General Care Discussion :: Another Basking Issue

[cowabunga1931]

Hey guys,
So I have two baby res.. one is 2.5 in. the other is 2in.. About a week ago I changed their basking platform to a cork bark that is wedged into the sides of the tank (30 gal) so they have a lot of room to bask. However I don't see them basking too much.. They are not too shy since I have had them for about 6 months, and they used to get on their old floating dock and bask even when I was in the room sitting at my desk right next to their tank. Now I see them crawl onto the cork bark, sit there for 15 seconds to look around, and jump back in the water. I don't have a full width uv lamp, its one of the regular zoo med dome ones that you can sit on top of the tank, so its really warm in one area of the basking area (currently 95 degrees F; water temp is 75 degrees F) but no much around the rest.. Any thoughts/suggestions?
One more thing.. do you suggest I get a long full length uv lamp set for the tank? The tank is kind of dark since the uv lamp only sits above the cork bark.
Thanks!!

Edit: One more note, I notice that when the larger guy is basking, the smaller one will sit in the water at the edge of the cork bark as if he's waiting for his turn to bask.

[steve]

I'd give it more time, maybe cover the sides for them and make sure it's easy for them to get onto. UV tubes are fine, many are believed to provide better UVB too. You'll need to find some way to hang it though, which is usually not an issue.

[cowabunga1931]

So i lowered the cork bark dock and put some fake plants around the side which did the trick.. Also it seems like they know when it is daylight outside as they only bask when it is day and not so much at night. I do have them close by the window so that could be it.. But don't worry I check to make sure the water temperature is not affected by the window sunlight.