I'm not sure how many of you look at the sticky on the top about DIY reptile setups so I thought I'd post this here. It might give you some future ideas for your herps. If anything it will show you how to construct a fake rock wall for your pets.
I was lucky enough to get a free reptile tank off a friend of mine that I decided to turn into a new LG tank for my one trio of geckos. I decided I wanted to take a crack at making a fake stone wall for the background.
The tank I got is a Oceanic Lizard Lounge and it's about the size of a 40 gallon breeder. I made the wall from a piece of foam board and I ended up using 3 spray cans of "Great Stuff" foam.
Here's a pic of the tank, tile grout, foam wall and the sweet piece of driftwood I got off a member on here (thanks again Msjinkzd).
After letting the foam dry and harden for 3 days I did my best to carve out the rock wall. I used xacto knives, a hacksaw and my dremel to remove most of the foam. And boy did that ever make a big mess! I figured I'd carve out shelves for the geckos to hide and sleep in. That way they could pick whatever temperature gradient they wanted.
When all the dreaded carving was done I painted the whole front and sides with 3 coats of buff colored tile grout mixed with playsand. While it was still wet I lightly sprinkled a coating of playsand over it.
After drying for 2 days it was time to put the cage together. I put a couple pieces of ceramic tile on the bottom. It disperses the heat better from the under tank heater.
And here's the tank with all the deco finally stuck in it. I placed in a bunch of large, flat stones and added screened playsand to the cracks to keep things from shifting. It's not completely finished, I'm still moving some stuff around until I get it to where I want it. I also want to add some type of hanging plant for the top right corner. Yes, those are real plants. One is an aloe and the other is a type of Snake Plant. They geckos seem very interested in their new tank. They've checked out just about every nook and cranny!
I was lucky enough to get a free reptile tank off a friend of mine that I decided to turn into a new LG tank for my one trio of geckos. I decided I wanted to take a crack at making a fake stone wall for the background.
The tank I got is a Oceanic Lizard Lounge and it's about the size of a 40 gallon breeder. I made the wall from a piece of foam board and I ended up using 3 spray cans of "Great Stuff" foam.
Here's a pic of the tank, tile grout, foam wall and the sweet piece of driftwood I got off a member on here (thanks again Msjinkzd).
After letting the foam dry and harden for 3 days I did my best to carve out the rock wall. I used xacto knives, a hacksaw and my dremel to remove most of the foam. And boy did that ever make a big mess! I figured I'd carve out shelves for the geckos to hide and sleep in. That way they could pick whatever temperature gradient they wanted.
When all the dreaded carving was done I painted the whole front and sides with 3 coats of buff colored tile grout mixed with playsand. While it was still wet I lightly sprinkled a coating of playsand over it.
After drying for 2 days it was time to put the cage together. I put a couple pieces of ceramic tile on the bottom. It disperses the heat better from the under tank heater.
And here's the tank with all the deco finally stuck in it. I placed in a bunch of large, flat stones and added screened playsand to the cracks to keep things from shifting. It's not completely finished, I'm still moving some stuff around until I get it to where I want it. I also want to add some type of hanging plant for the top right corner. Yes, those are real plants. One is an aloe and the other is a type of Snake Plant. They geckos seem very interested in their new tank. They've checked out just about every nook and cranny!
