i just bought 2 baby red ear turtles and i was wandering if i had to leave the lamp(and by lamp i dont mean reading lamp i mean there basking lamp)and the water heater on at night. i live in new york and the winter can make my house some what cold even with the heat on...oh yea and is a 10 gallon tank good enough for them?

It would be neat if your turtle could read! The daylight (incandescent white lamp) should be on for about 12 hours a day and off for 12 hours at night. You can buy a purple incandescent night light if you want to provide some heat at night. Turtles need to sleep like the rest of us. For baby turtles, I suggest putting a heater in the water set to 75 degrees F. I use the Stealth submersible heaters since they are not made of glass. That should keep the babies warm. The water heater would be on all the time.

A 10 gallon tank is ok only for about the first two months of the lives of two red-eared sliders. Ideally, they would be in a 20 gallon tank for about a year and then into a 40 gallon tank for another year or so and then into a 120 gallon tank or larger tank or pond as adults.

See http://www.fishpondinfo.com/turtles/hatchling.htm for more on baby turtle care.

Good luck!