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Today, Kelly and I built this new basking area for our turts.


Here's Kelly getting the tank ready. Sorry about the mess, we were taking everything apart.


And now the new basking area. I just wish the turts would try it out! We keep waiting!

wow that seems really creative,,designing it out of the tank...
have they gone up their yet?

No not yet, They seem to be abit weary of it, but I hope that they will get use to it in a day or so. The turtle "dock" that we built isn't an original plan, we have seen it on the net, and we thought that it looked neat so we made one!

That's very interesting. I would have never thought of that. Let us know how they like it, when they decide to go up.

Looks interesting... they probably don't have any traction to get up there. I think there is something called reptile carpet that can be used on that platform.

Also that platform would probably be safer on the right side, IMHO. Does that bulb emit UVB as well?

Very cool - how is it held onto the tank?

Thanks. We are looking for something to put down to give them some grip. It is secured to the tank with metal hooks that attach under the lip of the tank, I'll try to post a pic of it today. So far, it's 11:30am here and the turts are only near the top of the ramp. None been brave enough to go onto the dock yet. I think that by tonight, they will be up there, I hope!

Please excuse our mess!! That is my glass bead making table that Steven built for me on the right side of that 2nd picture. We need to move it to the back room. (Hint Hint ). I can not take credit for the basking dock. Steven had it almost done by the time I got home from work. He is such a sweetie!! Really all I did was watch the humming birds whiz by us on the carport. There were 3 of them fighting over the feeder.

tinyslider wrote:Thanks. We are looking for something to put down to give them some grip. It is secured to the tank with metal hooks that attach under the lip of the tank, I'll try to post a pic of it today. So far, it's 11:30am here and the turts are only near the top of the ramp. None been brave enough to go onto the dock yet. I think that by tonight, they will be up there, I hope!

Walmart sells "grip strips" meant for the bathtub in their plumbing department. They come in packs of 20 for $3-4 and are waterproof too.

Wow that is really creative! Looks nice.

the design of your dock is nice. but i think its too small for all 8 of your RES coz they grow extremely fast. as for grip, i would place some artificial grass (like those in public swimming pool) for them to get a good hold onto the dock. but i am afraid your basking light is too close to the dock since it is made of wood. just a suggestion...

Here is another pic of the basking area. You couldn't see from my first pic's, but I took my soldering iron and made plenty of traction for them. They would crawl almost to the top today but would stop. They need some time to get use to it of course, we are in no hurry. I did go ahead and put down some matt for them, maybe it will feel more natural to them. Thanks for all the post's! I hope to post some pic's of them on there soon. As for us having eight Red Eared Sliders,,I have previously posted on that subject.

Thats cool.

Have you checked the basking temp?? perhaps the temp inside/very top of the box is too hot?? I know when my temp was too high, they'd not go fully up on the basking area. Just a thought

Thanks, we have kept an eye on the temp on the basking area, In our pic's, the lamp is close then further away. When we had our floating dock "which is an outstanding product", our turts basked all the time. But, they could keep an eye on us also. So maybe that's why they don't like their new basking area yet, they can't see what's going on? I guess we will wait and see. We feel that the temp is just right for now, maybe a little further away now then when they were on their floating dock. On the lighter side, Kelly mentioned us watching some humming birds, I took some pic's, I know that they aren't turts, but we thought that we would post one pic. Look at the yellow on his? back. It's fun to watch the "alpha" bird run everyone off of the feeder and waste all his? time doing that while other hum birds feed! Anyone with a humming bird feeder should know what I'm talking about.