redoing enclosures NEED HELP!

[adub]

hi every one i am starting to update my BP, Leo and desert cal king cages onething i wanted to do was make my own hides right now i have tupper ware containers and i wanted something more natural looking, like ones made of rock also i am putting a back ground in all of the cages so far i have decicded on making it out of bambo and also fake and some real plants, my want to do fake rock back ground but need instructions in the BP and leo cage i am making a second levle and was wondering if their is any suggestions as how to do that not sure about cal king his tank dimensions are 12inx12inx24in (hxwxl) Leo is a 20 gal long and BP is a 30gal all comments, suggestions, and pics are greatley appreciated.

[Kyle Barker]

the best fake rock ones i have seen have been grout and fiberglass. fibreglass is messy and not usually too fun to work with, also harder.

grout is the stuff inbetween your tiles in the bathroom and such. waht you do is make teh basic shape with a steel mesh (1/4" works best imo) then put a small coating over the whole thing. then build that up and shape it to your desired specs. i liek this better cause its rough looking and sorta rock like already without any form of painting. the advantage to fibreglass is you could insert any type of objects or images you wanted.



for a background i think that fibreglass would make the nicest and still be easy. just setup a mold that fits your cage and you could put whater image or sticks/leaves/bark etc, in that to amke the backdrop.

using a resin would allow you to even use cedar bark and seal it up. i liek the look of cedar and its a nice thin bark, so it would probably look nice.

[peterm15]

you can use a dence foam and shape it and cover it in cement... my leo book says to do that...

for a second level i was thinking of doing that but i went against it for the one simple reason... safety.... im a glaizer so i have glass lyin around and could easily do it i just couldnt figure out how to make it very accessable as well as safe... if i do figure out a way or if you do let me know.....

[Kyle Barker]

dunno what a glazier is lol sorry. if your talking about fibre glass it would probably be best to do a layup like a boat. easiest way i can think of at present.


i wouldnt use foam because you want the lizards and snakes to ba able to go inside. you could carve out the middle but that would be kind of a pain. work great if its not a hide though and jsut a mountain or somthing for looks.