tile substrate

[sincityshooter]

i like the tile look, do you guys adhere it to the floor of the tank then use grout between the tiles or just grout, or nothing at all?

also the reptile carpet pet stores sell, is it easy to clean, i may consider the carpet

 

[BadCon]

Carpet is nice, but tough to clean...and can harbor backteria. I personally use loose slate tiles (6"x6"), and no grout between them. For a juvinile, the cracks between the tiles might cause a problem, but for an adult there are no issues. Baby beardies should be housed on paper towels until at least 12" long anyways...

Tiles are easy to clean too, and keeping them loose allows you to remove the soiled tiles and replace with fresh, all the while you take your time cleaning the soiled ones. Makes it possible to really sterilize the tiles too, as you can bake them in an oven.

 

[sincityshooter]

I think im going to start with shelf liner, then once there bigger move to tile.

 

[kalipbean]

Shelf line gets dirty to quick, i use tiles and works good

 

[fkalb]

I just laid tiles down in Thors VIV.. put 3 or 4 layers of newspaper underneath incase there is any spill or mess. This way its super easy to clean and change things. Ive had Thor on there since baby and havent had a problem

 

[zebraflavencs]

I sealed all the tiles in all my vivs glass or custom with.... 100% Silicone. Just cut to fit snugly and run the bead around the outer edge of the tile, and an X in the middle, then place it carefully and press down. Once all are in, allow for at least 48 hours or until you don't smell that ammonia smell that Silicone has. I waited a week, to be certain, and ran a fan over it for circulation.

Hope this helps out !
Janie.

 

[lokey]

TILE, it is the best and cleanest and easy to clean. i use non-scented baby wipes to clean up Princess Leia's Viv and they leave it gleaming.
one thing though, if you decide to tile the vivarium, make sure you use tiles that have some roughness to them, not smooth ones.
The tiles in the Vivarium i built have been grouted in, there isn't much need of adhesive once they are grouted in, also the adhesive can be toxic.

 

[leelasmom]

I just got done with my tiling project. What a process!

- I cut a piece of 1/4 inch plywood to use as a base, and put a coat of mold & mildew resistant Kilz on both sides and let that dry for 24 hours.

- I placed all the 6x6 inch slate tiles on the board to see how they looked and to decide where I wanted them, since they not all exactly the same, which is nice. Picked out the corner pieces first, like a puzzle.
(Home Depot - $3.75 for a pack of 4; I got about 6 packs to have extra just in case. They also have 3x3's.)

- I used the sanded grout that is actually in a caulking tube (it's siliconized, plus mold &mildew resistant) to "glue" them on to the board. Then my friend came over to help me cut the last row of tiles since there was about a 1/4 inch overlap. That was difficult, truth be told, since I put it in an existing glass terrarium, not one that I made. I'm not THAT handy! :lol:
Plus, I have found that slate tiles aren't easy to cut, but I don't have a tile cutter so we got creative with a dremmel.

- The next morning, I grouted in between all the tiles and around the sides to make sure there were no holes or crevices for crickets to hide in or for moisture to ruin anything.

- Once everything was secure and dry, I gave it a good scrub and let it dry all day. By evening, it was ready to go! Up next is making rock wall!

The Viv looks bare but I wanted to get a good pic of the floor.

 

[ajo]

Looks great! I am sure you and leela will love it!

If you don't mind me asking, how did you rig up the dremel to cut tile, especially slate? How did it work out? The tile looks like it was cut clean, but you can't really see the edges on the right in the picture. I had the same problem with about a 1/4 inch of overlap due to the seals/glass width of my viv. I had Lowes cut down half of the tiles by 1/16" on two sides (they took more like a 1/4" off.. :| ) but there were still some good sized gaps around the edges of my viv, so i filled them in with clean, sifted playsand so that small feeders wouldn't be able to hide in the crevices.

I would like to trim up some new pieces as backups for when I clean the viv, but don't trust Lowes to cut them to size. I do however have a dremel, but all of the cutting attachments I have found say "not for use on floor tile" or they don't list slate as something it can cut.

 

[leelasmom]

Looks great! I am sure you and leela will love it!

If you don't mind me asking, how did you rig up the dremel to cut tile, especially slate? How did it work out? The tile looks like it was cut clean, but you can't really see the edges on the right in the picture. I had the same problem with about a 1/4 inch of overlap due to the seals/glass width of my viv...
I would like to trim up some new pieces as backups for when I clean the viv, but don't trust Lowes to cut them to size. I do however have a dremel, but all of the cutting attachments I have found say "not for use on floor tile" or they don't list slate as something it can cut.

Thanks! It was my first time playing with tile, and I'm proud of how it came out. Certainly, it gave me confidence for future projects! I personally did not use the Dremmel; our friend John came over to help and he did all the cutting. This is kind of embarrasing, since we weren't really sure what to do!

After some unsuccesful attempts at straight cutting with a rotary bit, what he ultimately ended up doing was using a small drill bit on the Dremmel to groove out the part of the tile that needed to be cut. Then, he poked holes in the grooves and we chiseled off the parts that would overlap. The chiseling worked well, but of course left lots of unsafe jagged edges. So he smoothed them out with a grinder attachment; this worked out well.

When we finally got the tile floor into the viv, there were still some gaps on the sides that I simply "stuffed up" with small weatherproofing strips! No worries - Leela couldn't care less about them so she isn't trying to eat them!

 

[leelasmom]

...I had Lowes cut down half of the tiles by 1/16" on two sides (they took more like a 1/4" off.. :| ) but there were still some good sized gaps around the edges of my viv, so i filled them in with clean, sifted playsand so that small feeders wouldn't be able to hide in the crevices.

I forgot to mention this - I went through all the Dremmel drama b/c I thought cutting the slate tiles w/ a regular tile cutter wouldn't work. Someone told me that, and I just took it for truth. Did you have trouble with any of them breaking or cracking??

Also, I was not aware that Lowes would cut tiles for you. As I said, I got these at Home Depot and it's very difficult to find anyone there to help you, never mind requesting them to do anything for you. No offense to anyone who works at HD or has friends/family who do - I'm talking about the HD nearest to me, not all of them!

 

[Maize]

I just finished my grouting on my new viv. I'm just waiting for grout to dry, I will then clean it up and then seal it. I used slate from Lowes or Home Depot and and broke them into different shapes.


Before grout



After Grout

 

[leelasmom]

Wow, Maize, that is really nice! And what a great idea!

I wish I thought of that - it would have been MUCH easier. :roll:

 

[Maize]

Wow, Maize, that is really nice! And what a great idea!

I wish I thought of that - it would have been MUCH easier. :roll:

Thanks! This is my first custom Viv. I was going to just lay the square tiles down but decided to try this and it came out nice. The Viv is bigger then I planned, but I guess more the merrier...atleast for Maize!

Did you ever get your wall done?

Also, did you seal the tile with sealer?

 

[leelasmom]

Thanks! This is my first custom Viv. I was going to just lay the square tiles down but decided to try this and it came out nice. The Viv is bigger then I planned, but I guess more the merrier...atleast for Maize!

Did you ever get your wall done?

Also, did you seal the tile with sealer?

I'm still "shopping around" for wall ideas - and I think your floor gave me some inspiration! Certainly it will be easier to do that than trying to cut them all perfectly to size. Again, wish I thought of it first.

I didn't use tile sealer, since I wanted it to remain a rough surface. Do you think I should have? The grout I used was not traditional powder grout mixed w/ water - it was from a caulking tube. I picked it because it has a sanded texture, is mold/mildew resistant, and is siliconized. I have no complaints about it at all - very easy to use and looks great!