The above post goes it to quite a bit of detail, so I will be brief.



Styrofoam is actually a registered trademark of Dow Chemical and is the brand name of their Extruded polystyrene (blue stuff). Therefore I will not mention Styrofoam in any of my post to avoid product favoritism.



The question you ask is really down to the preference of the user and the nature of the enclosure. Regardless of base product Extruded, Expanded, or Expanding Polyurethane Foam (Great Stuff), the top coat is a direct reflection of what the enclosure is ideally meant to be.



For example the Coco fiber cover silicone is often used in Heavily planted vivariums. It adds a nice texture to the background as well and covers the foam. Cement Tile grout and acyclic hardener infused DIY compositions are all meant to simulate rock with very little vegetation.



So you need to ask yourself do I want a planted background or a rock background?



Its actually perfectly acceptable to do both, building the rock background and then adding cocofiber to a silicone layer in areas to simulate dirt.



As far as the base, you can use all three with ease. In fact some of the best backgrounds I've seen used Extruded polystyrene as the layer and then used the expanding polyurethane foam to add details and transitions between sections. All are carve-able with a blade or a hot-wire set up. Expanded Polystyrene makes a mess.
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Jeremy Payne

JB Reptile



1.0 Snow "Kahl"

0.2 Triple Het Moonglow "Kahl"

0.1 Orange Tail Hypo Het Leopard

0.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow

1.0 Ghost

0.1 DH Ghost

1.1 "Kahl" Albino

1.0.2 Hypomelenistic

1.3 Pastel Hypo

0.1 Anerthrystic

0.0.2 Normal



1.1 Morelia Clastolepis

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