Revell's DIY Thread

[Revell13]

Hi guys,

I am a new member to Aussiepythons but I have been reading a lot of your posts in relation to my new water dragons and getting lots of tips and ideas about everything from husbandry to heating.

Tonight I came across the DIY section and thought I would share my progress with building my own terrarium furniture for my little guys

So, where to start, I suppose I should start with the Lizard Landscapes youtube videos that made me believe this was all possible, so after watching a few of their videos and getting my supplies (thanks bunnings) I got started, just a simple little bridge between the land and water sections of my terrarium (4ft x 2ft x 2ft, glass, sliding glass doors)

This was attempt number one!

 

[Marzzy]

Kinda looks like you put foam in a plastic bag and called it a bridge?

 

[Timmeh103]

^^ seconded, did you just upload the wrong photo??

 

[Revell13]

As you all can see, this is a garbage bag, full of broken bits of foam and liquid nails, so, as I have never tried to build or create anything before in my life (no joke, I fail at anything "hands on") I decided on a design approach!

Yay, pencil to paper and I have a much better idea of what I'm trying to accomplish!

So now, with attempt one well and truly in the bin, designs in front of me, a mock up of my terrarium (glass terrarium was still on lay buy at this stage) and $85 worth of foam (yeah ouch) I started!

 

[Marzzy]

Not very artistic ? I've got my foam just gotta buy a backboard not game enough to do it, I not very artistic so it's probably gonna suck.

Looks like its going alright went overboard with the design lol can't wait to see the finished product marked out so well.

 

[Revell13]

You can see from the 4th photo that I have decided to make the furniture in 4 parts, the back wall, the hide, the basking platform above that and another platform that juts out over the water section of my terrarium.

This was so I could take out pieces individually without having to take the top off my enclosure.

In the last photo is the somewhat completed hide, less embellishments.

Not very artistic ? I've got my foam just gotta buy a backboard not game enough to do it, I not very artistic so it's probably gonna suck.

I'm not only not artistic, I basically fail at everything DIY man, honestly, give this a shot, great fun, and a lot of red drunk and cigarets smoked in the garage completing it

 

[Marzzy]

Are the sides all gonna be covered with a stone effect or is it going to be rock here wood there hide here wood there ?

 

[Revell13]

Looks like its going alright went overboard with the design lol can't wait to see the finished product marked out so well.

I'm much more of a draw things person than a build things person lol, and more pics/info/storyline coming!

 

[Marzzy]

I can build anything, when it comes to something with an artistic side it ends in the bin lol. Much like your bag hate to stuff up on 80 bucks worth of foam did you try Harvey Norman,Good Guys ?

I'm tryin to get a mate to do a fish tank one while I do my snake one. 600x900 3 walls

 

[Revell13]

I can build anything, when it comes to something with an artistic side it ends in the bin lol. Much like your bag hate to stuff up on 80 bucks worth of foam did you try Harvey Norman,Good Guys ?

I got my foam from a packaging company in Wollongong that had to freight it in from SA, I couldn't find any foam worth using in Bunnings or the local hardware places. In the end I went with 20 sheets of medium density 120cmx60cmx60cm (1cm thick) and I have a fair bit spare.

Ok so we are at the "building things out of foam" stage, which took WAY longer than it should have, but as I said, first attempt and building ANYTHING so I was learning as I went

Here is the hide and the start of platform 1



Next we have the embellishments on the hide (all done in foam, scratching it with fingernails to get the rough look) and the start of platform 2.



OH LOOK, A BACK WALL!



Now I have everything I need made, I waited till I could pay off the tank so I could do a final double check to make sure everything fits before I start grouting, and this is the result!



Whilst still creating the dragons furniture, I "acquired" some common garden skinks, and decided they needed a home as well, so using the same method, I built them a 1 piece "rock" wall and hide, used a sand and herringbone fern substrate, threw in some driftwood and pinhead crickets, and I now have a family of skinks living on my computer table



Would love some feedback around now?

 

[Skelhorn]

That looks awesome mate, how long did it take you to pull that off?

 

[Revell13]

That looks awesome mate, how long did it take you to pull that off?

