Habitat - Indoor :: ramps and docks

[jar3d]

tango at this point does not have the greatest basking area. i see these floating docks everywhere and see them in most of peoples setup pics, however everybody says turtles eat the styrofoam. are hatchlings prone to doing this as well or is it mainly the older turtles who are eating machines that go after the docks...
what would be a better alternative?
right now he has a big bridge with the top that peeks out of the water but i just do not think it is close enough (i know it would be better if i had pictures) to the lamps... hence why i would love to use the floating docks so i can increase the water level and give him a better basking area.
ty in advance

[Kai.]

If you're building your own, and you want it to just float, you could probably make it out of cork. I'm not sure on this though because I am new to this turtle thing afterall. It would be best if you had someone else confirm this before doing it

[jar3d]

can you elaborate/clarify?

[asemilla]

i got shermen three diffrent ones to try....he likes the corner one the best....i also have a zoomed one and a floating log....he hasnt tried eating any of them.

[SpotsMama]

I've used the zoo med floating dock for three years and Spot likes it a lot. It comes in three sizes and floats up and down with the level of the water.

If you decide to go with the zoo med dock come back to this site and do a "search" on it to get information on how to make it safe for your turtle.

[Pizza]

My turtles only bite the dock when food has floated over next to it, and they end up having more than just a pellet or leaf in their mouths. This is especially common if your food (usually the pellet variety) is the nearly the same color as the dock, the pellets I'm using now are beige-like, sandy-yellow, like the dock, so it happens.

[d0eb0y]

Ive read stories about turtles eating the dock because they were craving calcium and possibly some of the stuff in the dock must have some in it. If you do get a dock and u notice he is eating it just throw some cuttlebone in the tank and he will eat that when he is craving it.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Try one of these acrylic docks that attach with suction cups.



Ignore the algae.....the area is right under the lamp & I clean it regularly. The only thing I have noticed about this dock is that it may start to slide down the wall (due to a bit of algae in the water), especially if your turtle is as heavy as mine is (4.4 lbs). Notice I put a heavy duty 2-piece magnetic algae scraper underneath it. The sliding is no longer a problem & Sheba basks daily.

The dock is the extra large size & I bought it online from that Dr. Foster's website.

[jar3d]

i have seen that one on some website that i would have loved to buy but since i have the pleasure of living in canada a lot of those sites will not ship to me. anyway i am going out on a lamp/ramp outing after work...

[Pizza]

Try looking at pet shops around town, I saw the exact same dock in multiple sizes at this one particular pet store (an independent pet superstore in my city), but I decided against it, since I had multiple turtles and the basking platform seemed to take up space.

If you have one or small turtles, it's a sturdy looking dock, I would have bought it.

Try smaller pet shops, the large pet chains may not necessarily carry these specific items (mine didn't). And try PetSmart.com, they ship to Canada, as well as other popular sites commonly visited on this site.