cage ideas in the making

Marc10edora

Avid Member
I'm in the process of designing my new enclosure for my female veiled and was wondering about one of the ideas I had in mind. I am planning to use a plastic bottom with a drain hole in it. But I don't want the bottom to be just a plain color. I was thinking of getting a plastic sheet printed with a forest ground picture so that it will look like soil. But my concern is, will my female get confused when she goes to lay her eggs? I will always provide an egg laying site for her also. Also I will sculpt a backwall in the shape of a giant tree trunk. This will be made out of foam. Should I coat the foam with some kind of hardener before I paint it? Also, I plan on sculpting a face into the trunk, like the trees in the lord of the rings movies. Will you think my cham will be scared of it?
 
Awesome link. I can't wait to incorporate this into my enclosure. Have you tried to make this yet? How did it go?
 
I've kinda scratched the tree trunk idea. Now I want to sculpt the background to look like a peice of Skull Island from the movie King Kong. There will be lots of cliffs and vegitation. Then at the top, I will make a small platform with a gateway and bowl. This will be her feeding cup. Sort of like a sacrifice area to put woms in...lol. If I decide to go way over board, I want to make a little cage on a chain that I can lower crickets into the cage with, as a sacrifice... lol. I love to sculpt in my spare time. Most of the time i'm either sculpting, watching my cham or on the computer.
 
Lots of people use "Great stuff" to make backgrounds for dart frog terrariums.

you have to let it "Cure" though-- otherwise it will be toxic.

i lost all my good links on the topic---

but there is a dart frog forum with lots of information on the subject. I'm sure people there would be glad to help you out if you have any questions.

here's the link
http://dendroboard.com
 
Awesome link. I can't wait to incorporate this into my enclosure. Have you tried to make this yet? How did it go?

I tried something similar but did not turn out that well. Mainly because I can not paint that great.

I was actually going to start decorating a cage I am building next week. I was thinking of mixing two things I have seen. One part will be something I have seen in alot of bearded dragon cages and that is styrafoam covered with grout (or concrete). The other is using expandable foam covered with silicone, peat moss and may trie to add some ground up moss for some color. What I am going for is to create a rocky bottom with soil and moss growing on the top. This is for a veiled and have decided on trying something like this after looking at alot of pictures.

This is a picture near Dhamar. Looks like an area where a veiled chameleon would like and populations are a little further east to my understanding.

dhamar1.jpg

I think you can see what I am talking about with the rocks. All the pictures I see of Yemen have rocks all over the place. Plus I am hoping it will reflect some light in the lower areas.
 
The other is using expandable foam covered with silicone, peat moss and may trie to add some ground up moss for some color. What I am going for is to create a rocky bottom with soil and moss growing on the top.

Will you be able to keep the moss growing on the rocks (doesn't it need to be constantly damp)? And won't it be difficut to clean the droppings from it if it is on the bottom of the cage? Or are you trying to create a planted bottom? just curious..

As for background.. dry eco earth works well on the silicone. I have this in some of my dart tanks. You can also sculpt the great stuff first to look like whatever you wish.. or add some tree bark.. or broms.. just ideas..
 
Thanks for posting the pic. I've been searching like crazy for a pic that shows a natural veiled habitat. I just couldn't find one. Now I might plan my cage to look closer to that type of enviornment. Also, when I start painting my cage background, I will post up a good painting tutorial. I have alot of experience, when it comes to painting sculptures. In my spare time, I sculpt and paint my own statues. There are a couple of basic techniques that can really help alot. Especially when painting something to look realistic. You wouldn't beleive how easy it can be. Expect that tutorial in about 2-3 weeks. In the mean time, if you want to look up any sculpture painting techniques, search for things that relate to toy model painting or dry brushing techniques.
 
Jordan and Marc,

Just remember if you guys get too crazy creating your "zoo-quality" environments, you're going to have to increase your enclosure dimensions.
If you take up half the space with mountains and tree trunks, the cage size needs to be half again as large so you're not stealing space from it's future inhabitant.
Regardless of that, all these ideas look and sound very cool!

-Brad
 
Sal I will not be using real moss. I am going to mince up some moss (like the craft store kind) and mix it in on certain areas to give it some color. I actually got the idea from a couple members on here.

I want it to look like some bushes that are growing next to some boulders on a hill side. No planted bottom. I guess it is kind of hard to say what I got in my head without having pictures.

This is for my lady. The intrusion inside the living space for me will not warrant extra size. It should be the equal to 100 gallon space or close. She is in a 65 gallon cage so she will have some extra running room.

The one I am considering for my male is 4'w x2'd x4't and depending on how this turns out I may do similar things.
 
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