Building 5x2x2 Rock Mountain!

[tatteberry]

Hello, I am a bit new here but I wanted to show my cage build. I followed a similar build on here from "dragonov". his build really helped me and so I thought I would add mine to help others as well. The cage I am Building is for my beardie named Rocky. I will be making the cage 5X2X2 and doing a similar landscape idea from "dragonov". Let me know if you guy have and questions!


I started out by building the out of 2x2's that i picked up from HomeDepot.



Yes you guys can bash my clamp job :lol:



Main frame finished and ready to get started

 

[Claudiusx]

Nice project! I will be following along.

Why bash the clamp job? That right there is innovation at its finest! :mrgreen:

-Brandon

 

[tatteberry]

Next I started on the foam! I wanted to create a fun yet safe layout of my beardie. These next few pictures will show the basic bottom half of the foam landscape.















lookout / basking spot 8)

 

[tatteberry]

Nice project! I will be following along.

Why bash the clamp job? That right there is innovation at its finest! :mrgreen:

I soon after borrowed more clamps from a neighbor. They helped a lot!

 

[tatteberry]

Getting a little more Detailed with the bottom half and gluing towards the end. To get the rough rock look that i wanted I tried a few different ways. One was breaking up the foam with my fingers. This worked pretty well but got foam just about everywhere that you don't want it. The second way that I tried was cutting it with a saw blade then using my fingers to rough it up. This was a little bit better but still pretty messy. The third way that i tried was with a butane torch. Not the kind that your going to use to hack off a stuck bold on a rusty car. Just a small handheld that you would use for making Crème brûlée. I think this way worked the best. The torch that I have is adjustable so you can use a larger flame for the bigger pieces of foam. Be careful, foam doesn't last long with fire.

 

[dragonov]

Great job so far! It's looking really good already. And I see that you anticipated your wiring having to go out of your viv at some point, unlike me... :lol: Great job on the pics too, I'll be following this one!

 

[tatteberry]

Great job so far! It's looking really good already. And I see that you anticipated your wiring having to go out of your viv at some point, unlike me... :lol: Great job on the pics too, I'll be following this one!

Thanks! and yes I will get a little more detailed pictures of the wiring when I get there. I have slots cut out for the power strip and timers in the upper sections of foam.


Anyone use Night bulbs? was thinking about it. I think ill leave room for one just in case. Depending on the temps i'm getting, I will decide from there

 

[w0554096]

It's looking really good so far. I'm bashing my head for not thinking of the butane torch. I have one that barely gets used, and I'm still vaccuming pieces of styrefoam up a month after doing my rocks.

Night bulbs can work depending on your beardie's routines. I really wanted night bulbs for aestetic reasons in our vivs, but one of my dragons likes to sleep right on her basking spot, and if I try to cover her with a blanket to block out the light, she will move. She doesn't move much, just enough to that her head is sticking out and any type of light disrupts her sleep. SO, she has a CHE for nightime.

My other female however will search out the darkest most secluded spot in the viv for bedtime. I put a little beardie blanket in the tunnel we made for her, and she's completely covered at night, so we were able to put a black bulb in her enclosure. I found however, that with all of the foam, wood and glass, even with lots of ventilation, anytype of nightime bulb makes the viv too hot. Their temps stay at about 75 most nights without any added heat, so the black bulb and CHE don't get much use, unfortunately. At least they're there in case it does get cold.

 

[tatteberry]

It's looking really good so far. I'm bashing my head for not thinking of the butane torch. I have one that barely gets used, and I'm still vaccuming pieces of styrefoam up a month after doing my rocks.

Night bulbs can work depending on your beardie's routines. I really wanted night bulbs for aestetic reasons in our vivs, but one of my dragons likes to sleep right on her basking spot, and if I try to cover her with a blanket to block out the light, she will move. She doesn't move much, just enough to that her head is sticking out and any type of light disrupts her sleep. SO, she has a CHE for nightime.

My other female however will search out the darkest most secluded spot in the viv for bedtime. I put a little beardie blanket in the tunnel we made for her, and she's completely covered at night, so we were able to put a black bulb in her enclosure. I found however, that with all of the foam, wood and glass, even with lots of ventilation, anytype of nightime bulb makes the viv too hot. Their temps stay at about 75 most nights without any added heat, so the black bulb and CHE don't get much use, unfortunately. At least they're there in case it does get cold.

Awesome! Great info to help me along. I guess a little trial and error will be in order to create the perfect environment. The torch works wonders for clean up, even just cutting a straight line I cleaned up the foam chards with it.

Thanks for the info!

 

[tatteberry]

Here are a few of the foam meeting to top. Still in the process of getting lights mounted and a little bit hidden so you cant see the lights from the front of the cage.

Panoramic photo makes it look a little bit funny but kinda cool.

 

[danndann7]

I like the progress a lot! Between you and dragonov I can't tell who's done better but you've both have done exceptionally well. I finished my 52x26x26...(weird dimensions, I know but tile from home depot comes in 13x13 pieces, so they fit perfectly with those dimensions lol.) I have a bit going on for the interior, but id love to get something going like what you have here. I just don't know where to get Styrofoam Lmao
Keep up the great work!! Gotta spoil the beardies!

 

[tatteberry]

I like the progress a lot! Between you and dragonov I can't tell who's done better but you've both have done exceptionally well. I finished my 52x26x26...(weird dimensions, I know but tile from home depot comes in 13x13 pieces, so they fit perfectly with those dimensions lol.) I have a bit going on for the interior, but id love to get something going like what you have here. I just don't know where to get Styrofoam Lmao
Keep up the great work!! Gotta spoil the beardies!

I bought the foam from homedepot two sheets 1"x12"x8' cut in half to fit in my mini cooper. Then they had an 4 sheet pack of 1/2" x 12" x 4' (same as 1" sheets just pre cut and packaged) and thats all I used. Cost me about $15-$25 (guessing, I bought other stuff while I was there). Homedepot will cut the big sheets to fit in your car.

Another thing to think about since you already have the tiles in. You can make removable pieces. or just have the tiles as your base ( I thought about doing this for easy cleanup, then I remembered I have a shotvac. and that gets everything)

 

[danndann7]

That sounds good too! Instead of making an entire background out of it, My plan was basically making a few things that he can climb on, and hide in. Right now he is small enough to bask on his tree, but when he gets bigger he will need something bigger. So I figured I could turn it into a project rather than taking the easy way out and just buying something. Feels better to know you put the work into it!

 

[tatteberry]

That sounds good too! Instead of making an entire background out of it, My plan was basically making a few things that he can climb on, and hide in. Right now he is small enough to bask on his tree, but when he gets bigger he will need something bigger. So I figured I could turn it into a project rather than taking the easy way out and just buying something. Feels better to know you put the work into it!

Im going to be doing that for my smaller tank right when im done. I have another beardie on the way

 

[tatteberry]

Finished gluing tonight. Going to do the lights tomorrow and maybe start the grouting.