UVB Lighting: Box turtles require UVB lighting for proper calcium metabolism and overall health. The bulb you mentioned, labeled as UVA, isn’t providing the essential UVB rays. You should definitely invest in a UVB bulb. The wattage will depend on the size of the enclosure. For a 10-gallon tank, a 5-10% UVB bulb with 13-26 watts should suffice. Make sure it’s a tube-style UVB bulb. Substrate: The substrate you’re using should be appropriate for a box turtle. Coconut coir and sterilized topsoil can work well. This mixture can help maintain humidity and provide a suitable environment for burrowing. Another great thing is that it won’t get damaged as soon as a couple of drops of water hit it. In the past, I used lamps that would stop working as soon as a drop of water hit them, but this one seems to have no problem with this ( but this doesn’t mean that you should drop it inside the tank and expect it to work just fine after that). Glow to sleep under a starry night sky! The award-winning Twilight Turtle makes bedtime fun for children of all ages. These constellation nightlights are the perfect bedtime companions. Twilight Turtle, the first plush constellation nightlight ever created, transforms any room into a starry night sky to help comfort children to sleep. From within his plastic shell, Twilight Turtle projects a magical constellation of stars onto bedroom ceiling and walls in three soothing color options. Twilight Turtles shell illuminates like a nightlight to help ease children's fear of the dark. One final thing that you have to know about UVB light is that the bulbs and the tubes will start producing the UVB light even if they will still produce normal light. Most manufacturers will recommend you to replace them after 12 months, but from my experience, that is too long. After 12 months every bit of UVB light will be gone from that light so I would recommend you replace it somewhere between 7 and 8 months. Around that time the bulb/tube will have lost most of its capacity to produce UVB light but not all of it. Final Thoughts

Now let’s get a little more in-depth at why it would be bad to have a light on during the night, and have a look at some types of lights that you can use during the night if you want to take a look at your turtle. Why Turtles Don’t Need a Light During the Night While this would be a lot of money to pay for a night light ordinarily, it is a bargain for what amounts to a nighttime friend that helps reduce the scariness of the dark. My wife and I originally got this for our daughter, but find that we use it as much if not more. This is a great little companion to soothe children to sleep if they are a little afraid of the dark or if they need a companion (the turtle) to be near as they go to sleep. It works as a night light while it is on, but it won't serve that purpose after the light goes off. From my perspective, this little guy also works great for romantic or soothing lighting in the bedroom, out on the patio, or wherever... for the parents. Yes, my wife and I are constantly 'borrowing' our daughter's sleep light because.... well, because it's just so cool. 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. I tried using the room light, I tried using a couple of lamps that I had around the house, and they were OK, but they were definitely not great. So in the end I decided to try a light that was designed for this.Vocabulary: Sensory details, Connections, & Colors--"Twilight" "Amber" "Blue" Green" "Constellation" "Shell" "Head" Legs" "Tail" "Belly," "Fuzzy," "Smooth," "Hard," "Soft," etc. Thermoregulation: It’s essential to provide a temperature gradient within the enclosure. This means having a warm basking spot at one end and a cooler area at the other. Ensure the turtle has the option to move to a cooler area if it feels too warm. Since we talked so much about turtles and light, I want to remind you not to forget about the UVB light. So even if a normal light can work OK, a light that is made especially for this definitely has its own advantages. Don’t Forget the UVB Light For a long time, I also kept my tank in a room that was naturally lit by the sun for most of the day. But unfortunately, I had to move the tank out of that room at some point, so I started looking for the best way to light the tank.

Hydration: Ensure your turtle has access to clean water. A shallow dish should suffice, but it’s crucial to keep the water clean, as box turtles often defecate in their water. Those kinds of bulbs also produce some heat, which makes them great for juveniles who need more heat than adults, but they can’t replace a heating lamp which is essential for all turtles, regardless of their age. Naturally Lighting the Tank During the Night Turtles need two types of light, one that will provide UVB rays, and one that will provide heat. You can’t have a proper turtle tank without those two types of light. But do they also need to be on during the night?

I choose to use the ClassicLED Aquarium Light for my turtle tank. There are some really great things about this light. One of the best things is that the light is powerful enough to help the plants grow really fast, a lot of lights are not powerful enough to help the plants grow and that can be kind of annoying sometimes, but with this lamp, I had no problems with this. So turtles don’t really need a night light, but if you really want to see your turtles during the night you can always move the tank to a naturally lit room, or buy a special night light for turtle tanks.