Up to that stage, including the design phase was about 4 weeks, I had to wait a week for the foam, could have been done in around a week and a half if I knew what I was doing, I'll upload some more recent pics now

This is the grout stages, there are 3-4 layers of grout total on every piece, making them quite strong as its only made of foam otherwise.



As you can see, the pieces are different colours, I had this tip from the guys at Lizard Landscapes so that I will know where I'm up to at each grout phase and so I make sure I don't miss any spots from layer to layer, my grout was white, I just threw some cheap acrylic paint in to each mix.

The timber in the second photo here is getting holes drilled and its going to become the water feature/filter outlet, that 3rd of the tank has been sealed (badly, I'm still waiting for 2nd attempt to set D: ) and its going to be around 5 inches deep, a perfect little swimming pool for my WDs, and also home to a few fresh water guppies

 

[maddog-1979]

looks pretty nice mate.....way too tedious for me,lol

 

[Revell13]

looks pretty nice mate.....way too tedious for me,lol

I understand the feeling, but as I am a uni student living at home, it gave me an excuse to chill out in the garage, drink red wine and smoke till my hearts content, all under the guise of being "constructive"

 

[bohdi13]

hey mate did you say acquired garden skinks as you took them from the wild or bought them ?:\

 

[dragonlover1]

looks pretty good mate pity I haven't got the time to make stuff like that

 

[Revell13]

hey mate did you say acquired garden skinks as you took them from the wild or bought them ?:\

I said, quite pointedly, acquired.

OK, ill be honest, the first one was a rescue attempt, I found a badly mauled skink in my pool and tried to save it, "Champ" as he is now called is living very happily in my skink enclosure, his tail is starting to grow back and he has put on weight (maybe even a little bit fat ) He gets around on 2 and a half legs, his right side is almost undamaged besides some scaring, but I had to amputate his back left leg entirely, and he was already missing his front right foot. All encompassing, I saved him from certain death in the wild, as he was in large amounts of shock from the dog attack and the subsequent amputation and was not in a fit state to remove himself from harms way, nor did he attempt to when I first attempted to release him.

The subsequent additions to my skink enclosure came about whilst I was mowing the lawn, I "rescued" the little critters from certain death by either whippersnipper or lawn mower.

Whilst I know (as I am a licensed reptile keeper in NSW) that it is illegal to capture reptiles from the wild, I believe there must be a loophole somewhere that allows me to rescue and rehabilitate reptiles caught in my own suburban backyard.

Footnote to this post, please don't report me to the authorities, honestly these little skinks have a pretty sweet pad here, plenty of food, fresh water daily, shelter, warmth, steady diurnal UVB lighting and me to look after them.

looks pretty good mate pity I haven't got the time to make stuff like that

Honestly I did it half drunk in the back shed, the reason I'm posting this is to let people know its EASY, give it a shot even if it is just one night a week, you will be amazed at what you can create

Now where were we, AHHA! grouting finished, four layers on each piece of furniture, and its time for PAINT, I ended up using a mildly sandstone coloured exterior paint mixed in with clean sand and then a slightly darker brown for highlights, here are a few more happy snaps to show the progress



First layer of paint. ^



Second layers with darker highlights and sand. ^

Now, in relation to the aforementioned piece of wood/waterfeature/filter outlet, I finished drilling the holes in them just tonight, did a quick test with the hose running water through them to check the flow patterns, and it appears to have worked!

Once the silicone has dried tomorrow (I put it in last week, waited 7 days etc) I'll fill the water side of my terrarium and see if it holds, if we are in luck, I will be able to post fully completed photos of my setup tomorrow night! If, however, the silicone leaks again it will set me back another week in the build process and I will be devo.

 

[Venomous_RBB]

Looks good, interested to see the final product

 

[Becceles]

Looks pretty sweet! What's going in there?

 

[Revell13]

Looks pretty sweet! What's going in there?

Going to be putting my baby Eastern Water Dragon's in there

Just about to fill the water side with water, wish me luck the silicone holds! I'll post again once its (hopefully) finished tonight

HAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA IT WORKS!

Posting pics now!

So I've spent the entire day putting the finishing touches on my water dragon enclosure, and I'm finally done, here are the pics, would love you guys to tell me what you think!



And the little rascals seam to be fitting in just fine