Fake Rock / Cave

[Lasher]

Hey guys,
I am looking for a cool way to decorate my new enclosure. It is going to be a whopper 8’ X 3’ X 6’. It will have many compartments of many different sizes for my many different snakes. I want to make a fake rock cave / rockscape where appropriate. However, I am not sure how to go about it. My original idea was to try covering polystyrene with a light layer of mortar or concrete. A friend suggested coating it with joint compound and painting it (to keep it lighter and not so porous). Please make suggestions on the best, safe method to create a cool, fake rock environment for my herps.
Thanks!

[mykee]

Quick question, you're building an enclosure that will house "many different snakes"? Not a good idea. There are a million reasons why. Unless of course I'm misreading your post. Anyways, there are many plastic resin hides in a variety of sizes that you can find at pet stores, they may be a lot less fuss and muss. Worth taking a look at.

[Boltizor]

i think he/she ment they will make a long cage,devided into sections for differint snakes..i could be wrong though

[Lasher]

Hey guys,
That is correct. It will be a HUGE enclosure with seperate compartments for each snake (seperate tem contols, lighting, substrate etc...)
Thanks

[MistyDaze]

A mortor based wall will be heavy but if you were to go down this path your best option would be to use a grout (which is a mortor anyways). This will give you more options such as flexability, water resistance etc as well as a thinner coat. I think urethanes are the go they come in many forms not just the kind sold in cans or used as varnish. They are much safer than epoxy resin (cures quicker, stronger and they don't throw out VOC's/offgas). Epoxy is last decades news! There are many brushable casting resins out there and some are designed especialy to cover expanded polystyrene.

This link will give you a rough idea of the procedures involved in making a realistic rock feature.

http://www.bragdonent.com/gfguide.htm

Or this material designed for coating EPS.

http://www.industrialpolymers.com/styrospray.html

Another idea might be to skip the mortor and just use concrete colouring powder (oxide pigments). This is mixed with cement, sets hard and will give you a perfect rock texture and color. You would need to use plenty of polymer to make it adhere to the EPS. I haven't tried this but for snakes it might just do the trick. If I have time this week I will give it a go and let u know how/if it works.

[latazyo]

if you use lightweight porous rocks, a good thing to do is drill holes in them and put PVC pipes in the holes like pegs and put them together like tinker toys, this is what we do in our aquariums, but live rock is very very porous and easy to do it with...standard rocks would be difficult, but if you choose to use porous rocks, then this is a suggestion

you could also build a little wooden shelf and put them on that if you please

[Icefire]

I saw many site which use PolyUrethane foam in can to mold
some fake rock for leos... I bought one "Touch n'Foam" which say:
"Cured foam wears off and is not harmful to health"
I know that stuff is toxic uncured, how it's cured, I don't know
so I was looking for a way to seal that stuff
any idea? I saw polyurethane clear coat but they seem to gas off
even cured or if liked I guess gecko who get some of it in no?

[MistyDaze]

I don't know if you’re interested or not dude but the oxide pigments thing that I mentioned in my earlier post worked really well. This method is usually just the coloring and texturing process used when making fake rock (concrete and polyurethane). It's easy and everything you need, can be bought at any decent hardware store for under $25. You end up with an even, thin shell that’s hard but still flexible, lightweight and waterproof. You just sprinkle the powder over your fake rock and tamp it down with a paintbrush and Bonding/Sealing agent. The companies that use this coloring method guarantee that the finish will last for 10yrs. It would easily stand up to snakes and even medium sized lizards.

Here’s a close up. Don’t mind the colors you can re-color it any time you want.
http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/3088Fake_Rock_Texture_copy.jpg

Edit: Most of this offgas talk comes from like 10yrs ago. Todays modern materials are much safer to use, it is illegal to make materials that throw off VOC's like they did in the past.

Icefire: The pigment method will work for you. If you need an in-depth explanation of the process just post.