# My natural crestive viv attempt



## Trissai (Apr 25, 2010)

after looking through a couple of threads in the planted tank section, I got to thinking that i would like try to create my own, for my little crestie. 

some background research revealed that New caledonia is similar to the fiji areas (i think) and after browsing some pics of fiji and an inspiring build by jay (pendragon) http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/planted-vivariums/519243-planted-crestie-viv-build-mkii.html

I thought id have a go too. I like the lava rock effect that jay used and decided i would use the same method.

Heres Dante's current viv



 Heres my shiny new 45cm cubed exo terra that santa brought me :2thumb:


 
The recommended polystyrene is high density polystyrene, most people seem to use Kingspan which is higher quality that what i used, because i am a cheapskate  the stuff i used however is £4 for a 50x1200cm sheet, it seems to be a lower density than kingspan which meant i had to change jays method of stabbing a plaster knife in and twisting to pop the chunks out to get the volcanic look. 
This is what i used its called Space board from B&Q, and was next to the jablite stuff.



You join me after one evenings worth of work on it. Here i have cut the board to fit one corner and create a small hide.



Here is a close up of the volcanic rock effect:


 
It was achieved (after some trial and error) by pulling a sharp serrated knife horizontally or at about 45*, a couple of pulls across rips out a few chunks and starts to give a nice effect. Its quite speedy too. The serrated knife is the best way of cutting this stuff too, as if you saw with it you get a nice smooth finish. This stuff is quite easy to sand down as well.

Next is the the cliff/hidey bit that is set in the top left corner. 




This was achieved by just wittling the shape out of a square of board. I will later filler in the gaps, and silicone it to the back piece and the glass to the side.

I am currently experimenting with my paint scheme. This is my first attempt which looks pretty good. Its a dark brown, with two lighter browns drybrushed on top. 

Im using B&Q own brand emulsion
Base: Cocoa Bean
Drybrush 1: lavender grey
Drybrush 2: chocolate milkshake

I will mix sand and matt varnish in to the base coat for strength and texture. And I am considering a Black base coat with a cocoa bean drybrush but with more paint on the brush. we'll see how it goes.

without flash



with flash.



Ill update as i go : victory:

Tris


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## XxTOTTYxX (Feb 6, 2008)

looking good so far : victory:

I want to do the pebble one with running water in for mine


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## jamie_sri (Nov 3, 2010)

will be keeping an eye on this, looks good so far, same stuff i am using too for making a fake rock build for my beardies viv, got pink bits all over the house lol


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## Trissai (Apr 25, 2010)

cheers, i was tempted by a waterfall but decided against it as i dont want to run the risk of a bacteria outbreak lol Haha yea i have the hoover on constantly and a bin bag under me to catch the bits lol


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## Pendragon (Dec 8, 2008)

Looking good Tris : victory:

I like the ledge in the top left corner :hmm:....:lol2:, and yes....A hover near by is highly recomended!

Keep up the good work : victory:

Jay


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## Trissai (Apr 25, 2010)

Cheers Jay, as im going to putting in a heating cable also, (dont like heat mats) im going to install it so that the end of the cable passes into that ledge through a little hole ive bored into it so that its a nice warm hide. Pictures about to be uploaded now.


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## Trissai (Apr 25, 2010)

*The low hide/heating the high hide*

ok my mum also got me a habba hut from christmas so this is going in as well, but rather than taking up some floorspace, im incorporating it into the wall recessed in slightly.

here is the side wall which is where most of the hut will sit.



at the sides i have left to flat sections that i will silicone some thin strip magnets i have onto, so that the hut is very secure. the main cave part of it has been textured the same as the other bits of rock. 

Here the habba hut is in place


Here is the recess cut into the back wall only part way so it will be nice and dark in here




Here it is with the back wall and the side wall in place fits together quite well. Happy with it. ill put a fake trailing plant over the entrance so its nice and hidden away. 

Im going to be using a heat cable to warm the tank when needed as i dont really like heat mats it will run down the left side of the tank, and have the end of the cable coming into the rock hide on the left hand side through a hole i have bored into it from the back wall.

The back wall


The hide



Im a little unsure where to put the thermostat sensor, im thinking in the bottom with the substrate as this is where the cable will be concentrated, any suggestions would be appreciated?


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## Trissai (Apr 25, 2010)

Another handy hint for texturing this stuff is if you are going directly onto a flat surface then use only the tip of the blade to get started, its far quicker and has a better finish.

If you are going to be rounding something or shaping it like the hide then start on a corner as it makes life easier and has a nicer finish.


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## DrChino (Aug 23, 2010)

looking good so far, can't wait to see this come along! Keep us posted.


