will this submersible heater work with a turtle?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo

Prometheus

Candiru
MFK Member
Jun 9, 2008
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a friend of mine has a turtle (i wana say its a red ear slider) in a 20 gallon. well her room gets pretty cold at night saying as how its in the basement (she checked the water temp last night and it was 60) but she cant afford a heater at the moment. since im her "aquarium obsessed friend" she asked me first if i have a spare heater laying around. i have one i bought for a tank im yet to set up so i told her she could use that until i need it back. well after thinking about it later i dont think i would want it back cause i wouldnt want to risk transfering salmonela to my house. so i thought i would just buy her one like mine and she could pay me back as she gets the money. its a marienland visi- Therm stealth 100. i know the bottom is protected with its shaterproof casing but what about the temp select dial? what im worried about is the turtle chewing on that or even the cord itself. should this be safe in a turtle tank or should i get (or tell her to get) a different one? i thought about telling her to get one that could be put inside her filter but im not sure what kind she uses. ill have to ask her and get back with yall on that one. what do yall suggest?
 
i had 3 full grown red ear slider turtles with a variety of heaters and never had a problem like the ones you explained. you said 60 was the night temp what about the day temp.
 
How old is this turt? Let her know he needs room, and that doesn't mean she has to buy a huge tank. She can always use rubbermaid containers.


And yes, the heater will be fine.
 
thanks, i feel better about possibly getting one for her. oh, and thank you for the advice about getting a bigger tank, the turtle is only about 4" at the moment and fortunately she has already done her research and knows it will need a bigger tank. she has one that is about 3 or 4' long which she has been trying to reseal for use as the upgrade.
 
When we had a RES, we didn't have a problem with the heaters we used. If you are worried, they do have a Tetra turtle heater that have a plastic guard around it. It would be okay is a 20L but once she moves the turtle up to a larger tank, you would have to get a higher wattage heater anyways.

I don't think that the night time temp would be too bad in the 60's but you want to find out what the temp is during the day and what the temp is in the basking area.
 
i talked to her today and she said she didnt need it any more. the weather has gotten warmer here and she has a space heater on it. the temp in the day time was 84.
 
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