Planted Crestie viv build

[Pendragon]

Originally Posted by mike10205

Looks good Jay

My plan was to use styro foam and carve it on a cnc router
You can basically load a picture of anything and it will cavre that into the foam

I have a pic of a dry stone wall which looks great of the cnc

When you say epoxy do you mean the type used with fibreglass matting

How many coats did you give it before putting on the sand

Any type of sand or does any do the job
I have seen some putting pva glue on then covering it in sand and sealing it but again you get an unatural finish i think

New build looks good

Keep it up

Cnc router

Now we're talking, I would still go with the Kingspan as it doesn't bobble

The epoxy resin is West systems, it comes as two liquids that you mix together.

I painted the background first, then one coat of epoxy, put the sand on when wet, but put more on than you think, if damp patches show, then put more sand on, if you don't, when it drys it will look wet.

The sand is a mix of playsand/Zoomed exovator clay and exo terra red desert sand, I mixed up four tubs with different mixes so I could have different colours for my rock.

When this drys, it is as hard as nails.

Jay

[Bish]

That is simply stunning!!!

Im getting my first crestie soon and i want to convert my 24 x 18 x 24 exo into something like that for him/her.

Amazing....

Fancy doing me one

[Pendragon]

Originally Posted by Bish

That is simply stunning!!!

Im getting my first crestie soon and i want to convert my 24 x 18 x 24 exo into something like that for him/her.

Amazing....

Fancy doing me one

Hey Alex,

If I had the time I would love to

But to be honest, you will have a much easier time of it with an exo terra, if you get stuck drop me a p.m.

Jay

[Bish]

Originally Posted by jabba1967

Hey Alex,

If I had the time I would love to

But to be honest, you will have a much easier time of it with an exo terra, if you get stuck drop me a p.m.

Jay

Damn.... nearly had you doing me one.

I tell you what you could do though if you dont mind that is...?
Would it be possible if you were to tell me what type of expanding foam and silicone you used....as i may attempt a foam background this time.
Just ive never done one before so i just wanna make sure i get the right stuff.

Thankyou very muchly!

[Pendragon]

Originally Posted by Bish

Damn.... nearly had you doing me one.

I tell you what you could do though if you dont mind that is...?
Would it be possible if you were to tell me what type of expanding foam and silicone you used....as i may attempt a foam background this time.
Just ive never done one before so i just wanna make sure i get the right stuff.

Thankyou very muchly!

The foam is polycell, but I think they are all the same to be honest, the silicone is Dow Corning 781 "acetoxy".

Jay

[BOAndy]

To get moss growing first of all it needs to be warm & shaded from light, secondly it needs loads of moisture.

I'm a retired stone mason, and when we needed moss or a creeper such as Ivy to climb the stonework we got either of two things.

They are...

Straw soaked with Cow wee from a farmer, thats rubbed on to the stone wherever you want growth.
or
The more normal and not so smelly way of rubbing Natural Yogurt on to the stone.

We then mixed a small amount of the Natural Yogurt with sand and cement plus one part mushroom compost to point up the stonework.

You'll be surprised just how quick things start to grow as long as its not in direct light/sunlight..

They use this method to AGE garden Statues etc.

I hope this helps.

[Pendragon]

Originally Posted by BOAndy

To get moss growing first of all it needs to be warm & shaded from light, secondly it needs loads of moisture.

I'm a retired stone mason, and when we needed moss or a creeper such as Ivy to climb the stonework we got either of two things.

They are...

Straw soaked with Cow wee from a farmer, thats rubbed on to the stone wherever you want growth.
or
The more normal and not so smelly way of rubbing Natural Yogurt on to the stone.

We then mixed a small amount of the Natural Yogurt with sand and cement plus one part mushroom compost to point up the stonework.

You'll be surprised just how quick things start to grow as long as its not in direct light/sunlight..

They use this method to AGE garden Statues etc.

I hope this helps.

Cheers Andy,

I've heard of this "dairy produce" technique befor, I'll give it ago on some cork bark

Jay

[Niall W]

Amazing viv Jabba
I think i'm going to have a proper go at this when i get my viv. I was going to wait until i find out if my prospective uni allows pets to get a viv and gecko, but now you've inspired me to get my viv and do a proper project on it like this, as i'll be getting a gecko in my 2nd year even if i'm not allowed one in my first

That info on growing moss is also really helpful Andy mate

[xvickyx]

Looks amazing would love to do something like this for my Crestie You have inspired me!!!

[Pendragon]

Originally Posted by xvickyx

Looks amazing would love to do something like this for my Crestie You have inspired me!!!

Good girl, that's all I aim to do...Inspire

Good luck

Jay