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## Pendragon (Dec 8, 2008)

Trissai said:


> Im a little unsure where to put the thermostat sensor, im thinking in the bottom with the substrate as this is where the cable will be concentrated, any suggestions would be appreciated?


If you put the stat probe too close to the cable it wont get hot enough to do any good, you might need to try it in different positions and check the temps : victory:

Jay


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## Trissai (Apr 25, 2010)

*final sculpting and painting*

cheers Jay its gonna be set up a while before my crestie goes in so can play around a bit.

Right so this are beginning to take shape this is where i am at the moment (things are being held together with cocktail stick at the mo):




going for the lava effect means there will lots of little holes etc so heres a piece going in the corner....

Start with a rough shape.


Then refine it more into the shape you have in mind...


Then texturise using the method stated earlier (dragging a serrated knife across surface)...


There you can see it in the right hand corner, a ledge in the middle and a pillar for adding strength to the high hide and some depth dug into the back board.




Here is the high hide and support for it.


The silicone im using is bondit premiere HA6 aquarium/marine sealant only about £3 delivered from ebay. Should do the job...




Here the magnets are being siliconed in place on the habba hut


http:
//img716.imageshack.us/img716/7511/dscf1498y.jpg

Here i am siliconing the magnets into the sidewall


Here the magnets are in place on the side wall.


Here is everything base coated and waiting to dry (still waiting), my basecoat is a mixture of building sand, matt varnish and cocoa bean B&Q emulsion. My mix was about 2parts sand-1part varnish-1part paint


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## Trissai (Apr 25, 2010)

as a warning this seems to take forever to dry


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## Pendragon (Dec 8, 2008)

Trissai said:


> as a warning this seems to take forever to dry


Yeah, the base coats will take all night, (the varnish I think) but the good news is the dry brushing coats dry within minutes : victory:

Jay


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## sambridge15 (Nov 22, 2009)

hairdrier thats what i used on my viv builds:lol2:


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## Trissai (Apr 25, 2010)

*drybrushing*

took a few hours and i got a little impatient so busted out the hairdryer too, but ive drybrushed and polyfillered the gaps.



This was my first attempt, but seemed too brown, so wanted to put more of the greyish colour on as a slightlylessdrybrush.

Much happier now



All i can do til tomorrow, should get my order delivered tomorrow so lots of goodies n stuff to add.

flash off


flash on


cheers guys

Tris


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## DrChino (Aug 23, 2010)

Looking good!


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## Dan P (Aug 9, 2010)

This is looking good. I am thinking of making a crestie viv myself and so i will be watching this closley lol


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## Trissai (Apr 25, 2010)

cheers Im going back to my parents so i cant do too many updates next week as the viv will stay here in cardiff  ill see what i can do though


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## Trissai (Apr 25, 2010)

*little bit of an update, still waiting for stuff to turn up *

Just a little bit of an update, Im at my parents for the week so cant work on it  but just a little taster of how its going 

Here is the background fully painted, and in place, its had a few more drybrush coats to give it a greyer look (more stone like).

#





Here are some of the plants going in, I would like some mosses etc to put in as well to make it look better.



Heres the little dude going in


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## Dan P (Aug 9, 2010)

That dry brushing is looking really god. Can't wait to start doing mine


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## Trissai (Apr 25, 2010)

Dan P said:


> That dry brushing is looking really god. Can't wait to start doing mine


i was a little sceptical using brown as a base coat, but with plenty of drybrushing its a really good finish :2thumb:


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## Trissai (Apr 25, 2010)

*starting to look good *

Things are certainly coming together.

So i got my deliveries from Dartfrog - Everything for the Amphibian Keeper and Reptile Food, livefoods, reptile supplies, online reptile shop, Exo Terra, Zoo Med, Pet Supplies, Hills, Royal Canin, James Wellbeloved, (cant recommend either enough!)

so heres my stuff from dartfrog



its namibia terra forest moss, looks all cool and stringy like.



bag of 100 cleaned oak leaves



savu seed pod (which is in with him at the moment which is his new sleepy hole)



small rock fungus, which im going to turn into a feeding platform (more to follow tomorrow)

and i also got an 8L bag of dendrosoil, looks good and fill a 45x45 exo terra well.


Then from surrey pet supplies (sorry no pics got a bit excited opening the box lol):

-Exo terra Glow light medium dome hood.
-Exo terra reptiglo 5.0
-T-rex jungle vine
-T-rex medium grapevine piece.
-komodo small vine.


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## Trissai (Apr 25, 2010)

*heating and planting*

Heres the heat cable going in, its not a massively high wattage one so its covering a little more of the floor to keep temps up (its a 6m, with 4m of heating length). 

