Habitat - Indoor :: New Home for the babes

[nodnarb85]

Everything is almost finished. The stand and aquarium are set up. All that is left to do is finish the basking area. Here are some pics...

















Let me know what you think and if you have any ideas for a surface for the basking area PLEASE let me know.

[Tenodera]

Oooh awesome big tank!! But I think the turtles would appreciate it if you added some more plastic plants, rocks, any sort of stimulation. Just swimming around in a glass thing sounds awfully boring.

Great job on the filter and tank, though

[Safdar]

Wow
That stand looks so professioanl and stylish
Good Job!
I agree with kevin
But i dont think your done right?
so ya

Add some pics of the final thing when your done
It looks really good

[camee1991]

That is soo beautiful! You are so constructive!
In my opinion...I think you should make Coney a bed in the bottom shelf....

[DavidY]

Looks awesome! You're really good with the wood work!

I can tell you that I tried using a giant ceramic tile for my above tank basking area. It looks nice but I think it's way too hard a surface for the turtles. When the little guys get spooked they start running like Fred Flinstone with their legs flailing wildly but not going anywhere and their bodies just hopping up and down on the tile like crazy. They frantically turn this way and that until they finally get enough traction and then they'll keep running around until they fall over the edge into the water. It's actually funny to watch but I know it's not the best arrangement for them. I'm looking into getting a big piece of cork bark for their basking platform and securing that to the rim of the tank with some sloping pieces going into the water for them to climb up on. I think it will be much more natural looking and comfortable for them.

[nodnarb85]

Like I said above It is not finished and I will leave the decorating to my wife..lol I'm just the builder. I still need to find an aquarium background like breigh's to use for the basking area. I looked at 7 different places around town and all over the internet but couldn't find anything for the US market...I also looked into corkbark today but was amazed at how expensive it was to get the size I need to cover the area. I had the hardest time building this thing too. We just moved to FL so I have no power tools what so ever, just a drill, so all the cuts you see were made with a hand saw...not so easy, so its not exactly perfect in some places, but it'll do. This was also the first thing that I really built entirely by myself. My dad was always there to help but he's still in PA.

and Coney sleeps wherever he pleases..haha

He's a bad boy. We've had him for about a month now and we've already lost 2 plants because of him. He also likes to sit on top of the aquarium and watch the turtles. He'll learn eventually.

[DavidY]

There's a really nice website called http://www.blackjungle.com and they sell both cork bark and 3D foam backgrounds for aquariums. Here's a link to the backgrounds (they're a bit pricey but look really cool)...http://www.blackjungle.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=BJTS&Category_Code=B

[untsmurf]

I was reading over some of the posts about the basking areas being too hard with tile. And I got an idea, you'll have to bear with me as it's late and I'm trying very hard to organize my thoughts Okay, there are these bath mat type things that I come across in stores, I think they are used to stop you from falling when you're feet are wet. They're most identifying feature is they are shaped like big feet. I think they are made out of some sort of foam and some have holes in them. So I was thinking that you could attach that to a two dollar tile as a basking surface, that way the turts have something to grip to and the surface won't be hard enough to hurt them. If this is a dumb idea, then don't worry about saying so, my feeling won't be hurt

[nodnarb85]

I actually bought some of that foam cabinet shelf liner to try something similar to that but we'll see what happens.