General Care Discussion :: Help with basking

[raulito_b]

I moved my RES to a new bigger 55 gallon tank and got a Turtle Topper for him to bask on, http://goo.gl/6TgCq. Well he has been happily swimming around but i can't get him to go basking. Its been a week now and I don't know if he is too scared to go up the ramp or what. I did notice that the enclosure moves when he tries to go up the ramp and that might be what was scaring him but I went ahead and secured it tighter with some cushion so it doesn't move. Should I be worried about this as maybe he is still getting used to the new tank or is there a way to entice him into the basking area?

Thanks!

[devilduck]

You can try leaving food up there and on the ramp. Generally it takes a while for turtle to get used to changes in their environment. Give him a couple more weeks.

[raulito_b]

Thanks! I put a carrot up there see if he notices it and climbs up.

[Brokensky]

Here is my situation:

We had two Zoo Med Turtle Dock. We had to removed them since one of my Turtle would chew on the edge of it and rip chunks of Styrofoam. We replace it with Cork that has been rinsed repeatedly. One of the turtle, Mertyle would start to get aggressive toward the other one, Koopa. Every time Koopa would go on, Mertyle would try to push him off, climb on top of Koopa or purposely go back in the water so Koopa would go back in also. A few times I noticed whenever Mertyle is on first and Koopa goes on, he doesn't do anything. So we separated the cork; we have two pieces slanted on each corner. Mertyle seems to enjoy it. It took him a few days to adjust to the change but he seems to enjoy one of them. Koopa on the other hand, I've seen him going on it once or twice since the change. Whenever he does go on; he doesn't stay long. I believe the longest I've seen him on it was an hour. I predict he goes on whenever I am not home.. I want to know what I can do to make Koopa go on?!

Any suggestion is greatly appreciated

[steve]

How big is the dock?