Habitat - Indoor :: New Basking Area

[ellman605]

Sup guys, i made a new basking area today, and i have a couple of questions, but first, i know how much you guys love pictures, so i decided to get some, enjoy!





Ok, first question, i installed it today, and i havent seen any turtle up there yet, do you think they are just to new to it? or do you think the ramp is to narrow, or the crackly sound of the material on the ramp?

hmm, second of all, do they need to have a light in the water? its kind of dark down there...

ok, thats it for questions, i left a piece of food on the dock just so i can know if the turtles do go up there, enjoy and please respond!!

[cam722]

What is the ramp area made of? It looks a bit slippery. It isn't abnormal for them to take time to adjust to a new basking area. I only see one light, do you have a UVB/UVA combo light? You could get regular household lightbulb and put it in a clamp lamp for the water section of the tank. I do that. It may not be necessary but I like to see the whole tank

[ellman605]

the ramp is made of a small zoo-med rampy thing (lol, that piece of crap came in handy for something!) covered in some sort of foam. It's a little slippery, but they are perfectly capable of getting on it, i lured one of them on there with some food, lol. Yea, do you see that long rectangle across the side of the tank near the top? thats the UVB light, the clamp is the regular heat one, and the long thing is the uvb, so yea, they're both there. I'll probably get my sister to drive me to wal-mart sometime, mabey tomorrow if i get all of my projects done, and i'll grab another clamp lights, if i have enough money, man, once i'm 14, i'm going to get a job, i'm on a $6.50 budget right now....lol

[ellman605]

agh, its kinda worrying me, they dont seem to be basking....i think i'm paranoid, how long do you think i should give it until i make the ramp bigger ot something? and do you think i should cover the top of the basking area with something so they arent on bare wood?

[ellman605]

and also, should i put some more water in there since i have that now?



thats how much water i have, i think i could fill it up more...

[Spookster]

Looks good. Your turtles are going to love that once they get used to the change. You have plenty of water in there so I wouldn't worry. I would suggest putting a stone tile in the basking area. It retains heat just like in nature when they crawl out of the water onto rocks. You can get them at Lowes or Home Depot for a couple of dollars and they are like 12"x12" I would also probably give them something in the tank to sit on that is maybe 3-4 inches below the surface of the water. I bought one of those plastic crates in the office supply section at Walmart and have it standing on end which puts it at that height. That allows them to be close to the surface so they can just stretch their neck up to get a breath of air. Our RES always sleeps there so she doesn't have to wake up and swim to the surface everytime she wants to breathe.

[ellman605]

i just added some water anyway, makes the slope a little less steep to get up on, i'm not sure if i should make a bigger ramp or not....i'll think of that later. For the tile - i might have one somewhere around here, maybe i can go outside real quick and try and find something...or steal one from a neighbors yard....whichever comes first :P:P

i like the idea some people had of the soap thing that sticks with a suction cup, i might try that out

[ellman605]

my dad is going to get some convetor belt stuff tonight, it'll be rubbery, good for grip, and havd the stuf lines in it, good for grip too.

i'm starting to worry because i haven't seen them basking yet, how long can they go without basking? i left 2 pieces of food up there today, it was gone later, but i put 2 more up there to see if they even go up there, and i'm not sure how long they can go without basking, how long should i wait until i panic and go insane?

[ellman605]

sorry about all the postings, i'm just to paranoid, i hate worrying about my turtles

[BROOKLYN]

Hey ellman! I'm also eager in making an above tank basking area for my turtle. It looks good but how high is the basking area? It seems like it's low enough for your turtles to climb out off. Like cam said (once again ), it's perfectly natural for turtles to not bask immediately. It takes time for them to adjust. You can try covering it up the basking area (just for now) so they can feel more secure when they are up there. As for the issue with the lights, I've read that turtles have no problem whatsoever seeing in the dark. However, whenever the timer @ my house goes off, my turtles usually go to sleep because they believe it's night-time. As for the ramp, I hope that you made it big enough so they can walk up and down freely. Having a small ramp for them to climb up is pretty stressful and also discourages them many times. I know because I use to a 3inch ramp for Survivor whos width is about 4.5inches or more. He had to struggle up there so badly that I had to buy a Zoo-Med Turtle Dock (which I don't like at all) but it's a lot easier for him. And lastly, I think removing that foam wrapped around the ramp would be best. Your turtles might try to eat it and I don't think that would be good at all.

[ellman605]

yea, thats actually a small zoo-med dock, its only temporary though, i'm not totally done with it, but for now, they have the complete ability to bask, i just knew it was better to get the old dock out of there, cause the old one sucked. I'll find a different ramp.

[ellman605]

no, they cant climb out of it, i have my uvb light in the way of them getting off out of the tank, and its close enough to the water so the fall wont hurt them, since they dont use the ramp to get off...

[Spookster]

For grip on the ramp you can also use cabinet shelf liner. The stuff you lay on the shelves of your cabinets to put dishes on. There is a mesh type liner you can get at Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot. I have pictures of it in the photo gallery. Mine is a dark green. It works great for grip because they can hook their claws into the mesh.

[ellman605]

ok, i came home tonight and tode was basking, he wasnt totally on the top, but at the top of the ramp, and my dad said he peeked in a a lot of times some turtles just happen to scramble off the top of the platform :D:D

i just found a rock outside, washed it off 5 times, and put it at the top, since i was advised to put some sort of rock up there, its perfect size, and it is very easy for them to get on, so now i know they are basking, and i'm happy!!!