Making a Turtle Dock in our pond

[Juxtaposition109]

Hello all,
We recently moved to Florida and we have seen a few turtles basking here and there in the pond on our property. I would like to make some sort of a basking Island for the turtles to sit on and soak up the sun and have it out in the middle of our pond. I was thinking that if I had a large rock tied to a large sized piece of floating wood that this would work. The Shelled critters could sun and feel safe being out in the middle of the pond and the kids can watch them from afar. Anyone have any ideas on the best kind of wood to make this out of or have any other good basking platform ideas for wild turtles?

 

[Mike Gay]

Turle Raft

Congrats on the move to Florida. Definitely more turtles than Oregon. I made a small turtle raft for our turtles' summer home in the yard. Theirs us a 16"x16" pc of 1 1/2 foundation grade foam sandwiched between rough sawn cedar boards. At first I only covered one side, but it flipped too easily, so then I covered both sides and all edges. The additional weight stabilized the raft and made it ride lower in the water for easier access to the turtles. By the end of the summer, the wood saturated & the raft still floated, but barely with the turtles on. With a large natural pond, I would suggest a 4'X4' Raft to prevent crowding. Buy one sheet of 2" foam & double it. Stay with thinner boards like 1/2" if possible and cover both sides and all edges. With 4" of foam you should be able to support 200lbs. You may even bevel the edges to make it easier for the little guys. Attach the anchor line to the center of the bottom and keep it short. Hope you have fun

 

[marku1999]

Mike,

Great idea! Don't forget you can always attach a ramp that slopes down in the water to!