Feeding and Nutrition

So I have two RES. Had them since December in a temporary plastic container, they have the Zoo Med Large basking dock and a horrible cheap H.O.T. filter. So it got algae twice and I made a post asking if it was dangerous and cleaned it up well fixed the problem, so OK sorry I'm getting sidetracked just kind of want to give you some back story.

So now they have a 55g aquarium and a Rena canister filter the only thing that came along from their temporary set up was the basking dock well I don't what happened. If maybe there was some minuscule amounts unseen to me of algae in the little wedges of the dock but now there is algae growing along the edge of the dock that touches the water. Their water is clear and I use a feeding container every time since I've gotten the new aquarium. OK so a little algae growing only along the edge of the dock no big deal to me really as long as the water is clear and it's no where on the tank itself.

WELL tonight I bent down and looked up, some weird position to where I could see the bottom and side edge of the dock really well, (I was half way into putting them to bed so only the UVB light was on, which cast enough shadow for me to see clearly) BITE MARKS. LITTLE EFFING BITE MARKS all along one edge of their basking dock! When it comes to my pets I get really high strung really easily and now I'm at a loss and really worried. What if the cardboard of the Zoo Med Basking dock is getting lodged in their intestines and they die? or the algae is poisonous and they get sick. I'm pretty sure that's what they were after. They act like I don't feed them >.<. I'm worried. Any thoughts/advice anyone? :roll:

2 things to try... (1) add some cuttlebone into the diet, so they have something to munch on or (2) change to a different basking area.

Yeah I stopped using the buy at store basking areas a long time ago. What you CAN do is get those bricks that have the holes in the middle and split them down the middle with a hammer and stack them on top of eachother in the tank (be careful when doing that so you dont harm the tank). I STILL use this to this day and it works better then ANYTHING iv used other then ATBA's. it filts like 3 full grown RES and they dont move and cant be eaten and they make for good hideing spots in the middle where the holes are.

SINI5T3R wrote:Yeah I stopped using the buy at store basking areas a long time ago. What you CAN do is get those bricks that have the holes in the middle and split them down the middle with a hammer and stack them on top of eachother in the tank (be careful when doing that so you dont harm the tank). I STILL use this to this day and it works better then ANYTHING iv used other then ATBA's. it filts like 3 full grown RES and they dont move and cant be eaten and they make for good hideing spots in the middle where the holes are.

What are you talking about? Do you think you can show me a pic or something?

steve wrote:2 things to try... (1) add some cuttlebone into the diet, so they have something to munch on or (2) change to a different basking area.

I don't know what else to use for a basking dock. I know everyone has great home made ones on this forum, but I can't build stuff like that. I wouldn't even know where to start, I guess I have no choice though, this will be interesting. OK so the most common one I've seen is like that white piping with a piece of ceramic on top and that green plastic hanging off, I can get all that stuff at home depot right? P.s. Should I be worried that they are eating their dock like health wise. Or do you think they will be ok if I just fix this ASAP

I use one of these, it's really well made and my turtle loves to sleep on the underwater bit. It also holds her without any issues and she's just under 5" shell length so it will be good for awhile to come. If your looking for something to use that you don't have to build I highly recommend this ramp.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006L12HS?tag ... 9BTTBBY5H&

Thanks Jaysea, I've been wondering where people were getting that.

I hate the Zoomed basking docks! It's so easy for a turtle to eat and gets really frustrating.
Bowser didn't have and real health issues from eating the dock, but she pooped all the time and it floated because it had so much un-digested dock pieces, and then the ammonia levels and water quality in general got very bad.

Check out some more info on the dock eating:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=27844

Ashley this happened to you too? I'm so glad your turtles are fine. Your link helped thanks. Yeah I took the dock out and scrubbed away most of the algae I believe that was what tempted them to take bites out of it. Sometimes I don't have time to feed them first thing I wake up so I feed them when I get home from work around 3pm, that's typically when I would see the floating dock pieces. Whenever I fed them in the afternoon and not morning, they haven't done it in a while and it's looking hopeful. But I'm still in the process of checking out other decks, that post Jaysea left seems to be very popular and what I'm most likely going to go with.

Your turtles might just be getting to the age where they like to bite things.

Yea, when I had my RES they ate half of one, it got to the point that when they tried to get on top of it they would flip it over. ( it was funny to watch 'em fight to get on the basking dock, like a contest of who can stay on it the longest without flipping over, they got really creative.) I replaced it with the same basking dock, and luckily they didn't start destroying the new one, Ebony is still using it to this day. But then again, Ebony is a mississippi map and much smaller.
I think this is a great beginner product and I still recommend it. But it is quickly outgrown and becomes a safety hazard. To bad they're aren't many (if any) good basking products in pet stores for fully grown adult turtles. I love how the people here are so creative when it comes to basking platforms, by making their own.

Feeding and Nutrition :: Someone's been taking chunks out of their basking dock >:/

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