Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here are a few pics of an artificial rock-cut insert I made for my '08 grey banded kingsnake aquarium. I'm planning on making a larger one for my '07 Baird's ratsnake. I saw a post months ago on this forum where someone had made something similar for a suboc, and it inspired me to give it a shot. It's made almost entirely out of styrofoam, and is actually quite light.

Here are some shots of it finished and partially assembled outside of the aquarium, with and without the snake

This piece serves as a hide, and is removable for access to the snake, and for cleaning

Here is the piece inside the 15 gallon tall tank she is currently in, and a shot from above.

This is a drawer hide that slides in and out of the middle section, again for ease of cleaning and access to the snake.

Here she is going into the drawer

Here is a shot of my Baird's shoehorned into the tank just for a photo op. She will get one for her 40 gal breeder when I find the time to make one.

Here is a shot of the 3-sided fiberboard frame at the beginning, with the naked styrofoam base

and another shot in the process of building

The alterna really seems to love cruising around on the cuts. Unfortunately she will eventually outgrow it. I knew this going in, and consider this one a working prototype, done mainly to give me experience. I'll have to make her a new one for a larger, permanent enclosure. Besides, having this one will give me a good excuse to get another hatchling alterna someday.

Thanks for looking.

MZ

Nice job, always nice to see them out of the sweater boxes.

Thanks. I only have 4 snakes total, so I like to indulge them a little.

I've seen the picture in your post before, and I've always considered it one of the most attractive alterna I've ever seen. I love the speckling. Maybe #5 will look like that...

Thanks for the complement on the Alterna, it is my favorite. I like that it has a nearly perfect triple-alternating pattern. This was a particularly satisfying find. I had been in the Davis Mnts during the early part of a week, then a large storm came through Wednesday and Thursday. I traveled about 8 hours back to the Dallas area on that Friday in order to pick up a brother, who had been living with me, from the airport. Saturday morning came, and my brother flaked-out, and decided he wasn't returning. Pissed off, I made the 8 hour trip back, just in time to make it at dusk. Within a few hours, this snake came crawling across the road, and all those frustrations evaporated. I must have stared at the snake for 10 minutes, not believing what I was seeing.
I hope to produce a clutch with this snake next year.

Very nice. I would buy them for all my cages if you were producing them.

Thanks.

The idea of selling them is a bit premature. This was my first attempt at making something like this, and I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I literally cobbled it together in a few weeks in my garage using mostly scrap materials. Also, I don't yet have any information on how long it will hold up with regular use and cleanings. I would not be willing to sell something that might fall apart in 2 months. I would have to make a few more for my own use, and use them for a while see how durable they are before I would feel comfortable making one for someone else.

I don't know if you've crossposted this to the Cage & Habitat Design forum but I'm sure it would turn heads there too.

It looks like your setup is basically carved styrofoam. Have you given thought to using this original as a mold of sorts for a one-piece fiberglass "shell" you could "mass"-produce? As has been said here, you'd have quite a few takers and I think the fiberglass would be fairly durable if done right.

It would be even more awesome if there was a way to heat the rock surface (built-in heating wire?).
-----
Chris McMartin
www.mcmartinville.com
I'm Not a Herpetologist, but I Play One on the Internet

I didn't know about that forum. I'll try to post there also.

I have done some fiberglass fabrication before of motorcycle fairings, so the thought did cross my mind. I seriously considered making the frame out of fiberglass instead of fiberboard, but I went with fiberboard because it seemed faster and easier. Fiberglass would definitely be the way to go for making multiple copies, though.

Thanks,
MZ

That is AMAZING!!!!! I love that design.

Does the styro hurt the GBKs? I thought foam was toxic to eat?

Maybe the paint seals it up? Can you give a few details as to the type of paint you used and so forth?

Congratulations. That has to be one of the coolest cage designs I have ever seen.

Best wishes,

StevenX

Thanks.

The styrofoam is coated in many layers of grout, which is what gives the piece the appearance of rock. It also means that the snake will never come in contact with the styrofoam. I mixed water based non-toxic polyacrylic paint, which can be found in any craft store, into the grout mixture for added color. I also mixed the grout with Elmers glue (also non-toxic) instead of water, which causes the grout to set up just short of rock hard. The whole thing was then sealed with many coats of a diluted non-toxic water based multi-purpose sealant called Mod Podge, which is also available at craft stores. This is the same basic process that most zoos use to build natural looking displays for their animals, so I'm confident that it won't be toxic to my much loved snake. I wouldn't risk her health for the sake of a better looking enclosure. If I thought there was any risk, I would switch her back to aspen in a heartbeat.

MZ

That is really well done. Great idea and great execution.

My only issue would be can you scrub it? I imagine urates/feces are going to be hard to get off it.

It would be cool if you could cut out a deli cup sized hole in one of the flat rocks for a waterbowl holder.

I wonder if you could find someone to vacuum form a plastic mold of this? If you could and you could make it fit the aquarium, you could probably sell a few of these.
-----
Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

That is really well done. Great idea and great execution.
My only issue would be can you scrub it? I imagine urates/feces are going to be hard to get off it.
It would be cool if you could cut out a deli cup sized hole in one of the flat rocks for a waterbowl holder.
I wonder if you could find someone to vacuum form a plastic mold of this? If you could and you could make it fit the aquarium, you could probably sell a few of these.

Thanks,
I have actually had a chance to clean urates/feces off of it and so far it has not been a problem. The surface is sealed well enough that liquids don't soak in. If it's dried on, I just brush off what I can, and then gently scrub with a damp paper towel or an old toothbrush. If it's not dry, well, it just kind of wipes off. I applied extra thick layers of sealant to places that I knew were likely to get pooped on. If the sealant wears off in these areas, I can always apply more. It's definitely more high maintenance to clean than aspen or newspaper, but that's the price of have something that is a little more asthetically pleasing.

I have a store bought fake rock water dish that I took out of the cage for picture taking purposes to avoid spills, but yours is a good idea too. I'm also in the process of making a humid hide out of a plastic box, that hopefully will look like stone.

So many projects, so little time...

MZ

That is really hellish!!! Very nice. Great looking Bairds also.

to cool dude

That thing is awesome, make another and take more pics. Great job.
-----
South Texas Herps

The Blue Ribbon Award goes to.......

Really...just amazing.
-----
Jerry Kruse

And God said, "Let there be zonata subspecies for all to ponder..."

Thanks,

Just out of curiosity, for those of you who keep your alterna in display setups rather than rack systems, what size enclosures do you use? Do you prefer glass aquariums, or wood framed front loading cages, or do you just use whatever you have available?

I'm asking because I'm planning on making a similar rock cut for a larger permanent enclosure for my GBK, and I want to make sure she has enough space. In the past, I've always tried to maximize the floor area of the enclosure. Now, she seems to spend most of her time climbing on the vertical surface of the rock cut, so I'm considering something that is taller but not as deep front to back. Aquariums are a pain in many respects, so I'm thinking of building a front loader from scratch out of wood, so I can choose whatever dimensions I want. I'm thinking 24-30"Lx16"Wx24"Tall, which would make it slightly deeper and taller than a 29 gallon aquarium. Given the increase in usable space provided by the rock cut, I would think this is plenty big for an adult alterna, but I would appreciate any input.

Thanks in advance for any comments.

MZ