Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[frodo_walley]

i have seen a few sites tellin me how i can make fake rocks for my leopard gecko viv using polystirene or builders foam, and most of them dont have very good instructions. can any1 help with any techniques or instructions and possibly some pics
cheers ,Frodo

[Vickie Lizard]

Theres a fantastic step by step photo spread in the vivarium design page, on this site, I think its named fake rock viv

[reeve105a]

I'm in the middle of making a fake rock wall at the moment...I'm using polystyrene glued with no more nails to the wood, I've coated it in grey wide joint grout which I'm going to leave for a few days to dry, Then I'm going to cover it in PVA glue and before it drys I'll cover it in children's play sand. I did experiment using expanding foam, It's very hard to control and it keeps expanding in size and sticks to everything.

Tonight I'm going to make a rock..First I'm going to cut out a piece of polystyrene then I'll cut out 3 more pieces each one smaller than the next then I'll glue these together I'll then cover it in grout, PVA glue then sand.
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[AnthonyY]

These are links i have in my favourites. I was going to do one but didn't in the end, just bought one lol

Links:
http://www.duboisi.com/diy/BNdiygrotto/bndiygrotto.htm
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/diy_aquarium_background3.php
http://www.morion.com/teo/english/rockwall-cage/frame-cage.html
http://708designs.netfirms.com/customcage/customcage.htm
http://www.catfishheaven.net/day1.html
http://www.reptilerooms.com/forumtopic-29106.html
http://www.exotic-pets.eu/rock-wall.php
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/diy_background.php
http://www.thecichlidgallery.com/article_styrobackground.htm

I bought mine from here: http://www.aquatameshop.com/stores/viewstore.aspx?id=285965&op=1&hint=BACKGROUND%2c+BACKGROUNDS
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1.2 BRB's_1.0 Woma_1.0 HIB_1.0 Amel_1.0 Green Pink Spot Snow_1.1 Hypo Bloods_1.0 Ultramel Anery_0.1 Anery Het Hypo Lav_1.0 Hypo Lav_0.1 Aztec Hypo Lav_1.0 Amel Stripe Het Butter_0.1 Butter Stripe_0.1 Anery Stripe_0.1 Ice_0.1 Snopal_1.1 Plasmas Het Hypo

[christophermchale]

ive heard a lot of people saying to stay away from polystyrene in enclosures. the reason being reverse poisoning. if you feed your leos crickets and some of them dont get eaten right away they may eat part of the polystyrene. when they gecko then consumes the cricket it also takes in the polystyrene which is obviously bad for it. its one of the drawback to the exoterra vivs that are floating around nowadays. they come with a back wall made of it to help hide chords and whatnot.

just a little insight.
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cardboard city.

[minno]

surly the grout and sand ect would be tough enough that the crix ect cant get through to the poly??

[christophermchale]

if you are making a hide or have a whole wall made of it they can just walk on it.
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cardboard city.

[christophermchale]

am i the only one who has heard of this?
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cardboard city.

[meko]

i've never heard of it, like minno said, the grout, pva and paint etc will seal it enough. by the time you've all that on there's a good few mm between the surface and the polystyrene.