# Leopard Gecko viv



## WoogieWoogford (Sep 12, 2010)

Been thinking about knocking up a viv for my leo for a few months now, after looking at a few on here i was inspired an decided to get stuck in!

After pricing up materials needed to build my own i thought i may aswell buy one second hand so had a look on gumtree, couldn't find any 4x2x2 near so had a brain wave, i'l buy a wardrobe, chop it up an turn that into a viv :thumb:!

Their was a few on there, but came across one 8 miles away free to collector, listed about 4 hours earlier! Perfect, got in touch and was on my way to pick it up an hour later! It wasn't quite what i was expecting though, anyway, started measuring an cutting last night, trip to b&q this morning for drill bits, screws, glue and 3 cans expanding foam, managed to delete the first couple of photos, not missing much, this is how its looking now (ignore the dodgy gaps:blush: ) :










Thought i was picking up a normal double wardrobe, turns out it was a corner wardrobe :2thumb::2thumb:
















Its huge, i could happily curl up an have a snooze in there! 

Also started on the expanding foam








Lined a section in cling film so it can be removed easily, think I'm going to have to do it in 4 or 5 sections! Also wrapped an old box that was kicking round the shed an dumped that in there too, first of many hides!
Any ideas how i can do this without spending thousands on tins of foam? That 1 corner is 1 whole tin, was planning on doing all the background and have the main cave in the back corner with a sort of over hanging cliff/ 2nd level type thing!

Thats it for tonight anyway :2thumb:


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## demon3000 (Nov 23, 2013)

Goin to keep an eye on this build...: victory:


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## WoogieWoogford (Sep 12, 2010)

Soo went on a mission earlier to get something for the floor, no one would cut sheets of polystyrene or kingspan though, only came in them massive sheets so ended up getting a few more cans of foam :yeah right:

So started with the lid for the cool hide, cling filmed and found a bit of scabby old poly in the shed, cut that to size, chucked it in and filled it

















Clingfilmed the rest of the viv









Want to use the same sort of moist hide as he's got now, so had a quick measure up, needed something 7x5x5ish, took me a while to find something, came up with:









Got foaming









Looks an utter mess, not going how i hoped an thinking of ditching it in favour of that kingspan, looks a lot easier to work with! So totally pointless post maybe, i will persevere for the moment though, off to hunt round the house for a cave type thing now : victory:


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## wagg (Feb 6, 2014)

Stick with it. Trust me. Ive done a couple of poly backgrounds and tbh they are quite fragile. It will all come together. Once you build it up a bit more and start carving it. There was someone on the lizard side of it done some good ones. He used expanding foam. Carved then used paper mashie. It looked really good. Use toilet roll or w.e and pva glue. And it really molds and makes it look good. Then he painted it with spray paint. It was a proper one gold i think it was called and its water proof. Wouldnt use the cheap.ones from halfords or anything. Try and find the post it will help you. : victory:


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## WoogieWoogford (Sep 12, 2010)

Ah thats perfect, been thinking about how to do the insides of the hides an sorting the air bubbles! I'l hunt it down and see how he has done it! Thanks a lot man :notworthy:

Few pics, the main cave, and the reason it all nearly ended up in the bin

Found 2 old bait boxes









made a little porch, covered in foam


















Had an hour this morning so had a quick carve and sand, this is how the cool hide is now looking





































Pretty happy with how it came out, still nowhere near done but taking shape :2thumb:


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## HOTTOASTcass (Jun 6, 2015)

WoogieWoogford said:


> Ah thats perfect, been thinking about how to do the insides of the hides an sorting the air bubbles! I'l hunt it down and see how he has done it! Thanks a lot man :notworthy:
> 
> Few pics, the main cave, and the reason it all nearly ended up in the bin
> 
> ...


Looking great mate! 
I was going to use a wardrobe which is funny lol but decided that I might as well use my spare 4ft I had MDF wood floating around but that's for another project  
I think he foam I got was some weird crap that expands like 10 times which is why it didn't need much 
Once I done the sides of mine I felt it was taking shape 
Unfortunately I couldn't add a water fountain in I wanted to a lot but couldn't find a small enough one to fit the corner 
Perhaps that's for another upgrade 
Yours is cracking on keep at it 
I'm waiting on supplies to finish mine !


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## WoogieWoogford (Sep 12, 2010)

Cheers dude!
Ah yea, got well lucky with mine, can't believe how well it has worked either! 
Ended up buying 3 750ml cans of Wickes own brand foam in the end, worked out well!
Ah thats a bummer about the fountain, might have messed up the humidity levels though? Maybe?
Yea I've been waiting for your updates, ha!

Im getting right into it now, its very therapeutic, few pics of tonights effort:

Main cave




































All foaming is now finished (hopefully), carve it in the morning then need to get something for the floor :2thumb:


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## HOTTOASTcass (Jun 6, 2015)

WoogieWoogford said:


> Cheers dude!
> Ah yea, got well lucky with mine, can't believe how well it has worked either!
> Ended up buying 3 750ml cans of Wickes own brand foam in the end, worked out well!
> Ah thats a bummer about the fountain, might have messed up the humidity levels though? Maybe?
> ...


Looking really cool mines not working out lol


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## WoogieWoogford (Sep 12, 2010)

Last nights foaming:










This mornings carving:




























Another entrance to the main cave under the bridge thing! Also another hide that i still need to make entrances for, other than that i just need to sort out some dodgy gaps and a quick sand down to round edges :2thumb:


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## WoogieWoogford (Sep 12, 2010)

Sooo, due to some seriously rubbish circumstances its been nearly a year since my last update, only started working on it again last weekend!

After a failed attempt at grouting i stumbled across this video on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvA72UqzStA
Very helpful, although a little annoying, anyway, i ordered a few rolls of plaster bandage up, as soon as they turned up i got to work










The lid after plaster bandage and poly filler










Also, i was not happy with the main cave thing, so i binned that, grabbed some polystyrene packaging from the shed










Chopped it up 










Covered it in more expanding foam and came up with this thing


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## WoogieWoogford (Sep 12, 2010)

After carving i started on the plaster bandage


















Got my work cut out with this, ha!


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## demon3000 (Nov 23, 2013)

Can you please keep updates coming....thanks


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## WoogieWoogford (Sep 12, 2010)

I will try my best, ha :2thumb:

Not much going on, this hide is ready for paint

















I am waiting for more plaster bandage to be delivered at the moment, still have lots of filling to get on with though :whip:









Starting to take shape though! 
I did have a fake floor made of Kingspan, it looked cool but i have ditched that, planning on going bio-active now, so once the hides are all ready for paint i will make the outside of the viv look pretty and get the inside sealed up


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