Turtles, especially aquatic turtles are great pets to have. They are low maintenance and don’t require much food to feed on. If proper care and love is given to them, they can last long and reproduce a lot. They are also not messy at all. They only require occasional cleaning and maintenance.

Turtle homes are called turtle tanks and every turtle tank must have turtle docks. Turtle docks are an elevated area made of driftwood or bark. The purpose of these turtle docks is for these aquatic turtles to have access to dry land. When these turtles get tired of getting wet, they go basking and they need some dry area to do this. This is why turtle docks are needed for every turtle homes. Turtle docks can be made at home. You don’t need to spend much to have this. You only need a few things like cork bark, tape measure and some stones. You have to make sure that these materials are clean and not harmful to your pet turtles before putting them inside your turtle tank.

The first thing that you have to do in making your very own turtle dock is to measure the width of your turtle tank so you can estimate the size of the turtle dock you will be putting inside. Next is you must cut a piece of cork bark to match the measurement of your tank. Put the cork bark on where you want your turtle dock to be. Make sure that your cork bark is elevated so that your turtle could bask and then could still have much room for swimming. If the cork bark occupies too much space, you can cut off the sides to make it smaller. Make sure too that the turtle dock you make could hold the weight of your large turtles. It could be better if it will also be big enough for several large turtles so not only one could bask on the docks. To be able to make the dock stable, you could stack stones and small rocks on the sides of the cork bark. The last step is to fill the turtle tank with water. It has to be level with the dock but should not be above it. When the tank is now filled with the proper amount of water, you can now put on your turtles inside the tank and let them swim and bask.

From time to time, though, these turtle docks also need cleaning. There are times that bacteria are formed beneath the docks which can harm the turtles. The only things you will need to clean the dock are water, dish detergent and a brush.

To start the cleanup, fill in the sink with hot water and put liquid detergent on it. Mix. Take the turtle dock out from the tank and submerge it under water of the sink. Scrub the turtle dock and remove the residue forming on the area. Remove all water from the sink and fill it in with another gallon, this time mixed with vinegar. Submerge the turtle dock again and let it stay under water for at least twenty minutes. The purpose of the vinegar is to disinfect the turtle dock. After twenty minutes or more, take the turtle dock out scrub it once more. After all residue is removed, return the turtle dock into the tank. That should do it. Your turtles will have clean basking places again.