the need to try too many other options since those bulbs worked great for me and my turtles.

For the lamp fixture, I use this one that allows me to put both the light the UVB bulb and the heating bulb in the same place. Right now I am using both slots for two 75 watt heating bulbs and it still works great.

One other important thing that you should take into consideration when you are thinking about the heat lamp, is the UVB light, which is just as important as the heat lamp.

What is UVB Light and Why Turtles Need It

UVB light is a light spectrum of the UV light that plays a very important role in the life of most reptiles, and that also includes turtles. UVB light plays a vital role in the production of Vitamin D3 which is essential for the calcium in the body.

Without UVB light turtles ( as well as humans and many other species ) wouldn’t be able to get the proper amount of calcium which can lead to improper bone growth, metabolic bone disease, softshell, shell rot, and many other bad things.

Difference Between UVB and UVA Light

When choosing a light bulb you have to be careful not to confuse UVB light with UVA light. UVA light helps regulate behaviors such as feeding, diurnal movement, mating, and similar activities. And while all those things are good, this is not the kind of light bulb that you want to get for your turtle.

How to Choose a Good UVB Bulb (Tube VS Compact )

The first and most important thing that you have to do when buying UVB light is to make sure that on the box it says something like: “ This bulb produces UVB wavelength light” or something similar to this.

I’ve seen light bulbs that had UVB written big on the box, but if you read the box carefully it says that it doesn’t produce UVB light, and it’s just a name. This doesn’t happen very often, but just to be safe it’s better to read the box if you have the chance.

Now let’s talk about the two different forms in which you can get the UVB light.

Bulb Light

Bulb light, sometimes also referred to as “compact light” is one of the two options. They look like most normal white light bulbs and they are usually easy to find and not very expensive.

The problem with them is that they can sometimes cause photo-kerato-conjunctivitis.

Photo-kerato-conjunctivitis is basically a problem with the eyes that can occur due to overexposure to UVB light. There have been very few cases reported, and in the last few years, I didn’t hear anybody say that they had this problem with their turtle. Maybe it’s something that no longer happens due to the advances in technology. But besides those few cases of Photo-kerato-conjunctivitis, where there is no problem with them.

Tube Light

Tube lights are what most people would recommend you to get, and I also agree with that. The biggest advantage that they have over bulbs is that they are completely safe, there are no known problems like in the case of the bulb with photo-kerato-conjunctivitis.

They can be a little more expensive than the bulbs but not by any considerable amount, in general, the difference is around 3 or 5 dollars. So overall I would call the tubes the better choice.

My Favourite UVB Light

I’ve used a lot of different types of bulbs and tubes over time to light my turtle’s basking area. Here are some of my favorite bulbs and tubes that I’ve used.

The bulbs that I’ve used are the Zoo Med ReptiSun 5.0 UVB Mini Compact Fluorescent. My turtles had no problem while I was using those bulbs, so in my experience, they are completely safe. And here is the Lamp Fixture that I used, the cool thing about this lamp fixture is that it allows you to place the lighting and the basking bulbs in the same fixture so you don’t have to get two different ones.

I was completely happy with this setup, and my turtles had no health problems. The only reason I changed this setup is that I was moving and I took that opportunity to change things up for my turtles as well.

At the moment I am using the Zilla Slimline Tropical 25 UVB T8 Fluorescent Fixture with the Zilla UVB Fluorescent Bulb, and I am really liking this setup, and so do my turtles. The only thing that you have to be careful of when you get this setup is that you have to make sure that you have a good place where to put it because it won’t be as easy to place as a bulb setup. Other than that I can just say that this tube UVB light is working great.

Mercury Vapor Bulbs

At this point, you might already be thinking why there is no bulb that can take care of both the UVB light and the heating needs of your turtle. Well, there are such bulbs and they are called mercury vapor bulbs.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Mercury Vapor Bulbs Over a Classic Two Bulb Setup

The most obvious advantage of the mercury vapor bulbs over the classic setup is the space required. If you are lacking space in the room for your tank this bulb can be really helpful.

The price difference is not that big, and depending on the brands you use it can go either way. You can end up spending more on one mercury vapor bulb than on two bulbs from the classic setup. Or you can end up saving some money, it all depends on the specific products that you are using. So I can’t add the price to advantages either to disadvantages.

The biggest disadvantage is that some of them will occasionally explode, and in that process, they can hurt the turtle really bad. I have no idea why this can happen, but maybe later this won’t be a problem. This doesn’t mean that you have a 50% chance that it will explode or even a 10% chance, if chances were that high they wouldn’t be on the market at all. But I don’t feel comfortable knowing that this can happen when I could just choose another type of light bulb.

Conclusion

I hope this article answered all your questions about turtles and heat lamps. But in case you still have some unanswered questions you can always leave them in the comment section and I will answer them as soon as possible.