Equipment Review and Discussion :: Turtle Dock Problems?

[tini]

I saw that platform at Petco and it seemed to weak to me so I bought a plastic one, and it floated fine but it was too slippery for my RES. But I saw a post on here where someone made one from a flower pot so I took that idea and mixed it with some rocks and stuff.

[steve]

as long as your turtle can easily climb onto it and completely dry off, i'll call it a basking platform!

[marisa]

A little imagination is good.

[tini]

I have to agree with Marisa. Imagination is really good. There are lots of pictures and ideas you can find on this site. I saw one where some one used a flower pot and turned that into a dock after some alteration. I made a dam. *grins*

[wendell]

After several attempts I finally came up with this and its working just great and doesn't take any of the swimming area away! I went to the local thrift store and found a piece of plastic (undergravel filter) that people put on the bottom of their fish tanks and cover with gravel (its about 11 inches square). I then "hung" it from the sides of the tank with thin poly rope, in two loops, one at the front and one at the back of the plastic "dock" and tied the ends of the ropes to 4 curtain hooks that hang over the top of the aquarium so that the dock suspends just above the water. I then topped the plastic with a 12 inch ceramic tile that weights it nicely and added a piece of cork (I think it was some kind of hot plate pad) tied with the poly to the underside of the plastic "dock" to act as a stepping stone. To top it all off, I added a cake rack so the turtles cant climb out. The whole thing is really easy to clean, looks pretty good and gives my (sons) two turtles lots of room to lounge. When my son comes to visit I will try to get a pic to post with his digital.

[marisa]

I've made suspended basking areas, and they've worked well. What you've done sounds like a clever solution to the basking area dilemna.

[sinbad]

mine doesnt float on its own

[Spookster]

Here is what I had done for my last tank. I buillt the basking platform out of PVC pipe which doesn't take away from their swimming area.

http://www.designqueue.com/photos/turtle/oldtank01.JPG

You can get creative and have some fun designing.

[sweetgarbage]

does it look like this one?

I have had the one above for over six months and I haven't had any problems with mine.

[wendell]

Hey, Steve, Curious about you jager heater. I just got one at a garage sale, havent tested it yet but it looks ok apart from not having any suction cups to attach to the side...what do you use to monitor the temp? Did you get a cover for the heater? I have one RES that is about 7 inches long so I'm thinking the cover would be a good idea. Also, am looking for advice on lighting...The 5.0 uvb reptisun looks good but what do you put it in and how do you set it up with the basking bulb thing???

[steve]

I don't use a heater guard, mainly because there is plenty of swimming space in my tank in addition the large basking area. However, if I ever caught my RES sleeping on it then I would use a guard.

The thermostat on my heater is fairly accurate, but I also have the sticker type thermometers to check the water temps. Those aren't as accurate as other kinds but they have worked OK for me.

[reptilegrrl]

I have had one of these for a couple of years now and it's working fine. The first one I bought, though, was broken in the box. So look it over carefully before putting it in the water.

I like the dock and will buy another one when I move Al to a bigger tub.

[nick99_1]

If you try www.hothouseturtles.co.nz they have some good platforms that are floating with suction on the side, they are easy for the turtles to climb on and my turtles love it.

[x3jobeccax3]

Ugh. I had that dock also. My RES isn't very bright and tried to attack it. A piece of this thing broke off right in his mouth! I almost died... I've switched to stacked rocks. If he can bite those apart, i have a bionic turtle. That's gotta be worth something on eBay.

[Jessica313]

i have one of those docks, and i havnt had any problems with it breaking or falling apart, but it does collect a LOT of algae and the other problem i had was my turtle used the plastic things to climb out of the tank and escape.. easily solved that problem by covering that area.. but id still like to warn you all to be careful of your turtle climbing out too!