AST basking

[swatsx]

So I have a baby AST and he basks quite often almost daily I find him chilling out water temp is 80's there is a basking light but is it normal I hear these guys don't bask

 

[Yvonne G]

I think your water is too warm.

I have a plain snapper and during the summer she occasionally basks in the afternoon. Her tank is a 600 gallon water trough and the water is not heated.

 

[Berkeley]

Yes, your water is too warm. I keep them in room temperature water, year round. They come from cool (well, cold) spring fed creeks and are quite capable of swimming/eating/metabolizing at cool temperatures. Normal water temps for them here in GA and FL are often in the high 60's to low 70's in the summer. To be honest, yours may be too warm and is trying to escape the heat.

I have had a couple that would bask though- but only at night. Each morning when I would go into the rooms and turn on lights, they would be sitting on top of the filter, dry as a bone; and then PLUNK drop back into the water when they noticed me.




--Berkeley

 

[swatsx]

Yea mine basks mostly at night when the light goes off and for a little when it's on I'll turn the temps down the tank is in my basement and it gets cold down there but I'll go for 70-74 degrees and hope that helps, I was worried about respiratory infection I heard at lower temps it's possible

 

[Berkeley]

It's really not something to worry about, particularly with snappers. Respiratory infections are possible, but in my experience, only when the temperature difference between the tank/water and the surrounding air are pretty significant. For instance, if the water temperature was 85 and your air temperature was 72. Those infections really affect the more tropical species; the temperates (like alligator snappers) can handle the differences much better.
--Berkeley

 

[swatsx]

Berkeley what's your setup look like? Love your guy looks nice, mines a bit smaller she's got a curly tail the pet store couldn't sell her that's part of the reason I got her from the store

 

[Berkeley]

That's interesting on your curly-tailed snapper. I'd be curious to see that whenever you get a chance.

The set up for the turtles above was a 75 gallon, filled to the top. It had two 7 inch juveniles in it. I had a play sand/crushed coral substrate about 2 inches deep, with piles of limestone/base rock in the corners and along the back wall. I also had some cypress knees and some branches in there for them to use as a climbing aid and for some tannins. There was a pretty good sized powerhead in one corner blasting the water so there was a strong current.
I had to rehome those two a few years ago unfortunately because of some circumstances, but I have a new hatchling that is in a similar set up, just on a smaller scale (25 gallons). I'll try to post some pics of the big tank tonight when I get home, and then take some of the new set up as well for you to see.

Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any questions.
--Berkeley

(p.s.- and just for the record, I am permitted by the state of Georgia to house and exhibit alligator snapping turtles.)

 

[Berkeley]

Here are some pics of the tank I was mentioning above. The one with the full view of the tank is before I added in the cypress knees. The second and third pics are after I crowded it a bit more...






And this is pretty much how my current tank with the hatchling looks. This is an old pic of another tank (one with a loggerhead musk in it) but the same type of habitat and set up.


Enjoy!
--Berkeley

 

[swatsx]

I'm so scared to fill my tank up its only got 4 inches of water now but would be so much easier and better if I could fill the tank I'm scared she would drowned, it's more hooked then curly but I'll post a pic tomorrow I read it's from them using too high temps to incubate the eggs

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Yea mine basks mostly at night when the light goes off and for a little when it's on I'll turn the temps down the tank is in my basement and it gets cold down there but I'll go for 70-74 degrees and hope that helps, I was worried about respiratory infection I heard at lower temps it's possible

You should give the little guy a rock cave or big hand full of water weeds to hide in they like to hide !

 

[swatsx]

This is a couple pictures of him, his tail, and the tank I'm going to get some plants in the next week or so. His tail never goes straight always curled