Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Right now I am working on remodeling my room. When I am done with this project I am going to start on my display cage for my BP. My mom is finding me a display cage from her work and I am going to sand it and refinish it. I am going to do fake rock on the 2 sides, the back and 1/2 of the bottom. I was looking to make the waterdish built in like the one on the post I linked. I need to know what would be the best thing to seal the fake rock with so that it would withstand the water. Also the cge is made out of wood, I am heating it with flexwatt, I have been using it for some time but always under the tank... Myidea for this tnk was to cut a slot so I could slide the flexwatt in and out of one side of the cage with a slate tile over it inside the cage. I was wondering if anyone sees any problem with this and if the wood/sealer could stand up to the heat. Sorry for the long post, but any info will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Fake rock w/ water dish

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"Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are." - Kurt Cobain

"You laugh at me because I am different; I laugh at you because you are all the same."

~~ Krystal ~~

Hi Krystal,

I only have access to a slow dial-up connection and did not want to try to look at the site you listed. However, I will tell you that I highly recommend making your fake-rock water bowl removable to make cleaning easier.

I really like Envirotex Epoxy for sealing fake rock water bowls. Try to make the interior of the water bowl as smooth as possible before coating it with the EE. This will reduce surface area where bacteria can thrive. EE is available in small kits if you don't want to coat the entire cage with it.

If the water bowl looks too boring this way (which I doubt) you can add gravel etc to the bottom to add some texture. Again, this will be easy to remove and keep clean.

Without seeing the cabinet that you and your mom pick out I can't say the best way to use an UTH. As you know, I always like the idea of cutting a hole out of the floor that is a few inches longer and wider than the size of your UTH/flexwatt. Then coat the entire floor with a piece of PVCX for ease of cleaning and heat conductivity. Although slate may also work well.

Lastly, a question for you. A friend of mine in New Jersey recently was bitten by the snake bug. More specifically his young kids were. He wants to get a ball python but does not want to get one of these "farm raised" BP's. Instead he wants a "true" captive born and bred specimen.

Do you know anyone in NJ or who will be at the PA Hamburg show that he can trust? I know it's hard to do since so many of the top breeders buy farm raised BP's and sell them as CB by their stock, but he's willing to pay a bit more for this.

Hey, i know of a good breeder that usually attends the hamburg show. HIs nam is Rick Denmon and he is the owner of ball boutique (ballboutique.com). He produces some awesome BP's (mainly morphs). But he probably has some 50% possible het males to sell for like $100. He also produces some normals every year. I am not sure if he has any normals or 50% possible hets, but if he is there his table is definately gonna be cool.
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0.1 "Tremper" looking Albino Leopard gecko (Lex)
0.0.1 tiger crested gecko (peachs)
1.1 Feral cats that we adopted (Fuzzy, and Bear)

Hey Chris,

You always are the first to help me out, thanks!

"I only have access to a slow dial-up connection and did not want to try to look at the site you listed."

Its a post from this forum, shouldent be too hard to open.

" However, I will tell you that I highly recommend making your fake-rock water bowl removable to make cleaning easier. "

verry possible, my only thing was the way it looks built in was appealing, and my BP is known for rearranging his cage and flipping his bowl over.

"I really like Envirotex Epoxy for sealing fake rock water bowls."

I have read up on this per your previous posts and it looks like an AWESOME thing to use, but also looks expencive and hard to come across unless I order it online. Is there any other resin or epoxy I could get at Home Depot or something?

"Try to make the interior of the water bowl as smooth as possible before coating it with the EE."

I plan on it, between me and my dad and the experience we have, should be nearly perfectly smooth.

"Without seeing the cabinet that you and your mom pick out I can't say the best way to use an UTH."

I will post a pic when we FINALLY gt it here.

"As you know, I always like the idea of cutting a hole out of the floor that is a few inches longer and wider than the size of your UTH/flexwatt."

Yep your idea

"Then coat the entire floor with a piece of PVCX for ease of cleaning and heat conductivity. Although slate may also work well."

I was going to use the slate over the flexwatt, but is the sealed wood under it safe?

As for your friend and the show ... I have a few people I know who are trustworthy, one I am almost positive will be there, let me check on that and I will let you know if he will have anything good.

Thanks again Chris!
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"Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are." - Kurt Cobain

"You laugh at me because I am different; I laugh at you because you are all the same."

~~ Krystal ~~

My friend said h knows someone who will be at the pittsburg show in may, but none for Hamburg.
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"Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are." - Kurt Cobain

"You laugh at me because I am different; I laugh at you because you are all the same."

~~ Krystal ~~