New terrarium build

[Dennis Knowles]

So my beardie Rosco is quickly outgrowing his cage. I've decided to make my own terrarium via other DIY threads.
Here's Rosco a few days after we got him.

So first on the list was to build the frame for the new enclosure

Next was staining the wood with a safe water based stain

This ended up being a bit more of a pain, I wanted to go with a mahogany color and what I received ended up purple when it dried. So I ended up sanding off most of the stain and redoing it. Turned out much better but not exactly what I was going for.

I'm now in the process of making the styrofoam walls, then I plan on using a tile adhesive over the styrofoam to create the fake rocks.

This is my progress so far if anyone has some input or ideas let me know!

 

[PatsyB]

I would add a few more holes for ventilation in the sides.

 

[Dennis Knowles]

I was just reading a forum about ventilation. Before I get too far with the foam Ill be sure to add some more vents in the back, thanks! Has anyone tried using computer fans for air flow?

 

[Stephen Vokoun]

Looks awesome! Can't wait to see the finished product. What do you plans to put on the styrofoam? Grout? And then what sealant do you plan on using I'm gunna be building something like this but for much smaller in a 10 gallon

 

[Dennis Knowles]

So my plan is to use grout over the styrofoam, I'm still researching this as many of the diys for sealing in the grout make it look glossy. A forum I am building off of doesn't use a seal and I'm not sure that it is safe. If anyone has any experience with the grouting and knows if it must be sealed let me know. This is the finished terrarium I'm building off of.

 

[Stephen Vokoun]

That looks freaking amazing man! And I heard mod podge works good and I've seen a guy sprinkle sand on while he seals it and he said it helps takes a lot of the shine away!

 

[Dennis Knowles]

That's exactly what I said when I saw that terrarium, I'll have to give that a go with the sand on some test pieces and see how it turns out.

 

[Stephen Vokoun]

Yeah that's good I can not wait to see this all done! What are you using for a substrate?

 

[Jdubclark]

So my plan is to use grout over the styrofoam, I'm still researching this as many of the diys for sealing in the grout make it look glossy. A forum I am building off of doesn't use a seal and I'm not sure that it is safe. If anyone has any experience with the grouting and knows if it must be sealed let me know. This is the finished terrarium I'm building off of.
View attachment 13084

Very nice! I used grout only on my "furniture". Not only will sealing it make it safe, it'll keep the grout in place. As thick as I had to apply the grout, it would crumble and fall apart until I put a few coats of sealer on it (Mod Podge). It seems to be working great and I haven't seen any grout residue on the enclosure floor so it seems to be holding up well. I'm pretty certain I used a matte Mod-Podge which helps reduce the shine. I have a thread under "118 gal Beardie Mansion" if you'd like to see pictures of the finished product.

 

[Dennis Knowles]

I'm planing on grouting the floor as well so I don't have to worry about putting in tile or another substrate. I would really like to put the bio soil in there but I still want to do more research on that too.

 

[Jdubclark]

I'm planing on grouting the floor as well so I don't have to worry about putting in tile or another substrate. I would really like to put the bio soil in there but I still want to do more research on that too.

I grouted my floor as well. I used a very thin layer and did not seal it. The grout is holding up perfectly. The texture does make picking up poop a bit of a hassle but nothing a little hot water and a toothbrush can't resolve.

 

[Dennis Knowles]

Very nice! I used grout only on my "furniture". Not only will sealing it make it safe, it'll keep the grout in place. As thick as I had to apply the grout, it would crumble and fall apart until I put a few coats of sealer on it (Mod Podge). It seems to be working great and I haven't seen any grout residue on the enclosure floor so it seems to be holding up well. I'm pretty certain I used a matte Mod-Podge which helps reduce the shine. I have a thread under "118 gal Beardie Mansion" if you'd like to see pictures of the finished product.

