Habitat - Outdoor :: basking outside?

[imderanged]

this is kinda a silly question, but I just wondered if anyone had any ideas...
The weather here in Jersey is starting to get nice and I want to get a kiddie pool for Sylar. But I have been trying to think of something cool to use for a basking platform...I don't want to just throw a big rock in there, ideally I'd like to find something fun and colorful that would go along with the look of the kiddy pool...like some kind of toy or something. But it has to be funtional too, he has to be able to climb on it easily. Any ideas? Also, how often do you think I have to dump the pool if I have no filtration in it...and how can I keep mosquitos from laying eggs? (my mother was not too excited about the idea of a kiddie pool, mostly because she is afraid of mosquitos)

[mzkitty23]

well, i'm no expert about turtles yet, but i am about toys...lol. So, i was thinking maybe you could use LEGO's to build a basking spot, you could even stagger them up to the top, BUT I think they may float...but, if you gout the big legos, you could maybe put something heavy inside a few of them. I would think it would be really easy for your turtle to climb and to grip so it would be very fucntional as long as you could make it stationary. My son also has some colorful plastic bins that can be stacked that might work for something like that...so maybe the "organization" section of a store might have something that might work. What do you think of those?

As far as mosquitos...I don't know how mosquitos are there, but in Texas they are CRAZY, so I would have to put a screen over anything i built to keep them out and also would have to dump any pool EVERYDAY to keep them out, but that's just here, i don't know about other places.

[imderanged]

LEGOS! I LOVE that idea! ThanX. (I would only be using the pool for the turtle so maybe I could even glue it down w/ aquarium sillicone or something)
And yeah... I kinda live near a SWAMP so mosquitos are a problem here...

[mzkitty23]

No prob! I'm beginning to think we keep the same crazy hours, u and i! Let me konw how it goes with the outside pool!!

[Nettle]

I know that mosquitoes won't lay eggs in moving water. If you can get some sort of a pond waterfall, then that should work. Or if you get find something that would give the pond a current. I'm not sure what, though.

[sm02]

You know, turtles love mosquito larvae. That, and the water will be filtered, right? They can't live in a pool with a running filter (assuming your filter produces a current).

Just be careful with the water temp. Those things get boiling hot and will cook him alive.

As for basking, I'd stick with natural materials, like driftwood, but that's just me

[untsmurf]

I wouldn't use legos, they have really sharp edges. But you could look for one of those bucket type things kids use to make sand castles. They come in tons of different shapes, so see if you can find a flatter one.

[steve]

I was planning on using a cinder block with corkbark fastened to the top. However, I'm just letting the turts roam the lawn instead.

[mat012]

I was planning on using a cinder block with corkbark fastened to the top. However, I'm just letting the turts roam the lawn instead.

Hey Steve what do use use to keep them contained? Do you have a fence built? If so how what did you use?

[steve]

For the lawn, they have a huge "fence" made of heavy cardboard. The trick was to make it completely even because a determined turtle could push through a small opening and escape. Since it's cardboard, I can also arrange it's shape (circular, square, triangle) and just fold it up when I'm done.

I used to watch them from a window inside while I read or went online. Now I just set up a live wireless camera so I can view them when I'm inside on the PC.