This weekend I finally ordered the materials for building out a new turtle vivarium. The goal of this project is to match the aesthetic appeal of the original tank, while also increasing swimming room. The original construction consisted of a simple divider between the land and water area, resulting in an 8 inch deep land mass that was for the most part a waste of volume.

With this second design I'm intending to create a shelf, leaving the area under the land mass open for swimming and lurking. The intent is to use two artificial logs as columns for supporting the shelf. Here you can see a front and top rendering of what it will hopefully look like. The shelf and back wall will be covered with cork bark as in the previous tank.



On the right is a cut in the front panel. The water level will be even or slightly higher than this, to make it easy for the turtle to pull himself out on land. This area will also have a large flat rock, and light will be concentrated for basking. Think of it as the equivalent to a chaise lounge in the shallow areas of a swimming pool.



This project will need only three pieces of acrylic: a front, bottom and divider panel. These will be attached together with silicon, and then attached to the walls of the tank and the supporting pillars.

Labels: Design, Turtle, Turtle Aquarium