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So I finally upgraded my turtles tanks filtration so the water is filtered over 35 times per hour, resulting in crystal clear odorless water for weeks (although I still do bi-weekly partial water changes). But ever since I added a new basking platform (Exo-Terra Turtle Bank, great platform btw, turtles loves it) my room started to stink a little, I was confused at first but I finally figured out that they been urinating a lot on the platform... With the hot basking light on the urine it starts to stink rather quick, is it normal for turtles to poop and urinate on land (not so much poop though, didn't see much solids)? Has anyone had the same problem, if so is the only solution to just suck it up and scrub and rinse the the platform every week?

My second question is about stacking... normally when my two turtles stack its usually the smaller one (4') on top of the bigger one (6') but recently they swapped places the big guys always on top now, now I know stacking is normal but with a heavier turtle on top of a smaller one is it bad for the smaller ones health?

Thanks in advance for any help you guys can provide!

taijiangah wrote:the water is filtered over 35 times per hour

Wow! It must be like a blender! J/K - I assume that was a typo...

taijiangah wrote:I finally figured out that they been urinating a lot on the platform...

I 've never run into this problem, but I have one turtle in particular that likes to do her business when I put her in a bucket to do some cleaning.

Why does it stink SO BAD when it's on dry land?

While I've never had one make a habbit of going on the basking dock, if I did become aware of such a thing, I'd wash off that basking dock. I'd just pull it out, rinse it with hot water in the laundry sink, and put it back.

taijiangah wrote:My second question is about stacking... normally when my two turtles stack its usually the smaller one (4') on top of the bigger one (6') but recently they swapped places the big guys always on top now, now I know stacking is normal but with a heavier turtle on top of a smaller one is it bad for the smaller ones health?

I've seen this with mine too - I've seen them stack with the bigger sometimes on the bottom and other times on the top. I've never really worried about an issue from the turtles weight. They don't seem to mind at all.

I haven't noticed their urine to have any particular odor. I've previously dry docked my turtle for a week and never noticed any smell from urine. Could it be heat affecting the basking dock?


@ TurtleKeeper48, I agree about the stacking, it should be fine. The pooping in the bucket is from the stress from being in a smaller, confined area.

Your sure its from the dock? No matter how strong a filter you get... The funk will still be there. Not as strong, but it will still be there.

Try pouring warm water on the dock everyday and see if that helps.