Turtle basking platform (DIY)

By Patchious patchSeptember 24, 2017

My nephew got a pair of baby red sliders last month, they were placed in a tank about 11/2 feet by 2 feet approx. Having kept turtles before I knew they needed an area to bask in dry out their shells. So this weekend we made a make shit turtle basking platform – needless to say out of scrap and whatever we could find 😛

The initial resources. Under gravel filter plates excess from another Aquarium to act as the platform. I found this nonstandard PVC pipes – I think this was left by my former neighbor Dr.Mithun when he shifted out. He said knowing the keen interest in scrap art and up cycling stuff he figured this will be useful for me. Doc if you are reading this thanks a million, these were perfect!!

These were to be sized up and used as the supporting legs for the Turtle basking tray or platform

Now to hot glue them into place. Luckily I had just about enough of glue stick at hand!

With the all the four supporting legs glued down, next we needed to have something that would help them climb on to the platform. Something that would be half submerged making it easier to climb.

I had this old plastic lawn bed that I kept in my old Aquarium. It been years I didn’t know how it would hold up. Any decided to wash it up but unfortunately, the leafy plastic had all gone brittle and was falling off when washed.

I was concerned if the turtles would eat them since their food pellets was shaped and colored in green. I realized the underlying plastic was in good condition and wasn’t brittle. It was like a checkered net, that would help them climb up. So it was decided to use that. So all the plastic leaves were completely removed , cut in to size hard pressed the underlying frame on to the plates

Used another set of gravel filter plates for the base to provide better support and foundation , Hot glued the supporting legs on to that also .

I tied the ends of the green frame to the front legs to keep one end submerged and placed a flat stone to weigh down the platform. Also I noticed that the turtles loved to get up on the stone and dry off.

Dad being the handy man of the house helped in adding a dome light to the hood that really made the change evident 🙂 – Thanks Dad!!

The turtles were added and as expected they submerged to the bottom, I read on the internet that they’d take about some days to get used to things newly added to their tanks. I told my nephew that we need to wait for some days before they start climbing on to the basking tray. These guys proved me wrong!

With about an hour the 1st one slightly bigger of the two ( I suppose the elder one ) takes look around and then goes back in to the water .

After a few minutes, both of them climb up and the elder one walks about looking around at the new platform.

The smaller one is still unsure and keeps its distance, while the big brother, he now owns the place !!, As I found him on the stone, basking away 🙂

We need to get a new filter as the old one was broken, so after lunch, my sister in law dropped us off at the pet store, she handed him the money to buy the filter and gave him instructions on how to ask the price and keeping the money safe. It was interesting to see that they trusted him with handling money and this kind of experience seemed good that , he’d understand the value and be responsible .

On our way to the pet store

Filter system installed and the turtle seemed to adapt pretty well, I guess they are very accommodating ones !! 🙂 They seem to love their new addition to the tank. Now we see both of them on the basking tray