All Turtles Message Board

Fred_and_George · Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 12:15 pm Post subject: What to use as a ramp

Okay, so I am trying to build my turtles a two level tank area with the second level as a basking area. my only problem is that i cant find anything that works as a ramp. i have tried wood, but they couldnt get a good enough grip on it. any thoughts about using those big flat lego platforms? any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.
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Jdude101 · Level 3 Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 191 Location: Georgia

could you make it less steep? then they could get up to wwood

Fred_and_George · Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 2:51 pm Post subject:

the only problem with making the ramp less steep is that i have a wire reptile cover on the top of the tank with two little openings, one of which i plan on keeping open to allow them access to the basking area. because of this, raising the water level to make the ramp less steep would mean that the amount of space between the cover and the ramp would greatly decrease, and they cant get up then, either.
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Jdude101 · Level 3 Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 191 Location: Georgia

well they sell grip sstuff, but i dunno about the lego thing, would it help?

ryanandsuzyro · Level 3 Joined: 19 Nov 2006 Posts: 207

Few different options...

1) Buy a floating basking platform that attaches with suction cups. It will rise or sink with your water. I've had good success with the Zoo Med brand (http://www.zoomed.com/html/docks.php). I'm on their medium size right now... Be careful. I bought a different brand but it did not have a sufficient "ramp" for the turtle to get up, it was very sad to see him struggle. A good pro is that these platforms take up no water space, only resting on the surface.

The current one is doing well, but Tucker is getting heavier and thus starting to sink it... but it'll be fine for a while. After that, I will be moving to ...

2) Plexi-glass.

Now my friend had real glass cut to size, which he siliconed into the aquarium on one end. The glass covered about 1/4 of the aquarium top and was made with a glass ramp going in shallow. Then rocks and such were placed for basking. I intend to do a similar thing, silicon a sheet of plexi to take up about 1/4 of the open surface area at the appropriate level with a ramp put in. This one means you must require a consistent water level and of course, you've bonded this glass to your tank and it would be a pain to take it off. Pros include that this won't sink under your turtles weight, it doesn't take up any water space (only the surface), and you can place real rocks and other elements for your turtle to bask on for a more "natural" environ. You also won't really have to worry about "upgrading" for when your guy gets too big, you're using lots of space. A con is the amount of work you'll put into this, but it's not necessarily a huge cost...

3) Well, I'd say a log of some kind getting high enough for your guy to get on, but they're having problems with that.

4) Get creative! There are some unique options displayed in the aquatic tank gallery thread that might be worth trying or expanding upon. http://www.allturtles.com/msgboard/viewtopic.php?t=6065&start=0

Good luck, let us know what you figure out.

Fred_and_George · Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 3:52 pm Post subject:

thanks so much for all the ideas! i already have a floating dock, and i really like it, but i want to raise the water level up more for my guys so they have more swimming space, hence the Out-of-tank basking area idea. i will have to see about the log and the plexi glass though, i hadnt thought of those.
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stirland06 · Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 11:12 am Post subject:

why dont you jst by one of the zoomed turtle docks with the adjustable water leveler. You can buy them from www.seapets.co.uk and then just type in the turtle dock in to the search engine.
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