Why Do Turtles Bask? (The Strange Answer)

If you’ve ever closely observed a turtle you probably know how much they enjoy basking, but what you probably don’t know is that turtles don’t bask just because they enjoy lying in the sun. Basking is actually an essential thing for their health.

Turtles bask in order to regulate their body temperature. Turtles are cold-blooded animals, this means that they can’t create internal heat on their own, so they have to rely on external factors, so they have to bask to increase their body temperature.

But when turtles bask they do more than simply heat themselves up, they absorb UVB light, which allows them to process the calcium in their body. They get rid of bacterias that cover their shells, and a few other things. But none of those things will happen if they don’t have a popper basking area, so let’s see how you can create one.

What Turtles Need In a Basking Area

Turtles need just two simple things, a heat lamp, and a UVB lamp, nothing more nothing less.

But the problem is that not all heat lamps are the same, just as not all UVB lamps are the same. So let’s see what you need to know to choose the right heat bulb, and right UVB bulb.

How to Choose a Heat Bulb for Your Turtle

There are hundreds of different light bulbs on the market, and most of them are good overall, but not all of them might be good for your turtle. In order to choose the right one, you have to know what temperature you need for your turtle, and what wattage the heat bulb should be.

The Correct Basking Temperature for a Turtle

All turtles will need a heat lamp, but not all turtles need the exact same temperature. So let’s take a quick look at what temperature you should be aiming for.

Turtle Species	Temperature Farenheit	Temperature Celsius
Red Eared Slider	90 – 95°F	32 – 35°C
Juvenile Red Eared Slider	95 – 100°F	29 – 37°C
Box Turtle	80 – 90°F	26 – 32°C
Juvenile Box Turtle	90 – 95°F	32 – 35°C
Map Turtle	75 – 80°F	24 – 26°C
Juvenile Map Turtle	80 – 90°F	26 – 32°C
Mud Turtle	90 – 95°F	32 – 35°C
Juvenile Mud Turtle	90 – 100°F	32 – 37°C
Musk Turtle	85 – 90°F	29 – 32°C
Juvenile Musk Turtle	90 – 100°F	32 – 37°C
Snapping Turtle	90 – 95°F	32 – 35°C
Juvenile Snapping Turtle	95 – 100°F	29 – 37°C
Pond Turtle	85 – 95°F	29 – 35°C
Juvenile Pond Turtle	90 – 100°F	32 – 37°C
Cooter	80 – 85°F	26 – 29°C
Juvenile Cooter	90 – 100°F	32 – 37°C

As you can see in the table above juvenile turtles (younger turtles) will need a higher basking temperature, so if your turtle is younger than 2 years old you will need a slightly higher temperature.

Now we know what temperature we need, but how do we obtain it?

The Wattage

Most heat bulbs won’t say “this is a 95°F bulb”, instead they will say that this is a 50 watt bulb or a 75 watt bulb.

This is because a 50 watt bulb can generate 75°F as well as 105°F. The amount of heat a bulb will give is influenced by the distance from the ground.

Here is a table showing what temperatures you should expect depending on the distance.

Depending on the room temperature you might get slightly different temperatures, but the difference shouldn’t be significant.

As you can see the closer the bulb is to the ground/turtle the more heat it will release. But there is a limit to how close you can get it. From my experience you shouldn’t get the bulb any closer than 4 inches, if you move it any closer there is a real chance that your turtle will get burnt.

As for how far away you can move the bulb, the answer is pretty far. As long as your turtle gets enough heat from the bulb, you can place it as far as you want.

Now I would like to cover a very important thing that I usually find on other sites and forums when heat lamps are discussed. The reason I want to discuss this is that it can be dangerous to turtles.

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

The first and most important thing that you have to do when buying a UVB light is to make sure that the box says something like: “This bulb produces UVB wavelength light” or something similar to this. There are some products out there that have UVB in the name but that is the only place you will find the UVB, as they don’t produce any UVB light.

Now let’s talk about the two different forms in which you can get 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. But 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. But besides that, 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 is that they are completely safe, there are no known problems like in the case of the bulb with the photo-kerato-conjunctivitis. They can be a little more expensive than the bulbs but not by any considerable amount. So overall I would call the tubes the better choice.

Don’t Make This Mistake UVB vs UVA

When choosing a light bulb you have to be careful not to confuse UVB light with UVA light.

While UVA light is not bad in any way, it’s not what your turtle needs. So make sure that you don’t confuse them.

Recommended Products

Now that we covered what you should know when choosing a heat bulb and a UVB bulb, let me give you some recommendations, so you won’t have to spend hours searching for the right product.

I’ve used a lot of different types of bulbs and tubes over the years to light my turtle’s basking area. Some of them were bad, some were good, but the ones that I am using right now are excellent.

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. Before moving to a tube, I’ve used the Zoo Med ReptiSun 5.0 UVB Mini Compact Fluorescent bulbs. And here is the Lamp Fixture that I’ve used. The only reason I changed them is that I was moving and I took that opportunity to change things up for my turtles as well.

In the case of heat bulbs, 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. Other than the fact that they are very reliable and will last quite a lot, I don’t really have anything more to say about them.

Common Questions

In the end, I am going to leave you with some of the most common questions that people have about turtles and basking. But If you have any other questions than the ones here, you can always leave them in the comment section and I will answer them as soon as possible.

Do Turtles Need a Heat Lamp at Night ?

No, you don’t have to keep the heat lamp on during the night. You should try to keep the heat lamp on for the same period of time the sun is up. This way you will simulate the same conditions from the outside.

But depending on where you live, winter days can be very short. So during winter, you should try to keep the heat lamp on a little longer than the time the sun is up.

What Can Happen if You Don’t Have a Heating Lamp

If you don’t have a heat lamp your turtle will definitely end up with health problems.

One of the most common things that can happen is that your turtle will catch a cold, which is something very serious for a turtle. A cold is a respiratory infection and it can be fatal for turtles if the infection is not treated, and the heating problem is not solved.

There are other bad things that can happen if your turtle doesn’t have access to a heating lamp, and most of them will put your turtle’s life at risk. The general idea is that nothing good can come out of it.

How Long Can Turtles Stay Without a Heat Lamp?

Despite the fact that heat lamps are essential for turtles, they can spend quite a lot of time without one. But long periods of time can have a negative effect on their health.

For a pet turtle, I would say that they can safely spend one week without a heat lamp, but any more than that and they could end up with health problems.