Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've been struggling with setting up a basking area for two RES in a 55 gal. tank. Previously I've had a stack of big rocks leading up to the top, but I became concerned about how much their shells scraped on the hard rocks. So I removed most of the rocks and put in a floating thing that they used when they were smaller. But they don't like it at all and now aren't basking. I was hoping some of you would describe your setups so I could get ideas.
Thanks!

A plastic ramp that has these green runners allowing them something to grip. They have several sizes available I got the biggest one they had cause I have two. It is in a 40 gallon tank. They really seem to love it Sorry about the blur, but they like to bask in private and use it as a diving board if they know I'm about.

What size of turtle to you have using that ramp? I wasn't really able to get a good idea from the picture. I'm getting ready to upgrade to a bigger tank, and I'm starting to look for basking platform ideas.

Both turtles are under 4 inches. I bought the large reamp seeing as I need extra basking space for the second turtle and also to prevent overbuying basking spots. I took a picture with a (10"x7 1/2"magazine so you could get a size reference.

Where did you get that ramp? URL - Store name?
Thanks.

That is a cool ramp--I bet your turtles love it. I've seen the ramp, or something like it, in catalogs but I couldn't figure out how it worked because the ramp is shown on the floor of the tank and that certaintly won't do for a real turtle set up. Thanks for taking the time to make the pictures.
MaryC

I use the same things. I recently upgraded from small to a medium. Not too expensive. You can find them at
http://www.herpsupplies.com and http://www.drsfostersmith.com/ as well as some local pet stores.

I've also constructed some ramps using tupperware. (not my idea but someone else on the forum). A flat or rectangular piece serves at the basking area. It can either be suspended with some fishing wire or with suction cups. I went to a crafts store and bought some suction cups. Then drilled into the plastic lid to create holes for the suction cups. Finally I stuck them on the tank. You can try to create ramps in a similar fashion with other pieces of tupperware.

I am sure others have had success with wood, etc.

there are lots of ways to go:

i use large sheets of bark and wedge them in between the glass soemtimes.
i have also affixed suction cups to various pieces of wood and used them to stick the wood to the side of the tank.

In one tank i have a large (3 foot long) cork bark hollow which floats freely (the turtles can get under, on top, and in this thing).

You might also try those foam rubber basking spots that pet shops sell (these come with suction cups attached they do not have abrasive surfaces).

Then there's the "upside down plastic storage" box idea, which as the name say just involves finding one which is just a tad wider than your tank (a 55 is about 12 inches wide on the inside)and wedging it in.

You might also consider a filled plastic stirage box of greater size. Fill it with stones or soil or large smooth gravel and keep the water level just below it. The draw back with this one is that you loose the space under the basking site.

I have also used large tree branches and logs from outside (sterilized in oven first) which were sufficiently big that they could be angled so as to be anchord in the gravel and still stick out of the water.

At garden stores you can get circular pieces of cork bark used to support potted plants indoors. These could be fashioned into basking spots with some ingenuity (and maybe the aforementioned suction cups)

I once built a basking site but drilling holes in several pieces of platic garden edging and some plastic storage box TOPS. I used screws and nuts to hold them togther.

I had a friend you siliconed in a piece of plexiglass at a right angle to the wall of his tank. She used some small wooden dowls to give it extra support. It enede up looking like a shelf in her tank.

Go to a home improvemnet store if there is one nearby and just wander around. You will see all sorts of possibilities.

Thanks for your reply. Some questions: Can I use any solid piece of wood that I find outside? How long and at what temp do I steralize it in the oven? What about cork? Is it ok to get this from places other than a petstore?

I would think getting it at a petstore would be the best thing. Other items might have chemical sprays on them and seeing as wood is porous it would make me nervous for my turtles. I use the 5% bleach solution allowing the basking item to soak. Then using clean water I soak them again. Then let them dry out in the sun till I'm sure there isn't any chemical left. Good luck!

Well, in theory, you should avoid any coniferous tress or or hardwoods with "aromatic resins" cedar, pine, fir (some people even worry about redwood) but i think after it soak a very long time there is probably little worry (though i have no research to back that up). I have used the bark of lots of kinds of trees. Oak seems to be thickest though. I put them in the oven, wrapped in aluminium foil for about an hour at 200 degrees. It certainly kills most insects and i think iy likely to kill many molds, fungi, and bacteria.

Stuff in pet stores is okay except some IS made from cedar (very bad) and many have staples in them in weird places.

the best place to get cork bark is
the cork store
but many pet stores sell it too.
Any bark you use will discolor you water (red or yellow) and to avoid this, i get a big bucket , fill it with warm (90 degrees F) water and put in the bark.
I let it sit 20 min to an hour and then dump the water. Then i repeat. It takes about 5 applications of this process for most stuff i find out side and about 10 - 15 for cork bark.

i used to have a log in there and it floated them, untill they got too heavy........now i have a fake log (man made that is) and i trap the bottom down with big rocks, so it cant go anywhere.........it sticks out of the water, providing them something to swim through, and bask in, and it looks cool because it looks natural.......like a log.........you can also take a piece of corkboard and screw in a hook on each side. Then take the hooks, and run them through a suction cup, and stick it on the side of your tank......hope this helps.....kevin

see http://gavush.tripod.com/ziggy I have one of those fake rocks you stick to the side of the tank with suction cups and I cut a slit in it and hot-glued a piece of plexi glass as a ramp and made hot-glue bars on the plexi for traction (sand it first) and she LOVES the log.. just floats around on it as the current from the filter moves it aroud.

I looked at your link--you have a great setup. I have one of those fake floating rocks and that is what they didn't like but it is probably because they can't get up on it easily. I like your ramp idea.
I have a question about the log--will it serve as a basking area or does it always turn upside down? Is being in the water causing it to rot?
Thanks,
Mary