Habitat - Indoor :: polystyrene as basking area?

[Deon]

What do you think about using polystyrene as a basking area? is it harmful to the turtle in anyway? (i plan to use it like wood so the turtle can climb up)
thanks!

[papoopeepoo]

as long as the turtle doesn't try and eat his basking area, which could be likely, polystyrene should be fine.

just keep a close eye on your buddy the day of and few days following his new arrangement, that's when it's most likely he'll check it out by tasting it.

is your material foam or is it more solid?

[steve]

Is that like Styrofoam? Then I'd say don't use it.

[Deon]

@ papoopeepoo: I'm not sure what you mean by foam but pieces do break off if i try to break them so i guess the turtle might bite it. I tried covering the sides and edges but i guess it won't work.
@ steve: yeah its like styrofoam i think
thanks alot! i guess i wont use it then.

[Chrisbarnett]

Yeah if it breaks that easily when you try to break it, I wouldn't use it.

[marisa]

Since it can break or crumble easily, I'd avoid it in favor of something else.

[grem89]

you could use polystyrene if you epoxied and fiberglassed the outside. It would be a rock hard finish and would still float. You could make any shaped dock this way. You can find articles all over the internet about epoxy resins and fiberglassing foam.

[joeybsmooth]

I would not use it. If it can be eaten by your turtle .

[Deon]

thanks for all the opinions!!
@grem: ty for that idea but i'm no good at those kinds of things and i don't know where its sold in shanghai.
i guess ill just stay away from the polystyrene altogether. ty again

[grem89]

ive done some fiberglassing over top of foam with model building. If there are big hardware stores in shanghai im pretty positive they would have fiberglass cloth and epoxy. It really is simple. You mix the epoxy (it comes in two parts) and then take a paintbrush, and lay the cloth over top the foam and then "paint" on the epoxy. You could stand on that turtle dock when your finished. Epoxy and fiberglass cloth are really cheap also. People use this same method for constructing huge plywood aquariums. The epoxy dries to a rock hard finish and is aquairum safe. The guys over at http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com use this method all the time. Here's a really cool example of what they can do with plywood, epoxy and fiberglass. http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45035&highlight=black+tip+shark

[Deon]

cool thanks! sounds really good - the aquarium in the link is amazing.
I'll go looking for fiberglass and epoxy in a couple of weeks after my exams are done.