Wow that turned out amazing! I'm going to try the matte Mod Podge on a few test pieces and see how it looks, my game plan as far as grouting is to use cement coloring to get a natural looking sandstone color. Then I'll have to figure out my sealing options, the Mod Podge with sand sounds like a good idea. I'm curious to see how that will turn out.

 

[Dennis Knowles]

I grouted my floor as well. I used a very thin layer and did not seal it. The grout is holding up perfectly. The texture does make picking up poop a bit of a hassle but nothing a little hot water and a toothbrush can't resolve.

I was worried about this too, I really wanted to put slate tile down but I felt like it was just going to be way too heavy. Anything other than repti carpet will be a relief when it comes to cleaning.

 

[Jdubclark]

Wow that turned out amazing! I'm going to try the matte Mod Podge on a few test pieces and see how it looks, my game plan as far as grouting is to use cement coloring to get a natural looking sandstone color. Then I'll have to figure out my sealing options, the Mod Podge with sand sounds like a good idea. I'm curious to see how that will turn out.

Thanks. It was a fun project but I was certainly glad to be done with it. Keep posting pics. Are you going with a solid front or sliding doors?

 

[Dennis Knowles]

Will do! And I'm going to go with sliding doors, today I finished adding the other vents and continuing cutting and stacking the foam. I'm going to use spray foam to fill in the gaps and then detail carve the rest of the foam by hand. Definitely a lot of work can't wait to finish. Here's where I'm at so far

 

[Jdubclark]

Will do! And I'm going to go with sliding doors, today I finished adding the other vents and continuing cutting and stacking the foam. I'm going to use spray foam to fill in the gaps and then detail carve the rest of the foam by hand. Definitely a lot of work can't wait to finish. Here's where I'm at so far View attachment 13088

That's going to be very nice! What are the dimensions? I like having the sliding doors. Really makes getting in the space a ton easier. You're either going to have to put your glass rails on the outside front and block both side edges or remove one of your front side posts or top rail to get the glass in. Originally I wasn't going to have sliding doors and decided after the fact so I just extended the front by putting the rails on the outside and then blocked the sides and covered it all up with the trim.

 

[Dennis Knowles]

That's going to be very nice! What are the dimensions? I like having the sliding doors. Really makes getting in the space a ton easier. You're either going to have to put your glass rails on the outside front and block both side edges or remove one of your front side posts or top rail to get the glass in. Originally I wasn't going to have sliding doors and decided after the fact so I just extended the front by putting the rails on the outside and then blocked the sides and covered it all up with the trim.

The dimensions are 2x2x4
I definitely agree with the sliding doors the glass tank I have now you can open from the front and it makes it very convenient.
As for installing the glass I'm going to put another block at the bottom and top with the rails in the block and then install. The only thing that I am worried about is if the 2x2 are plum the whole distance up so I don't have a gap. I might use a router to put a grove in the side to make sure the glass sits in both sides.

 

[Jdubclark]

The dimensions are 2x2x4
I definitely agree with the sliding doors the glass tank I have now you can open from the front and it makes it very convenient.
As for installing the glass I'm going to put another block at the bottom and top with the rails in the block and then install. The only thing that I am worried about is if the 2x2 are plum the whole distance up so I don't have a gap. I might use a router to put a grove in the side to make sure the glass sits in both sides.

You're on the right track for sure. I don't have a router but if I did I would have done exactly what your plan is. There is a real challenge making these things with right angles so that everything is plumb. That's where the trim comes in handy as it hides some of the minor tweaks I had to make to ensure the glass was flush against the edges.

 

[Dennis Knowles]

Thanks man, yeah I'm learning a lot along the way.

Today I finished foaming in the cracks and once that dries I'm going to start detailing the foam. Here it is as it stands

 

[Dennis Knowles]

So I have everything carved out and I'm ready for grouting. I plan on doing 2 layers of the grout without the cement dye and then two more layers with the dye. I picked up a red and yellow dye and I'll mix some test samples until I get the color I'm looking for.

Heres the foam carved out