First DIY Enclosure Build with Rockwall

[skittles85]

Now that my little MD Casper is growing so rapidly (now 7 months old) I decided to start on a bigger enclosure for him.

Picked up a bargain on Gumtree, the enclosure pictured below (3ft long) which came with the fluro lighting and ceramic lamp socket. I decided to scrap the fluro and have purchased an LED strip from eBay, will look much better IMO.

Im going to replace the glass which is very thin and want something a little strong but haven't quite got that far yet.

First things first i stripped the light fittings and vents out and painted with an undercoat/sealer as the enclosure is made from MDF.

At first I couldn't get the doors out but then hubby to the rescue, managed to get them out for me which made the second stage of painting much easier, decided to go with spray paint in Satin Black.
A few coats of that then it was left in the shed to air out and dry properly for 4 days.

While I was waiting for that to happen I started on the easiest part, SHOPPING!

Ebay look out, managed to get almost everything I needed on there including rock hides, water dish, light cage, globes, dimming thermostat, bigger heat mat, artificial vine and turf and a lock for the sliding doors.

After all that I then decided after seeing the prices of rock walls that I would attempt to make one myself, why not?!!

A friend of mine just bought some new electrical goods and had a heap of styrofoam so armed with that and some glue and expanda foam I measured up and made a start.

Any advice on mixing up the Render with Bondcrete would be much appreciated as I am at a total loss with how to do that!



That's progress so far, will update pics as I go!

 

[J-A-X]

You're off to a flying start
As for the render/bondcrete (or PVA glue) just mix a good slurp of it into the water of the first couple of thin coats, it helps it stick to the foam.

 

[skittles85]

Thankyou

I've read so much info about the rockwalls and everyone seems to do something different so gets a little confusing.

So do I just mix render, bondcrete and water together and do a couple of thin coats then get thicker?

 

[LB_Reptiles]

looks good man i like to keep the background usually 1 colour (choosing a good colour) but thats just me

 

[skittles85]

Thanks

I plan on keeping it mostly dark brown with a few very faint highlights. I watched a youtube clip where someone used a small brush with very, very minimal paint on it and lightly dragged the brush along the surfaced of some of the 'rocks' and because the surface was course it only caught very little paint and looked fantastic and very realistic.

See how I go, trial and error I guess haha

 

[skittles85]

Finally finished the rendering stage!

Going to leave it for a few days and let it dry out completely then start on the paint.

Have received all my other little bits and pieces I ordered on eBay so should be able to start putting it all together maybe next weekend!

Have organized the new glass panels and also decided to purchase some awesome little grips from Virides!!

Getting there slowly but surely

 

[BDkeeper]

Nice love it i have just finished my rendering on my background on another thread

 

[skittles85]

Yay finally finished the rockwall!!

 

[Lawra]

It looks great I like it. What sealant did you use?

 

[skittles85]

Thanks

I've used a couple of coats of clear Pondtite to seal it

 

[skittles85]

Almost done! Rock wall,heat mat, heat lamp and cage in. LED light strip and glass in tomorrow then a test run for a few days to see how the temps are

 

[skittles85]

Finally Casper is in his new home today!!

I've had the whole setup running for a few days just to check I had all the right temps. Getting 26-27c at the cool end and 31-33 at the hot end.

Only issue I've had is that the LED strip doesn't put out much light at all so I've ordered one a bit longer and will coil that on the roof when it arrives but the shorter one is fine for the time being.

Added the last finishing touch today which was the little finger grips on the doors that I ordered from Virides, love them!

Introduced Casper this afternoon and was quite entertaining watching him explore his new humble abode

 

[wildthings]

Looks awesome

 

[bdav70]

Did you sprinkle sand in between coats to cut down the sheen? I followed a couple of tutorials who recommended using non toxic outdoor PVA, but after the first coat it's super shiny. I watched another one where it said to sprinkle a small amount of clear/white sand in between coats which can help. Does anyone have any experiences? Was the pond stuff relatively matte, or do you have the same problem?

 

[skittles85]

I didn't use any sand, after painting the render it wasn't too bad but the Pondtite added quite a bit of shine. I wasn't overly concerned about it though. Some spots on mine look shinier than others.

 

[bdav70]

I wasn't overly concerned about it though

ahhh yep, maybe i better harden up and not worry too much either!

 

[Rogue5861]

You can do a light sand over the pondtite, this is remove some of the shine. I would try a 320+ sand paper though.


Rick