General Care Discussion :: Build your own DIY turtle toppers for under $50

Taking care of your turtle's overall health.

Post Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 11:24 am   Build your own DIY turtle toppers for under $50

Hey all, I just designed and built some simple turtle toppers and I thought a tutorial might be helpful for anyone else looking for a basking solution. Details and tutorial behind the link below.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bn_ ... sp=sharing
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Post Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 11:36 pm   Re: Build your own DIY turtle toppers for under $50

Looks pretty nice compared to the Turtle Topper product. Actually, I think this looks even better.
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steve
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Post Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2019 10:49 am   Re: Build your own DIY turtle toppers for under $50

Thanks! My biggest problem with the way it looks right now is the zip ties. I ran out before I'd fully connected the cover to the base and I wish I'd used clear or white ties rather than black ones so that they would stand out less. Otherwise, I do think it looks pretty good. The pebble tile alone makes for an attractive basking spot.

Both of my turtles seem to like them too. One found her way up there in the space of a couple of days and now uses it all of the time, the other is a bit more shy about it, but we have spotted her basking.

I'm pretty sure people could do some variation of this for a lot cheaper than $50. The whole cost for me was actually about $30 (for one dock), because I had so many of the components already.
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Post Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2019 4:55 pm   Re: Build your own DIY turtle toppers for under $50

You can use re-usable zip ties in areas you think is necessary when you decide to replace them. Also noticed the probe thermometer... those aren't very accurate, look into infrared temp guns for accurate and fast measurements (useful for other projects, and kind of cool).
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Post Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2019 12:31 pm   Re: Build your own DIY turtle toppers for under $50

Thanks for the thermometer tip. I used to use the sticker ones and they were totally useless. These are a bit better, but they both read a couple of degrees off.
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