Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone know how to make synthetic rock designs, to go on the sides of the inside of a cage? I would love to know and i bet my collard would love to know too, thanks you all.

They all have made some very nice ones. DC had some pics just awhile ago on here of the ones he had made. Very Awesome natural looking. Just post and say YOOOOOOOOOO hehheheheh Eve

LOL...just kidding. I have gotten lots and lots of supplies together, just need some time. I just got some liquid latex in the other day. I'm going to make some texture mats to transfer onto some cementious rocks...

J. Eddington

....still waiting to find the time to do up a tank with the sides and back all slathered up. I use layer cake/icing (or cow flop) technology on mine, making a rough sculpted base out of layers of styrofoam and coating that with dyed thinset mortar. Haven't tried the texture pads yet, but Mr. E is working that particular avenue and should have something for us to see before long. Those new textured soy protein/filter sand composites cast over Velveeta forms should prove very durable LOL.

Here's another look at my last fake:

DC

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I've got the blues...LOL...them screamin' yellow-head blues...

This was actually learned from real rock (ha, ha I learned from a rock)...I recieved a tank that had feather stone pieces glued to the back...it was a fish tank, but I thought it would be great for the herps. What I found out, and this probably won't apply to sand afterall, is that the toenails stick like CRAZY in the featherstone...a sure nail jerker. It will keep them nicely manicured. I may have to use this tank for some lizards that don't climb so much.

John

...of which you speak, is it a sort of volcanic glassy mineral with billions of enlongated air bubbles frozen in place? I can see how that would be a drag to stick one's toenails in if its the same stuff I'm thinking about. The sandy texture dosen't seem like it would 'trap" a nail in the same way, though I'm sure it would be super easy for the collareds to climb right to the top of anything with that sort of texture. Mine can grip the tape-on thermometer against the glass and boost up on it LOL. Jumbo should be the List Authority on the mortared back and sides, if I'm remembering right.
*I* am the List Authority on Very Fake Sprigs, pictured below again to enhance your enjoyment LOL.

DC

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I've got the blues...LOL...them screamin' yellow-head blues...

I love the rock though...really is nice.

Plastic parsley is as good as Yellow Dandelions, since my lizards wouldn't touch either on a bet. I always thought parsley was the dominant plant species in the Chijuajuan Desert, I was just trying to make them feel at home LOL.

DC

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I've got the blues...LOL...them screamin' yellow-head blues...

or is that a real lizard??????? *Falling off my chair* Eve

how do you make those anyway? i just want a small little one that my collared can bask on and sleep in..

..a REAL rock should be no problem. The reason I make these fakes is so I can have a nice, large basking site that weighs 4 lbs instead of 90 LOL. Its a bit of a strain on both me and the glass bottom of the tanks to use giant real rocks. Plus, I like to make them with perfectly flat bottoms and no places a cricket can scoot under and hide that a lizard can't follow them into. The ability to provide a cave as a hide in the back side of these "rocks" is kind of cool too. Really, I just glue up some layers of 3/4" styrofoam and sculpt it roughly to the sort of shape I want, then coat it with about 3/8" of colored thin-set mortar or grout.

DC
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I've got the blues...LOL...them screamin' yellow-head blues...