Habitat - Indoor :: Tank Material

[DavidY]

There's a couple of ways to do it. you could use wooden slats (thin strips of wood about 1/2" thick and 3" to 4" wide) and surround the metal tank with those vertically lined up, almost like a barrel. Another way would be to use some nice plywood and box it in and then add some nice wood trim to the edges and corners.

I like Untsmurf's idea of lining it with a plastic liner. Then everyone would be happy!

[Theo's_Friend]

We were disscussing future plans of an indoor pond for Theo. I suggested instead of an expensive pond liner why not a rubbermaid bin, love that somewhere else had the same idea, guess I'm not crazy after all. It would be a huge cost saver and my boyfriend is a carpenter so I thought he could build a box around the bin and put some nice trim on it. We could fill around the bin with sand to support the bin and maybe some nice plants in the corners to fill it in. No one would even be able to tell it was a rubbermaid bin and Theo would have tons of space to swim.

[DavidY]

What size bin were you thinking of? The regular bins they sell at department stores usually only get up to 50 gallons. The big Rubbermaid stock tanks that they sell at grain and feed stores are up to 150 gallons but those are over $100 I think. I picked up a 120gal preformed pond at Lowes for only $69. I'm going to build something similar to what you describe for an indoor pond for my RES. I plan on having a kind of deck around the pond for the turtles to climb out on and bask too so they'll have more room to move around. The pond that I got looks like this...


oops! I guess it's only 100 gallons and the $69 price is only at our local store (it's $89 elsewhere). But the dimensions on it are pretty big, 79" x 55" x 18".

[BabyTurtleEver]

how on earth do you have space for something that huge in you house?!?

The more I think about it, the more I think outdoors is the only way to give Turtle the space he needs. No way can I fit a 120 gallon POND in my teeny house. Geeze...I'm off to read up on outdoor habitats

[DavidY]

I'm going to build it in my basement. I already have part of the basement setup as my herp room where I keep most of my reptiles so it should fit in nicely.

[sean rose]

i think if you get the big container you could always use pond liner to line it and you wouldnt have to worry about rust and all that jazz and ittl be more attractive to the eye to look in then all metal . and if your handry enuff you could make a wood box around the metal with a good shelf so you wont need abasking area within the water but around it .
http://www.redearslider.com/habitat_gallery.html
kinda liek something like the one in the indoor set up gallery but they have used a pre formed pond but its sorta the same idea mybe that might be another way to go at this you could build an inddor pond so to say g.
go out buy a preformed pond and build a wood box that you can sink it in but make sure you fully suport it other wise i belive they can crack and leak and nobody wants to deal with that

[BabyTurtleEver]

I liked the idea someone had up there, about filling the box corners (where the tub doesn't fill) with dirt and planting some plants. That'll look really nice!

[DavidY]

He he... BabyTurtleEver, I just read your mysteriouscaves blog. Totally hilarious! You're a very creative writer. I can't wait to read more!