Photo Gallery :: Above Tank Basking Area Complete (Lots of pics)

[grey goose]

From what you describe I'd say they are definitely interested, ("You go first." "No I ain't goin' first, you go first"........) give them some time, they'll figure it out.

[steve]

Hey Breigh, what are you using for the back of the tank? That gives it such a nice look to the tank

[Breigh]

The back of the tank is a rock structure background made by Juwel, the company that made my tank.

Update:


The turtles completely refused to use the basking area and I think we bought the plexiglas for the bottom part too thin. Since putting it on the tank it has started to bow in the middle, dipping downwards. So we've removed it and kept the structure around the edges but they have only the zoomed turtle dock to sit on at the moment to bask.

We are currently planning a new basking area. We will keep the 3 walls and the front plexiglas from the previous one but plan to make a permanent platform in the tank a little lower than the one before and of a different material. We are going to get a matching piece of the juwel background that we have in the back of our tank and silicone it into one side of our tank. It will be approx 1.5 inches lower than the current platform which hopefully will make them not feel as exposed as they were feeling before.

This will block off a fair bit of the light but I plan to get those little pond spotlights for in the bottom corner of the tank to shine some light up into the dark area.

We'll be sorting it this weekend so I'll have new pics soon!

[grey goose]

Oh well, the lengths we go to, the hoops we jump thru, to keep our little (insert profane name here) is just endless, doncha think?

[Breigh]

Ok well we've changed our basking area somewhat, since they weren't using the other area and it the plexiglas was getting bent.

We found an rock aquarium background that we liked and thought would look nice with the background we have on the above structure. The Juwel background we planned on using was far too thick.

Here are some photos of the newer area, we put it on the other side of the tank, not sure why hehe

Oh and don't mind the weird spot the basking light is shining on, I hit the light by mistake when I was moving the UV light unit and pointed it wonky but didn't notice until I was sorting the pics

Photos of the whole thing:




You can see one of my turts (Radar) below in this one, to give an idea of their size in comparison (both turts are almost exactly the same size)


Here you can see the texture of the platform:




The ramp was attached to the middle bar using plastic tie wraps (if you look closely you can see them towards the top of the ramp)
It floads so the end of the ramp will always be level with the surface of the water.


A photo taken from inside. You can see the lighting setup in this one (even though I moved the basking light by mistake) I have a long Arcadia UV bulb in my juwel lighting system across the entire length of the tank as well)


The best part ... The basking area has been on for a total of 4 hours and just 5 minutes ago I looked over and....

THERE WAS BASKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Radar was up on the basking area with legs spread basking his little heart out. I, in my excitement, slowly got up to try to take a pic and he jumped off. Hopefully I haven't ruined it forever! I'm staying away from it until they are good and comfortable and THEN I'll have the pics!

Wish me luck people, if they don't use this one properly I'm going to cry very very bitter tears of a disappointed turtle lover!

[steve]

Good luck... and that looks great too! Are you going to put some of that bark back in? It looked nice in the other pic, plus they can use it to get a little closer to the heat

[Breigh]

I might but I dunno... I don't know what it is about the bulb in that thing but it's a 40w spotlight bulb and it's hellishly hot. Even with how it's sitting there, right under it it's about 35 degrees C.

I worry that I'll bake them if I put anything there for them to get closer to the light on!

[grey goose]

That is a very beautiful basking ramp, I'm sure before long they will be using it regularly whether you are watching them or not.....I've also noticed my acrylic ramp sags slightly, but not enough to have me worried. All three are basking, but I soon as I try to get a pic, they all take the plunge! I think it may be because of the width across the inside of the tank, or the heat from the lamp.

[Breigh]

Yay, we have basking!! 100% up on the basking area turtle yoga basking!!

I'm a very happy camper!

[N4784N R4613]

Alright!!! It only took two days for them to bask?!? Wow, lucky. I wonder how long it will take my guys (or girls) to start basking on there new basking spot.

[Breigh]

Yup one of them seems to like to bask right at the top of the ramp but the other one was fully up on the basking platform. It seems to be going much much better than our other platform. I think they just really hated the plexiglas. I won't try to make a basking platform out of it again.

[g29w]

What kind of material is the basking ramp?

[Breigh]

It's a textured rock aquarium background. I think it was made by someone here in the Netherlands but I'm not sure who. I found it at our local pet store and it only had a price on it, no brand name or anything.

[Breigh]

I had a look at my pet shop today to see what the platform is made of.

It's made by a company called 'Back to Nature' and it's the Slimline line of aquarium backing.

You can see their website at http://www.backtonature.se/english/slimline.html

[steve]

Thanks! I've found a couple of places that make them for the north american market, but they don't seem as nice... I'll keep on looking