 

and here it is on the back wall, you can see the hole i bored out to put the cable into, create a warm hide.



Heres a base layer of some left over eco earth placed into the bottom. Ive also pushed some cocktail sticks into the corner to keep it into place and then broke off the end so that its hidden.



Heres the dendro soil in place and in the back right is a creeping fig, back left is red bromeliad, the spike has died off so cut it back and hoping it will grow back, and in the front is a nice orchid my mum got me from M&S :2thumb:



Heres the grape vine in place, ive decided to silicone it into place so its nice and sturdy.



Heres some moss i collected from the local wood.




Heres it is with all the mosses in place with the light off.



and with the lights on



looks better in person


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## sambridge15 (Nov 22, 2009)

a huge tip that will save much heart ache take the soill out and add a drainage layer! my first cresty viv was planted after about 2 months the soil became waterlogged it smelt of sewage the plants roots rotted and they died:devil:saves alot of money and effort as well:lol2:


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## Pendragon (Dec 8, 2008)

Hey, looking good : victory:

Whatch out for the plants roots drying out with that heat cable on, the ficus in the back will die within 2 days if you let the roots dry out. If you spay every day the soil will look damp on top, but will be bone dry underneath, keep an eye on it : victory:

Good luck

Jay


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## Trissai (Apr 25, 2010)

Cheers jay and sambridge15,

the dendro soil is a sort of bark substrate with plenty of airgaps so drainage wise should be ok, i will spray in the viv and also individually water the plants keeping eye that they dont get too wet or dry. Ive heard of people keeping young cresties in 45 cubes ok, so i may try dante in there tomorrow after final checks of temps and humidity to see how he finds it. His food dish will be kept in the same place at all times so i will keep a close eye on him, any probs and he can go back into his 30x30x45.

Just finished the rock fungus feeding ledge pictures to follow tomorrow


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## sambridge15 (Nov 22, 2009)

Trissai said:


> Cheers jay and sambridge15,
> 
> the dendro soil is a sort of bark substrate with plenty of airgaps so drainage wise should be ok, i will spray in the viv and also individually water the plants keeping eye that they dont get too wet or dry. Ive heard of people keeping young cresties in 45 cubes ok, so i may try dante in there tomorrow after final checks of temps and humidity to see how he finds it. His food dish will be kept in the same place at all times so i will keep a close eye on him, any probs and he can go back into his 30x30x45.
> 
> Just finished the rock fungus feeding ledge pictures to follow tomorrow


its not about the air gaps :lol2: if you think of all the water that goes into a viv i take it you will mist daily for the gecko to drink?it all buildsup aventually the soil reaches its maximum water retention and the water just builds up goes stagnant and smells:devil:if its particularly barky id imagine it will build up faster as bark isnt the most absorbent of substrates water also ends up at the bottom of the viv so it cant even evaporate :bash: unless you manage a perfect equelibrium this will build up and without a drainage layer will not be removable without a full substrate change(almost impossible with plants)

in my dart viv i syphon out upwards of about 2l per week but they get a heavy misting 1-3 times per day! but even if it takes 3 months for that level of water to buildup once its there you cant get rid of it 

a drainage layer is not difficult get a bag of lecca pellets from b and q and an anti weed net from and garden shop or even mabey b and q:lol2:then place the soil ontop !that way every few weeks you can use some tubing to syphon out all the acess water :no1:i really cant stress just how important drainage is in a planted tank i ignored the advice the first time around and really really regretted it!


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## Pendragon (Dec 8, 2008)

sambridge15 said:


> its not about the air gaps :lol2: if you think of all the water that goes into a viv i take it you will mist daily for the gecko to drink?it all buildsup aventually the soil reaches its maximum water retention and the water just builds up goes stagnant and smells:devil:if its particularly barky id imagine it will build up faster as bark isnt the most absorbent of substrates water also ends up at the bottom of the viv so it cant even evaporate :bash: unless you manage a perfect equelibrium this will build up and without a drainage layer will not be removable without a full substrate change(almost impossible with plants)
> 
> in my dart viv i syphon out upwards of about 2l per week but they get a heavy misting 1-3 times per day! but even if it takes 3 months for that level of water to buildup once its there you cant get rid of it
> 
> a drainage layer is not difficult get a bag of lecca pellets from b and q and an anti weed net from and garden shop or even mabey b and q:lol2:then place the soil ontop !that way every few weeks you can use some tubing to syphon out all the acess water :no1:i really cant stress just how important drainage is in a planted tank i ignored the advice the first time around and really really regretted it!


