Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I posted these pics already on the bearded dragon forum, but i thought it might be usefull for some of you

After being to Australia for 4,5 months a few years ago, i always wanted to turn my vivarium in a piece of Ozzie Outback.
This year i finally made the step to do so...

The background is made out of polystyrene (which gives a BIG mess ), which is later reinforced with 5 layers of tile-adhesive, mixed with an oxide-red, waterbased color. The last layer has about 5-6 different shades, ranging from beige to dark brown/red, and applied very subtle. Unfortunately that's hard to see on the pics due to the spotslights. But the result is a very solid background that can endure all the climbing the beardies want.

This was the situation BEFORE the make-over:

And here's the final result:

To see pics of the make-over in progress click here

Well, i hope you liked it and maybe its even usefull to some of you. I know my beardies like it, although one of the beardies in the pics will be moving to another enclosere as soon as i finished it...

bye

Very nice. That is absolutely one of the best foam/grout backgrounds I have seen.

The last layer has about 5-6 different shades, ranging from beige to dark brown/red, and applied very subtle.

Are you saying 5-6 different shades all mixed together to achieve the red color? Or do you mean you used 5 or 6 different shades to achieve shadowing, etc. in the crevices, peaks, etc.?
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Current snakes:

0.0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Java locale (green)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Jave local (green)

2.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Seleyar locale (all black)

1.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Celebes locale (Black & Tan)

I have to agree with Chris. Using foam for a background is notoriously difficult to do and have it look realistic. You have achieved a very good result - one of the best of this type of background I've seen and certainly better than my couple experiments with this method. However, it does look like you took far more time in the shaping stage than I did and that makes all the difference in creating something that will yield a realistic end result. I might have missed this, but what are the overall dimensions of that whole cage?
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Matt Campbell

"I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in." John Muir

Tnx 4 the compliments It took me about 4 nights to shape the foam. The 5-6 colors in the final layer aren't mixed together but are used seperately to create more depth and to give'it a more natural rock-look.

These are the dimensions of this vivarium (click to enlarge):

the branch you see had a bleach-bath for 3 days, then rinsed toroughly with LOTS of water and dried for over 3 months to give it a sun-bleached look... it makes me want to climb in, sit on it and play on my didgeridoo

Very nice job!

Thanks for sharing it with us!

Have a good one!
Mike
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It is said that 1 out of every 4 people are mentally unbalanced. Think of your 3 closest friends, if they're normal, then it's you.