Habitat - Indoor

homemade above tank basking platform, not finished yet

make sure that mesh is high enough
seem spretty easy for a turtle to climb

Thanks for the feedback but I did double the height of the black screening (which is actually a plastic gutter guard) to make sure my RES can't climb out. He's tried already but since is has a little give to it he can't get his footing and becomes scared and goes back into the water

Looks nice. Did he go up there himself? He will eventually climb out of that... sooner than you think. They're persistent buggers

Partially done ATBA

Old basking area

Currently setup

Shadow getting better

Almost complete

haha that list pic is great. Basking areas look good guys! I got in a fight with my egg crate one.. and I lost. I spray painted it black and it was looking good but it just didnt work out

. I measured wrong or something.

Hi I'm new to the turtle community but I've combed over this site page for page. I got a RES (Booger) and a yellow bellied (Snot) both hatchlings not more than a month or two old.

Heres their current set up. I'm working on building them a much bigger one as I know they will out grow this one eventually, but for now they seem to get along well here.

This is Turbo in his 20 gallon long tank. He's about a year old.

I made the above tank basking area out of plywood for the sides and back. The bottom is made of plexiglass. if you're scared of cracking and breaking plexiglass dont be. you can keep cutting lines with a razor blade and literally break off the excess. the plywood and plexiglass were just laying around. i bought a sheet of acrylic from home depot for i think $1 maybe $2. The base of the topper and the ramp are actually two separate pieces. i heated the acrylic with a butane lighter to bent it to the angle i desired, and actually used high grade velcro from home depot as well to attach the acrylic to the plexiglass. Then the aquarium carpet was the most expensive piece, about $8 from petsmart. i hot glued the carpet to the plexiglass and the acrylic sheet and cut away the excess and tadaa. custom turtle topper.

the light is a Zilla combination dome i got from petco on clearance for $17, usually $70! it has the heat lamp in the middle and a single 7" coil uvb light. supposed to be for desert but it seems to be ok.

some plain river rock. the other rocks are actually rainbow slate i picked up from Richmond Aquarium here in virginia. great knowledgeable staff. they literally know everything about everything in their store. they specialize in saltwater but have just about everything you could possibly need as far as supplies for freshwater.

let me know what you think. ps im ready to upgrade to a 40 gallon breeder and i've only had this setup for about 2 months. turbo used to be in a 10gallon with one of those floating docks. worst invention ever.

jidmb18c---Awesome setup! I would love to have something like that for my turtle. You should post more pictures of it

How much total did it cost you? Not including the light lol. You did a really great job! I'm sure Turbo loves it!

jidmb18c : Very clever way of making a simple basking area. I like it a lot I might make something similar to that for the new tank I'm gonna get.

the wood and single sheet of plexi glass were basically free. but i suppose i could have used the acrylic for the base and the ramp. it's pretty sturdy. and also an option is like i did to recess it into tank so i didnt have to worry about building a cage around the top to prevent escapes or accidents

acrylic sheets were i believe around $2 maybe cheaper.
3M brand velcro was about $4
Aquarium carpet from petsmart is $8 (terrarium/reptile section)
screws and other misc items like the hot glue i already had, free

Around $15- $30 would get it done. like i said most supplies i already had.

Finally, completed ATBA!!!!!!

1st time sharing

1. 135 Gallon Tank

2. Bubbles

3. White Platform

4. Turtle Dock Platform (large)

5. Inside the basking area (soil and vermiculite mixture)

Solie wrote:Here is an updated picture after adding some decorations.

Solie! That is an amazing setup. I have been wanting to build a similar basking platform for a while now and you have just inspired me to get going

Thanks for the step by step tutorial. I was just wondering if you had any tips or anything I should particularly look out for while building this. Also, have you encountered any problems with water damage on the wood...?

Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks in advance!

Cheers!

Habitat - Indoor :: POST YOUR BASKING AREA PICTURES HERE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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