Making a mold of a tree stump

[cheaky]

Hey,

I have a atherton carpet python and I wanted to make a new cage for him (the one I have is pretty boring, and theres lots of things I would like to improve on with the next one I make. (Dimentions 60 cm high (around 2 feet) 30 deep (around one foot) and 1 meter long (around 3 foot).

Anyways, I was thinking it would be cool to have a stump of a small tree in the corner of the cage and have it hollowed so it can be like a hidden hide (that sounds weird..). However, as everyone is aware, wood from the outdoors contains a lot of nasties and i dont want to introduce them into the cage. I was thinking of using some substance (eg. plaster of paris) to coat the base of a tree to creat an caste of it. With this caste I would line (cm or so) with fiberglass or something else that i can paint (after taking photos of the base of the tree). I have heard germans some how heating up PVC piping and covering it in sand and what not and some how (i think its magic!) making them look like real branchs.


any help on this topic would be wonderfull (or any other suggestions for materials to use would be much appreshated (sorry about spelling)


Cheaky

[K1LOS]

i'd be interested to see these pvc branches.

as to the stump. That sounds like a pretty ambitious project. Would it not be easier to just sterilize the real stump?

If you consider the man hours that will be required to do this, i'd reconsider just buying a fake one!

However, i'd love to see a step by step and final product of this if you go ahead with it. Should be pretty interesting.

Geoff

[cheaky]

yeah, I was considering just finding one, but i only want to put it in the coner (so like 1/4 to 1/3 of it in the tank.

Once I find the right base (I live 30 seconds from the bush so that should take about 45 seconds (give or take 15 seconds for tieing shue laces and what not :P). clearing the loose bark off. (i was thinking about using a tree with bark like this tree http://www.anbg.gov.au/projects/eucalypts/images/eucalyptus-mannifera-bark.jpg

Once I get the caste made, the rest will be relatively easy.

Maybe, I think the hardest part will be painting it to make it look more real.

I could make it look rainforesty by putting sand on it and paiting it green (so it looks like moss) or something similar

again, thanks for the quick reply and support

[Serpens]

That's an awesome idea. Could look amazing. Let us know how it goes, and a step by step would be cool as well.

Serpens