To be honest mate, this wont be a problem in this viv, I heavily spray my Crestie viv every day, but the soil (eco earth, no drainage layer) is dry as a bone within hours : victory:

To the o/p, you will never in a million years water log your viv with a heat cable running : victory:

To Sambridge15 your over watering your viv, my o/h has 12 Dart frog vivs at work that she sprays every day, she has never had to drain any of them : victory:

Jay


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## sambridge15 (Nov 22, 2009)

Pendragon said:


> To be honest mate, this wont be a problem in this viv, I heavily spray my Crestie viv every day, but the soil (eco earth, no drainage layer) is dry as a bone within hours : victory:
> 
> To the o/p, you will never in a million years water log your viv with a heat cable running : victory:
> 
> ...


to be fair you do use a megaray with normal lighting and minimal misting my last cresty viv flooded even with a heat cable:Na_Na_Na_Na:as for watering i give a heavy misting in morning heavy misting at night any less the moss would die and the humidity would drop bellow 80% compared to the amount of water most misting systems pump into a viv its alot less also it was 1l i thought the container i used to syphoon into was 2l lol and even that never fills to the top :lol2::frankly id say something is very amiss if a dart viv requires no drainage :whistling2:

im just going from expereince of a very similar set up and how :censor: it was when the plants all died when it could have been avoided so easily by a simple adding of a few expanded clay pellets simply trying to pass on knowledge to save the op making the same mistakes i did as its a really easy fix that does no harm either way .....but i no id never make a planted tank without a drainage layer after last time! and will always encourage others to do the same as its such an easy addition and is generally adopted by near on all dart/phib keepers

admittedly it may not be as vital for lizard keepers as they require alot drier environments but alas this didnt help my poor cresty home


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## Trissai (Apr 25, 2010)

*fungus feeding platform/finishedness*



Here is the small rock fungus from dartfrog, with a hole cut out to house the small plastic tub (which is from a weightwatchers lemon merangue dessert [tasty and healthy too ] and is a perfect size), ive siliconed it in using the same stuff from before and its stuck on there well. You can see the vine running above it too as cresties seem to like hanging upside down and all angles when spying there noms, well dante does anyway, thats siliconed in as well and siliconed into a hole on the grape vine too.



just a view of it from further away.



So heres the finished product :2thumb: im well chuffed with how it looks  and Dante seems to be enjoying it too, theres about 3-4 roaches free roaming (I derped when putting the tub in) so hes got that to get, and he has access to cgd on a ledge at the back. Ive been keeping an eye on him today and he seems to be ok in there he knows where to eat etc so he wont get overwhelmed, has plenty of hidy holes. Temps and humidity seem to be fine, overall im really pleased  thanks for everyones help. 



Heres dante surveying his kindom : victory:


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## Trissai (Apr 25, 2010)

sambridge15 said:


> as for watering i give a heavy misting in morning heavy misting at night any less the moss would die and the humidity would drop bellow 80%


Mine gets 2 sprays on the glass each side once in the morning and once in the evening and it doesnt really drop below 80%, though cresties are ok between 60-80%. The plants get an individual watering as well to keep them damp on the roots, they dont really seem to dry out and its not to wet in the substrate, however if it seems to build up i will pop some leca in there


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## sambridge15 (Nov 22, 2009)

Trissai said:


> Mine gets 2 sprays on the glass each side once in the morning and once in the evening and it doesnt really drop below 80%, though cresties are ok between 60-80%. The plants get an individual watering as well to keep them damp on the roots, they dont really seem to dry out and its not to wet in the substrate, however if it seems to build up i will pop some leca in there


:2thumb: good call like i said mine was fine for about 3 months before the soil became waterlogged:devil: loving the feeder ledges though very nice :2thumb:


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## Trissai (Apr 25, 2010)

A little bit on update, bit of a change from last time. The creeping fig has gone, decided it was a bit of a losing battle keeping it alive and has been replaced by a jasminum polyanthum and the bromeliad completely died off and has been replaced by a bonsai tree (which dante loves).


theres the jasminum polyanthum


bonsai tree (sorry its on its side)


little bit of a canopy, made out of a repti-hammock strapped onto the mesh and then an exo-terra trailing plant strapped to the mesh/hammock. quite pleased with how it looks

and its dantes favourite sleeping place now (i keep the tea towel on top for now to help with humidity, so it makes it nice and dark for him will be changing for a piece of acrylic or something soon)


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## madmully (Mar 27, 2010)

Love The Canopy, you've given me an idea, thanks, :2thumb:


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## wezza309 (Jun 21, 2012)

i like this build some ideas i may use .did you put any bugs in the substrate with having the heater cable if so which ones did you use :whistling2::whistling2:


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