DIY Home-made "realistic" Hides

[Jared2608]

This has to be the most legend idea I've heard in a while. I've been looking around, and Hides are so expensive for nice looking ones, and the snakes grow out of them, so it's kind of a waste.

I figured I could build one that looks like a pyramid, and one that looks like an African termite mound, since both those things tie into the whole ball python thing. Then I read that some people had problems with theirs dissolving, or going mushy from the humidity I guess. So I pondered a way to maybe make them more water tight, and I figured, why not try water based Polyurethane, since it dries to almost like plastic, and you can seal chipboard and ply wood cages with it. The first problem I could see with this is that the wet polyurethane might melt the whole thing...So, you would have to make the first coating very light, so that it dries before it can do much damage, maybe put it in front of a fan! Then from there you can make the second coat a bit thicker, and make a third final coat nice and thick. If you could get this to work, I think the Hides would be almost indestructible. Or you could spray it like normal with the spray on water proofing, and then give it a nice coat of polyurethane to seal it?

I am going to try this as soon as I have some spare cash to buy the polyurethane, it really sucks being a student, lol!!

If someone else wants to try this out, and make a dummy one just so we can see if the polyurethane idea works, that'd be awesome!!!

[Munizfire]

did you paint the inside too?

[aboutsnakes]

well done .. i might be using your technique

[Dirtyb762]

Has anyone tried to make square or rectangle pieces of the clay, bake them then attach them to eachother after they are hard? I'm trying to figure out how to make something to go around my waterfall that consists of a water pump and a rectangular sterlite container to make it look more natural.

[Twist]

I'm also doing this right now. Will post pics when it's done. ^^ my retic is starting to outgrow her hides.. When I was mixing it I was like what is this blasphemy.. it's all crumbly then I started mashing it into a ball with my hand and it all came together nicely. I'm going to have so much fun now. XD 40 minutes left for me.

[Quantum Constrictors]

Here is the hide I just made for my snake!

[c.nash]

So, I tried to make these years ago when I found the thread and could never get it right.
Now to today... I thought that I should try it again, first attempt sucked, but my next two... Well you can judge. Here they are before waterproofing and paint.
My ethos was a little different.
2 cups of flour, 3/4 cup of salt, 1tbsp olive oil, 1 cup water.
Then I bake for 1 hour with it on the form, then strip it, 30 minutes upside down and 30 minutes right side up. They turned out nice and hard, we'll see how they last. I plan to waterproof and paint them tomorrow to go into the enclosure on Tuesday.

Without further ado, here is a pic.

[M&H]

Curious if anyone has had any better luck with making these waterproof. Also I bought Thompson's Water Seal Clear Multi-Surface Waterproofer. Anyone tried using this? My thought is that it's water proofed sealer and not just water resistant. Not sure if this is a no go with reptiles.

[camel]

This is brilliant. Thank-you so much for the advice. I am definitely going to be making a few of these

[MootWorm]

Making mine right now!!!! I'm super excited about this. Got about 30 minutes left. Pure brilliance! Will post pics when they're complete-they're not so pretty right now lol