Habitat - Outdoor :: Help with outdoor housing

[Debbiec903]

Hi everyone. I'm new to this forum and in search of some help. I have had my res for about 6 years now. Now that my turtle is a little bigger, and I have some extra space in my yard i was attempting to build a small temporary home for her. I say temporary being i do have her housed indoors in a 55 gallon tank at the moment, but now that the weather is warming up, i would love to be able to have her outside getting the sun when the family is outside.

As you can see it's nothing too fancy, just a kiddie pool and an egg crate basking area at the moment, with a vinly lattice fence around. (I did check, her shell is way to big to fit through the holes of the lattice) I am only planning to keep her outdoors in this inclosure while we are outside to supervise her, so only for a few hours a day, weather permitting. So now that i went through the boring background info, my questions...

- Is it ok to not have a filter in the kiddie pool? I was planning to dump the pool and change the water daily whenever she will be in there
- I saw a few people that made egg crate docks/ramps glued river stones to cover the hard egg crate. What is a safe "glue" to use for that.
- Also i know i need to make a ramp from the inside of the pool to the docking area, is there anyone can recommend instead of egg crate?

This is my first time making something like this, any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[Jeremiah]

If you're dedicated enough to rinse/refill that pool daily, then you don't need a filter.

You can just lay down a couple of Zilla terrarium liners on the basking area, maybe with a piece of cork bark or some light-colored slate if you're feeling generous. The liners are easy to hose off, and they warm up well. Plus, you won't have to fiddle with glue and rocks.

Since the kiddie pool is pretty shallow, you can probably just buy a piece of mopani wood and a couple of spare ceramic tiles, and stack them (tiles under wood) next to the pool's edge. She should be able to climb from that structure on to your basking area.

[steve]

What's the height of the pool? There are some pre-made resin basking areas that are out there that might be suitable.