marcianus viv project

[-MARWOLAETH-]

After a week or two of sculpting,gluing and making a lot of mess (to the annoyance of my family) I finally came up with a rock wall that not only looks quite nice (from a distance:p) but will also satisfy my garters need to climb over and stick her head in every thing she comes across. She hasn't worked out that the sooner she starts eating again the sooner she'll be big enough to enjoy her nice new viv.
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That is the first layer of grout and when it dries I'll put 3 or 4 more over it.

[guidofatherof5]

Looks good.

[StrmChasr]

That's really cool.

[Thamnophis]

I love it!!

[-MARWOLAETH-]

Thanks guys I was wondering if I could house two females in it. It's 90x45x53 cm (36"x18"x21" in American)

[Greg'sGarters]

Something that I would suggest for the bedding is called Excavator by Zoo Med. It is really cool! It is a clay substrate. You just add water and compact it down in the tank and let it dry. It dries into a hard clay ground that feels really natural.

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The first picture is what the bag looks like, the second is what it would look like in your tank. In the second picture it is not really compacted down so it looks loose but if you press it down it looks like dried clay in a desert.

[chris-uk]

Looking good William. What did you end up using as the base material, did you go with Kingspan in the end?

[kueluck]

Wm, love the rock wall, nice job.

[-MARWOLAETH-]

Looking good William. What did you end up using as the base material, did you go with Kingspan in the end? I was using polystyrene.Next time I'll definitely be using kingspan.The poly bubbles got everywere:mad:

[Jeff B]

Thats awesome. Someday I would like to have a nice vivarium in the family room.

[-MARWOLAETH-]

Thats awesome. Someday I would like to have a nice vivarium in the family room.You should.Everyone should :p It's quite easy and very satisfying if you do a couple sketches of what you want,only problem is it takes quite a while to make. The benefit to your snakes will outweigh the disadvantages.It also works out cheaper as without it I'dd have to spend 40-50 quid on wood,fake plants,hides and cork ect But with this ,the material only cost me around £35 and all I'll need to do when it's done is plant some ivy and a few clumps of grass on the ledges and substrate.

[ConcinusMan]

only problem is it takes quite a while to make. The benefit to your snakes will outweigh the disadvantages

It doesn't have to take a long time. I have naturalistic viv's that take mere minutes to setup or break down. Doesn't have to cost much either. The latter statement is debatable but whether or not there are benefits to the snakes is irrelevant because there are definite benefits to the person who has such such a setup. For someone who has a huge number of snakes, it is impractical to have every snake living in a naturalistic vivarium but if you don't have at least one, or as many as you can practically maintain, but are instead keeping all your snakes in racks or other setups where they can't be viewed without disturbing them, you're missing out on a large part of the enjoyment of keeping snakes.

[Selkielass]

Beautiful!

[CrazyHedgehog]

wow, looks great!

[ProXimuS]

Lookin good William! When can you start on mine? :D

[Invisible Snake]

Cool video on making fake walls in a viv


http://youtu.be/wxsl2YvfZqg

[thamneil]

Very well done! Resembles the eroded limestone dens that the T. s. parietalis use up here.

[-MARWOLAETH-]

Thanks ,any chance of some pics?It'd be useful for future setup ideas:)

[thamneil]

Here is a picture taken by a friend. Cant really see the ground very well but it reminds me of your rock wall.

http://sphotos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/17852_1375104256796_8291630_n.jpg

[CrazyHedgehog]

Thanks again for the inspiration , how is yours. coming along?

[guidofatherof5]

That photo brings back the memories of my trip to the dens.

[thamneil]

Come back! I have a few "secret dens" in the area with very little traffic that you would love!

[-MARWOLAETH-]

Thanks again for the inspiration , how is yours. coming along?You should thank Thrasops over at RFUK because I nicked his setup ideas :p

I finished it but havent put pics up yet because of revision(Xbox) and all the festive b****cks.I'll try and get some pics up soon :D

[-MARWOLAETH-]

Finished! :D
79077908 (clicky for bigger pic)

[guidofatherof5]

Awesome.

[CrazyHedgehog]

Thats amazing!! :D
what did you seal yours with?
mine has a very shiney wet looking finish to it as I covered it all with resin so that I could wash them.
I really like the dry look you have but is it washable/easy to clean?

[chris-uk]

Very nice.
I need to get my finger out and build the 120cm viv which I'd love to have the same quality, and I've got a few ideas about ways to build some hides (with removable lids for access) into the Kingspan too.

[-MARWOLAETH-]

Thats amazing!! :D
what did you seal yours with?
mine has a very shiney wet looking finish to it as I covered it all with resin so that I could wash them.
I really like the dry look you have but is it washable/easy to clean?
I havent sealed it.Im not shure I'll need to because the floor grout is pretty tough stuff

[chris-uk]

I havent sealed it.Im not shure I'll need to because the floor grout is pretty tough stuff

You've painted over the floor grout though, or is the colour all added to the grout? You'll find that the grout discolours sooner or later and with a coat of sealer you'll find that the snake poo is easier to clean compared to getting it off the grout which is porous.

[-MARWOLAETH-]

The light colour is the grouts base colour for the darker I added some black acrylic.

Are there any sealers that wont make it shiny?

[chris-uk]

The light colour is the grouts base colour for the darker I added some black acrylic.

Are there any sealers that wont make it shiny?

Should be able to find some matt clear coat sealer at B&Q/Homebase/etc, but it won't be as matt a finish as you have now. For long-term durability I'd go with a coat of sealer.