Reptile & Amphibian Forums

sorry, I don't frequently read these boards so I just saw your post and figured I'd give some feedback

For my tank I wanted to use full tank for water area and then suspend platform above it so it doesn't take from water area. I only have a 40 gallon so i wanted it to be 40 gallons of water.

So I put together wooden top (yey for home depot) and suspended cork bark from it. Just in case Hissy gets little too anxious and wants to eat my cat I also put up a "cage" to block him from leaving basking area. I just bought one of metal shelves in home depot and sawed it in 2. I put silicone on rough ages in case he ever reached it so that he doesn't get hurt.

It was very easy to build (if I can, anyone can ) and it's easy to slip on and off during cleaning.

Here's pic of how it looked a year ago, I got rid of plastic plant thing after a bit (actually I just dip little bit of it in so fish have somewhere to hide) and I fill it all the way to top
Rest of pics are in

http://www.bastaic.com/tank/

tank1*.jpg pics are turtle tank

that's very cool but honestly with the things i have seen turtles do i would be very worried he could get out and end up falling to the floor. I'd extend the "cage" part way beyond where the basking platform actually is.

I agree. My RES is crazy. She tries so hard to get out of the tank that once in a while she flips herself over on the basking area where she can't turn back over. Really is crazy. My turtle really is a freak. She swims for hours each day in one corner of the tank. She just swims and swims and swims in the corner, can't go anywhere but that corner and just swim. And not like swimming around the tank in that corner, I mean her thinking she's gonna swim out of the tank if she keeps swimming in that one corner.

You could make a tall hood. The one in this photo was on my 55 gallon. I believe it was 1x8 or 1x10. Just build it so it fits on the outside of the tank, and attach angle braces so it sits on top of the tank. This one was my first attempt, so its pretty simple. Im currently working on one for my 120 gal which will be made of 1/2" plywood. It will be 12" tall in the back, and have a slant plexiglass windowed lid in the front. My hatchling will love it.

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Thanks for the advice. I have a floating cork bark basking area but one of my turtles is constantly trying to bite pieces of it off. It is making the tank really dirty with debris, so I will try to use something else. Your tank looks great!