Hey gang!
I have an 8-9 in RES who is too curious for his own good. He's in a 40 gallon breeder (so the tank is 18" wide instead of 12"). I had a long cork bark platform I cut down and wedged in there but he kept eating pieces. So I replaced it by cutting down the Zoo Med Pond Dock to 18" long and wedged that in instead, but after 3 weeks of loving the thing he started pulling off chunks of that, too.
I have been thinking of solutions involving PVC pipe and egg crates (will Home Depot cut these down to size for me, or do they have access to a cut-it-yourself?), however I have seen some reports of turtles eating egg crate. Has anyone else experienced this?
One solution I've thought of us to cut several pieces of PVC to 18", wedge those into the tank like steps, and then have them lead up to the landing and going under the sides--effectively blocking the edges that the turtle bites. Like this:
(If I do this the cork platform would be adjusted to be mostly flat, unlike the angled-down Zoo Med platform in the aquarium photo. The incline would be solely from the PVC steps)
What do you think of this idea? Any other options for a bite-happy RES that do not involve creating an above tank basking spot?
Thanks for any help!