DIY hide material questions... whatcha think?

[LittleTreeGuy]

So, I recently built a cave/hide/basking spot for my bearded dragon using a DIY instructable I found. I'm thinking about making some hides for my BP out of it, but wanted to get some opinions...

Here is how it works....

Take some Styrofoam (I'm using basic white Styrofoam like the cheap coolers are made from, also sold in small sections for insulating small areas 12"x36" I think I have). You then glue it together however you see fit, and using a sharp knife/sanding block, whatever... shape to the desired form. Then you get some sanded grout and mix it and "paint" it on the foam, inside and out. Use 2 or 3 coats and then a few coats of water-based polyacrylic sealer. This process allows you to make any size/shape you can think of, any color (that you can find or make the grout) and is fairly lightweight, easy to clean, etc.

Now, My question to the Ball Python Lords of knowledge (yes, that's you guys) . The finish on this has a rough texture... almost like that of sandstone, or a coarse finger nail file. Is that too coarse for a BP to be up against? My dragon I'm not worried about, but I didn't know about the soft belly of a bp. Of course, in the wild, I'm sure they don't mind rocks... I just don't want to cause any skin abrasions or anything like that.

Your thoughts/input are greatly appreciated.

[Paty]

I made my entire background out of foam covered in grout then used acrylic sealer. The surface of the grout, even with the sealer is still similar to what you're describing. My BP has lived in this enclosure for about 8 months now without a problem. He's 11 years old (baby snakes' skin may be more sensitive). I've seen him use the grouted areas of the enclosure to help him shed too. So far I haven't seen any scratches or anything like that on him at all so I'm already planning out the next (and bit smaller) enclosure for him and I'm probably going to make the background the same way again.

[OTorresUSMC]

Any chance you could post a link to this instructional? Sounds like a nice method and ive been toying with the idea of making custom hides. Optimally i would just like to build one around the reptile basics hides i use. This way the snakes get the great security of those hides and i get the aesthetics of something rock looking

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[CALM Pythons]

Patys had the nicest Background Ive ever seen. However I clean the enclosues a couple times a week and the snakes get piss and everything on all that stuff so I now use PVC only for hides and climbing sticks for cleaning purposes..

[Craiga 01453]

Patys had the nicest Background Ive ever seen. However I clean the enclosues a couple times a week and the snakes get piss and everything on all that stuff so I now use PVC only for hides and climbing sticks for cleaning purposes..

Paty's background is awesome!! That enclosure has got to be the best I've seen too. I've thought about something like that for my King's 40 gal breeder

[Paty]

Thanks guys I'm flattered! I'm still trying to sell the tank... I think I found the method on youtube.

It's super simple, I'll try to explain:
I cleaned out the empty tank as good as I could.
Then used expanding foam (great stuff from home Depot, comes in a spray bottle with a straw tip thing).
With the tank on its back, cover the background. Let that dry, then do the sides he same way, turning the tank so the side you're covering is down. The foam will run if you don't have the work site flat on the ground.
The shelves are made of a single 1" sheet of insulating foam cut out with a knife. I had to go back into the expanding foam with a knife to cut out slits to slide the shelves in but I think, it would be easier to press them into the foam when it's still wet.
Then just got a bucket of grout. I needed a 1gal bucket of ready grout for my 100gal tank. Used a paintbrush to paint it onto the foam.
Once that was dry I went over the parts where the grout cracked while it was drying.
Once it was mostly Crack free and dry, I sprayed it with grout sealer, and then with an acrylic sealer.
After everything inside is done, I spray painted the outside of the tank with blackboard spray paint because that yellow foam is not very pretty to look at from outside.


Since I'm selling mine, and building a new one (this time the entire tank from scratch) I could take pictures of the process for the new one. It'll be a couple if weeks still because I just finished the tank's blue print so I'll have to go in the shop and build it. It's going to be acrylic with this same background in it.

[Paty]

I'm also making all the hides myself this time and I'll take pictures of that too. The first one I've made is a simple flour, salt sort of dough, baked, painted, and sealed.