DIY basking platform ideas

deeleywoman

deeleywoman

All men are equal before fish.
Mar 9, 2009
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Newport News, VA
www.etsy.com
i'm wanting to build something at the end of my turtle's tank for him to bask on. he's outgrown the floating logs and platforms i've bought for him over the last year or so; he's too heavy for them and they aren't buoyant enough to hold him completely out of the water so he can completely dry off when he basks. what i'd ideally like to achieve is something that sits firmly on the bottom of the tank so his weight doesn't push it down, slopes down from the top or front so that he can climb up on it even if the water's lower than usual from evap, and maybe something that provides him a hiding place underneath so i don't have to use space elsewhere in the tank for hidey-holes. i have thought both of buying several small pieces of driftwood and building them into a pile with a sort of cave underneath, and of carving something out of some sort of foam. i'm really not sure which route to go- or if there's a better one i've not yet discovered. it needs to take up as little room as possible as i want him to have as much swimming room as he can get. i may also try to grow moss or some other plant in or on the platform or its base.

i'm totally open to ideas and suggestions from those of you who've done this before :D
 
here's what i have going atm- it was kinda just thrown together cuz i wanted to take out the floating log and give him something to get him completely out of the water with whatever i had on hand. i've piled up the rocks from around his tank on top of an old hidey-hole log he doesn't fit in anymore and placed a piece of driftwood on top. i'd love to use this piece of driftwood in the final arrangement; i bought it before i ended up with a turtle, intending to use it in an all-invert tank that never came to be because scooter ended up in this tank.

the tank is a 30 gal long, and about 11.5" deep. scooter is currently about the size of my hand, so i'd say he's about 5 or 6 inches from nose to tail, and about 4" across- and likely to continue growing. (i know that he's getting big for this tank; i'm trying to figure out where in my house i can put a bigger tank, or how i can rearrange my landscaping to put in a pond.)

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exact same thing as which thing? XD
 
i remember seeing that one, cellodaisy. dunno where the heck i could find slate like that, let alone how much it would cost lol

......i have some rocks i brought back from a friend's family home in the mountains.... could i clean that and pile it up in his tank? >.>
 
deeleywoman said:
i remember seeing that one, cellodaisy. dunno where the heck i could find slate like that, let alone how much it would cost lol
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I got mine for free. They were pulled off an old barn roof or something. I just posted a want ad in my local Freecycle for slate, and someone gave me several boxes of the stuff. If you want some and can't find any locally, I'd be happy to send you some for the price of shipping. If you are interested, let me know how much you want and what sizes and I'll let you know what the shipping would be. The whole slates are about 10"x16" if I remember correctly (which would not fit in any of the flat-rate Priority boxes and would have to be shipped by weight), but there are lots of smaller partial pieces as well.
deeleywoman said:
......i have some rocks i brought back from a friend's family home in the mountains.... could i clean that and pile it up in his tank? >.>
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You certainly could, but you should "glue" them together with silicone or cement to make sure the pile doesn't collapse. You might also want to test the rocks to make sure they're inert. You can do that by pouring acid on them and seeing if they fizz. Some say vinegar works for this, others say vinegar isn't strong enough and recommend a stronger acid. I think I saw one recommendation of using the "pH down" stuff (which is generally useless, but is a fairly strong acid that's easy to find). Whatever you decide to do, good luck!
 
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