DIY enclosure and spray foam rockscape and hides

Riddleeagle18

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My first post here!

My son has had a couple leopard geckos for over a year now. We just got him a uromastyx a couple weeks ago so we decide rather than having multiple stands and tanks all over his room he needed a nice enclosure.

Here is what we built him.
ebutave4.jpg

azyvumyg.jpg

We are waiting on the glass to come in and the front of each cage will have swinging glass doors.

In the mean time I decided to try and make a rock scape and hide structure from Great Stuff spray foam. The first attempt went well.
7y8e3apy.jpg

u3a2ehen.jpg


After it dried and we carved it I was very happy with the shape and here is where it fell apart. We coated it in non sanded grout and sprinkled it with crushed wal nuts. It looked great!
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Tops were cut out of the hides in this picture.

We where thrilled with the look and feel of the structure until the grout fully cured and begone to just chip off. We also had issues with the back and bottom not being square.
 
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Riddleeagle18

New Member
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So here goes round 2.

This time I siliconed 2 pieces of styrofoam at a 90 degree angle to give the structures bottom and back straight edges to easily insert and remove from the enclosure.
ygehyqam.jpg


Then I took some other pieces and siliconed them in place to create the hide areas.(sorry I forgot to take a picture of this step)

Then I took the spray foam and went to town again.

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So far this is what I have. I'm not to thrilled with the shape so hopefully after it cures I will be able to shape it better.

I think this time we are going to try acrylic paint and either modge podge or Elmer's glue to harden the structure with sprinkled crushed walnut again.


Thanks for looking.
 

Riddleeagle18

New Member
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9
Location
J
It has cured enough to cut the back off and I can show you inside the hides.

2usu8u2e.jpg


I'm still waiting for the middle to cure so I can trim the mountains down a bit and add some different levels.
 

Riddleeagle18

New Member
Messages
9
Location
J
Glass came in today and we siliconed the sides in and got 1 set of swinging doors in.

[attachment=1]ImageUploadedByTapatalk1382748925.443509.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=0]ImageUploadedByTapatalk1382748951.065822.jpg[/attachment]

I suck with silicone so we have some trimming to do. we also need to let it fully cure for a bit before we move the lizards over.

My wife got the structure painted and we are waiting for it to dry before covering in in mod podge.

Results tomorrow.
 

Riddleeagle18

New Member
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9
Location
J
Also finished the rockscape and hides.

This is what it looked like when I put the mod pudge on it. I was a little worried.

sy8y8yha.jpg


It dried nice though. We will see how it holds up.
 

NikkiC223

New Member
Messages
228
Location
Orlando, FL
WOW! All of that is amazing! The viv, the DIY rock hides...amazing! Can you make one for me please?! Oh yah, and adopt me too! Thanks! See ya soon! haha
 

Riddleeagle18

New Member
Messages
9
Location
J
Sorry i havent updated this. The enclosure probably cost $400 or so. I didnt keep track but the glass was half of that.

Heres some finished photos.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1385790151.955360.jpg
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1385790173.700541.jpg
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1385790190.227673.jpg
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1385790206.173332.jpg

No photos of the uromastx part. Ill get some if those in a few days.
 

Phantom240

New Member
Messages
292
Location
Slidell, LA
Heat lamps. Sucks because they cost a lot more to operate than heating pads but until I figure something else out that's the plan.

Meeeehhhh. That's what I was afraid of. I want to build a nice wooden vivarium for my girls and future additions, but it will be multi level, so heat lamps won't be an option. I suppose I could just rout a relief for a heat pad
 

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