DIY background/suggestions

So I've decided to make my snake a DIY background. But I want to do it completely SAFELY without any harmful chemicals or paints. Could someone help me out and lead me in the right direction? I would like full instructions. :) thanks! Also keeping it within a budget heehee.


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I've seen (tho never tried) two interesting techniques for both the structure and the finish.

Structure:
1 - polystyrene foam pieces, cut to resemble rocks and branches and whatever you want, glued to a board. Best for rocky walls and such.
2 - spray expanding foam, either on a board or directly in the enclosure. Place branches, hide and such on your base and spray all around. You can carve it to your liking once hardened.

Finish:
1 - a few layers of diluted tile cement on the foam, then water based paint to make it look like rock, wood etc.
2 - cover every piece of foam with a thick layer water based silicone, press some coco fiber substrate on it and let it dry. Remove the excess once dry.

Google is your friend for some pictures.

You can go in three directions:

Aste88's suggestion seems to be most popular with beardie enthusiasts. The geko and frog people tend to go with great stuff foam, Eco Earth dusting and cork bark inserts. You could just add plastic plants to this back ground. The third option (sort of DIY), is making an individual arrangement of various Mag Naturals type ledges and planters. You can order extra high-strength magnets to hold the weight of a climbing BP.

Google will deliver you lots of videos and how-to's on what ever you choose.

I did as explained above for my ackies cage... Used great stuff waterfall foam... Foam pieces glued into place to created texture and ledges. The foam has to be formed as its setting up, you pack it down as it set up and hardens.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aste88

I've seen (tho never tried) two interesting techniques for both the structure and the finish.

Structure:
1 - polystyrene foam pieces, cut to resemble rocks and branches and whatever you want, glued to a board. Best for rocky walls and such.
2 - spray expanding foam, either on a board or directly in the enclosure. Place branches, hide and such on your base and spray all around. You can carve it to your liking once hardened.

Finish:
1 - a few layers of diluted tile cement on the foam, then water based paint to make it look like rock, wood etc.
2 - cover every piece of foam with a thick layer water based silicone, press some coco fiber substrate on it and let it dry. Remove the excess once dry.

Google is your friend for some pictures.

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I've decided to go with the spray foam stuff on a piece of corrugated plastic so I can remove the background when needed. I have seen a few videos the only thing I'm concerned about is cleaning the background ?


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make a background with a T-Rex skeleton in it like this: https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...nd-in-progress

:gj:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Medduussa

I've decided to go with the spray foam stuff on a piece of corrugated plastic so I can remove the background when needed. I have seen a few videos the only thing I'm concerned about is cleaning the background ?


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Use the black spray foam..its used in outdoor waterfalls alot...

Great Stuff Brand

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Touch-N-F...&wl13=&veh=sem

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If you look at the very bottom left corner, you can see the white plastic material I used for my background..cant remember what its called, purchased at lowes or home depot... I attached foam to it to make a base, even made a shelf in the corner.... Then sprayed the foam over the foam pieces, as the black landscaping foam was hardening,I squished n shaped it by hand how I wanted it to look, you have to work pretty quickly though. I never had to do any cutting of my background at all, was all hand shaped.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...864bd5844c.jpg

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Heres what it looked like after painting and such... Not a great pic as was taken during a tear down and clean up for different critter.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...83f730f0e7.jpg

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Here is a pic from when it was 1st completed...its not exactly like this anymore..but close. This habitat use to be a store jewelry display case... It had thick plate glass in the top as well, but we took it out and made a new top for lighting and heating...and added a plexi dam in front to contain substrate...https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...806168f24b.jpg

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