Homemade turtle dock?

[krichardson]

Good for you....can't wait to see pictures.

 

[ScatMan]

bricks can cause belly sores which can get infected and kill your turtle pretty quick. after trying them all....

I did it by buying a piece of corkwood off of ebay (really cheap). It had to have a nice footprint, something the turtles could fit on, and one of the lengths had to be a little bit bigger than the width of the tank. Then, when it arrived, I cut off any excess, leaving it about a millimeter thicker than the width of the tank, and then wedged the corkwood between the front and back panes of glass. You can do it as high or low as you want, while the area beneath the dock is still accessible for swimming.

i did this exact same thing only i used a curved piece cork bark. it's soft, cheap, stays dry, looks good and the turtle can easily climb out onto it even with some fluctuation in the water level due to its curved shape.

like this.

 

[dre205]

That's why i was gonna cover them with tape so the wouldn't be so hard and rough edged. My friend is looking to get rid of his female red eared slider because she is quickly outgrowing her tank. My tank is bit enough for her now but I k ow eventually she will outgrow my 55. So I dnt know if I should take her or not.

 

[ScatMan]

that call is for you to make. personally, i wouldn't want someone else's problem to become my problem.

maybe (if you want to) you could take it until you can find it a better home, but i would start looking for a new home or a bigger tank immediately because res are very hard to rehome. it seems like there are dozens of these on craigslist at any given time. good luck!

 

[dre205]

ive kept the res before when my friend was on vacation. but shes mean and is a biter. i wanna friendly turle like a southern painted turtle. they stay small and would be perfect for my 55

 

[Vicious_Fish]

bricks can cause belly sores which can get infected and kill your turtle pretty quick. after trying them all....

I'm glad someone mentioned this. Bricks can be very abrasive to the shell. I agree with sticking to something like driftwood or cork bark. It's what I've always used with my water turtles.

 

[dre205]

I'll cover the bricks with about 2 or 3 layers of tape and round off the edges

 

[Creek_stomper]

I'll cover the bricks with about 2 or 3 layers of tape and round off the edges

You're solving the danger of the bricks by adding another possibly worse danger. You don't know what sort of affect the tape you're using is going to have on your turtle when it's exposed to water. And besides that, it's going to wear through eventually. Save yourself the money on tape and invest in a proper basking area.

Furthermore, yes, a basking spot has to be completely out of the water for basking species like painteds and RES. They can have serious complications without the ability to completely dry off.

Stick with the cork-bark, or just shell out the extra cash to get a turtle-dock or something similar.

And yes, Bob knows his sh**. And he'd agree with me 100%.

Josh

 

[puppy_wounder]

Actually, the bricks are heavier than water. Otherwise, they would float

No that means their less dense

 

[Joe M]

Actually, the bricks are heavier than water. Otherwise, they would float

No that means their less dense

Uh no. That means the bricks are MORE dense than water. Which also means that a brick is heavier than an identical volume of water.


I know this is an older thread, but since it was dug back up, I guess its worth sharing what I did with my tank. I have several small (2-4 inch SCL) turtles in a 100 gallon rubbermaid stock tank, and I bought a cheapo styrofoam cooler at walmart for like 4 bucks, and cut the lid to fit snug in the tank. Kinda like the cork bark thing, just cheaper and uglier. But it works great. I wouldn't recommend it on something you'll have to look at alot though.