Habitat - Indoor :: home-made basking area??? ideas needed!

[matildatheturtle]

Matlilda's just too big and too heavy for the zoo-med large dock. She gets on it and half of the dock becomes submerged. I've been brainstorming ways of building her a sufficient dock. Does anybody have any suggestions? I have tried gluing containers under the dock to add some bouyancy but that's not working out. I'm currently thinking of finding a suitable sized driftwood and somehow mounting it to the tank. This is for a 70 gal Rubbermaid stock tank so keep in mind the rounded edges and the slight angle of the tank sides. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!!!

[Starchick]

Depending on your water level, I've seen people just cut a plank of wood to size and lay it across the grooves in the middle of the tank, which seemed to work.

[holidae]

Pito posted this.

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12480

The design looks simple enough, but looks good in application. I can see something like this easily pulled off on a rubbermaid.

[N4784N R4613]

I think for a RubberMaid your best bet is a piece of cork bark. It is safe for turtles, and VERY buoyant. Here is where you can get a piece...
http://www.blackjungle.com/Merchant2/me ... ry_Code=C3

[marisa]

I second a nice corkbark curve (not a flat piece).

[Starchick]

How does the corkbark work? Do you just throw it in there and let it float around, or do you have to secure it to anything?

[thegrandpoohbah]

How about getting another Zoomed dock and just stacking them one on top of the other on one set of rails? That should be buoyant enough.

[SpotsMama]

Corkbark works real well and turtles love it - it seems to feel natural to them. You need to anchor it to something. Someone on here said they cut it to just the width of the tank and then wedged it between the walls of the tank. You can probably come up with other ways to do it.

On stacking a couple of zoo med docks, I actually did that and it worked really well. I cut one of the docks up and siliconed the pieces to the bottom of the other dock to give it buoyancy.

[matildatheturtle]

I know it was a long time ago that I posted this, but just wanted to say thanks to all the great ideas. I think I'll try Starchick's idea of the wood going across the middle of the tank. It seems like a practical method and that should get Matilda up high and dry! Thanks again all! I'll get back with the outcome.

[Cramer]

I've made a million of 'em. Here's the best: most stable, functional and clean.


You can use any (safe) base; wood, plexiglass, resin decoration.
-Drill 4 hole on each side and use...the magic product-black rubber coated wire hangers! Cut to size and shape. Run it underneath for support and each end goes through the opposite hole. I have them bent over the sides of the tank, underneath the screen which fits right over them.
-You can counter-balance and length each side accordingly.

Black ones are like gold to me. I buy them whenever I see them, because it's hard to find black and I have had to use blue and white in the past

Hope that helps!