Terrapin Turtle Care

[alien-planet]

I recently got myself a brand new terrapin 1st one ever I been in fresh water fish for a while but with terrapin turtle yellow belly slider I am new to it anyway I got the uvb lighting and the lady in the pet shop told me I do not need the basting light only the uvb only but I read online you need both , bare in mind this is same shop that I buy all my fish from it is a professional aquarium shop trusted 100% and best one in the whole off glasgow , Scotland as its the only one that has proper setups in glasgow with thee tanks I been using them for nearly two yrs. but I am having doubt about there knowledge off terrapins care as staff she says I only need the uvb strip only and not the basting light

 

[star4]

What size/how old is the turtle? Youngsters do need a basking light.

 

[alien-planet]

Well it's small had it for about 2wks now with only uvb light I got basking light aswel but not put it in the tank yet as I'm knot sure if I can or not he's in nice deep water 25inches off water he seems happy very active
I believe he's about 9- 13wks old
I also been recently critiqued by a friend for keeping the terrapin in deep water as he states the terrapin should be in water no bigger than his head height but for reasons if this terrapin was in the wild it be swimming in deep water anyways so I believe I am correct about the water height he was not a good swimmer at 1st but after 2 days he was good now he's a pro swimmer haha

 

[alien-planet]

.....

 

[DrRob]

Terrapins will want some free swimming space, it's tortoises that can accidentally drown in deeper water.
 
Ideally you want a UVB source that covers the whole tank, water that's got a good filter going as they're messy, and a heater at one end. As ever, the bigger the better, particularly with reptiles as they like to have room to be able to move nearer or further from the heat sources.
 
As for basking lights, yes, you need something for basking, again ideally with a temperature gradient across the tank, but they'll benefit from having a hot spot to sit in if they want to. They're able to see way into the UV and IR spectums in ways that we cannot, so they're able to move to areas of heat if they want to, and if you give them a good basking spot with a heat lamp then you'll see them out of the water occasionally to warm themselves up before having another swim.

 

[sawickib]

Sorry i dont know much about them but do you have photos?