# fake rock build for bearded dragon.



## scalez (Apr 24, 2009)

i know there are loads of these about, but i thought i would post my own.
xD
i've not finished yet, just have to seal it with waterproof pva glue, throw some sand over it, and seal it again xD
i was going to do a step by step thing, but i accidentally deleted some of my photos on my camera on accident, i still have a few left. xD
so i'll just show you a few photos and a little bit of how i did it. xD
What i used/will use:
polystyrene, b&q 10 sheets for £10.
Tile Grout
No Nails (gun)
cocktail sticks
sand pva glue. 
i did the build in two parts that would come together inside the vivarium and look like one big rock build.
i measured my tank, and made sure i could fit everything through the glass sliders xD
i cut out peices of ploystyrene into many different shapes, after about half hour of peicing them together i finally got one that looked pretty good.








it's a cave sort of thing, but he can also sit ontop of it to bask under the uv lamp.
i added cocktail sticks to strenthen it, then glued it with no nails.
i then needed to add more rocks to the far left of the cool end. glued them down.
and gave the cool side it's first coat of grout, i watered it down a little, to get into the parts where it would usually be hard to grout. 








while this end was drying i got started on the hot end and basking site, while the first coat of grout was drying.
i pieced more pieces of polystyrene together, untill i came up with a design i liked and glued into place, i also gave the hot end a coat of watered down grout.
so over parts of the day, i did more layers of grout, because of the heat, it dried pretty fast, so i did around 4 coats in one day.
it's now in the kitchen drying.
tomorrow depending on whether or not i think 4 coats is enough, i will cover in waterproof pva, throw sand over it and recover with waterproof pva.
then hopefully it should be done by tomororw :2thumb:
i will post pictures of when it's done.
sorry for not really doing a step by step with pictures, but honestly, my memory on my sd card ran out, and i deleted some of the pictures when i started it.
so this is what it looks like now.








slightly different angle.








what do you lot think?


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## dragonguy (Apr 14, 2009)

nice, think i am going to try this lol


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## excession (Apr 11, 2009)

Thats looking brilliant!

Will need to show us pics of the finished rock


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## scalez (Apr 24, 2009)

thanks, i will update this xD
just put another layer of grout on it xD
leaving that to dry now, before the layers of pva and sand xD


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## sundia (May 28, 2009)

thats amazing i have been making a pyramid for my beardie which il post latr


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## paulab (Mar 26, 2009)

Cool :2thumb:


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## YummyMummy04 (Apr 23, 2009)

Looks great. I am going to ask my oh to make my beardies one! :whistling2:


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## scalez (Apr 24, 2009)

i'm now putting on the first layer of sand.
so basically i pva glued it and dumpled a pile of sand ontop.
in half hour when the pva is dry i will re go over it with more pva and add another layer of sand, then finally sealing it off with more waterproof pva.


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## scalez (Apr 24, 2009)

nearly finished, just needs to dry overnight, then one more coat of waterproof pva tomorrow, i hope it fits in my vivarium now


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## Denji (Apr 18, 2009)

Comin along really well. Well done. They're fun to make eh? Why do some people seal the sand with PVA? I find it looks more realistic when you leave the sand as the last layer.


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## excession (Apr 11, 2009)

scalez said:


> nearly finished, just needs to dry overnight, then one more coat of waterproof pva tomorrow, i hope it fits in my vivarium now


Thats the really fun part :lol2:


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## scalez (Apr 24, 2009)

Denji said:


> Comin along really well. Well done. They're fun to make eh? Why do some people seal the sand with PVA? I find it looks more realistic when you leave the sand as the last layer.


so the poo washes off easily.
just had a hard time cleaning up poo of lino xD


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## Fried_frog (Jun 2, 2009)

These look amazing, after my uni exam is done i have 2 weeks left on campus with nothing to do.

You better believe i'm going to B and Q on Tuesday to get some materials!

Really good step by step, many thanks :blush:


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## scalez (Apr 24, 2009)

Fried_frog said:


> These look amazing, after my uni exam is done i have 2 weeks left on campus with nothing to do.
> 
> You better believe i'm going to B and Q on Tuesday to get some materials!
> 
> Really good step by step, many thanks :blush:


aha no problem xD
anyway, i had to cut an inch of the cool side so it would fit in my vivarium, regrout etc
it's drying in the sun now, it's coming out pretty nicely.
















the left side is the one i finished gluing a few minutes ago, that's why it's still white.
i'm thinking of making these and selling them, because i have loads of spare time on my hands and i enjoy doing this 
i might try make one and sell them on here or ebay or something, i know most people can make them thereselves, but i'm sure someone will want one xD
can't wait untill it dries xD


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## Superfreak (Mar 10, 2009)

That looks really good........might have to try one myself


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## Dynamos Dragons (May 23, 2009)

Scalez mate , i think that looks awesome :no1:

I am definatly going to get to b & q to get some equipment and start a little fake rock building project , this might sound like a silly question but doesnt the polystyrene melt ? does the grout stop the polystyrene melting or do you just not have it to close to the basking spot ? :blush:


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## Fried_frog (Jun 2, 2009)

Thanks scales, i reckon this should be stickied it's so good!

This has inspired me to start my hide build, will post pics later : victory:


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## scalez (Apr 24, 2009)

thanks you lot xD i dont think it should be stickied as there are better tutorials out there xD mine wasnt really a tutorial.


Dynamos Dragons said:


> this might sound like a silly question but doesnt the polystyrene melt ? does the grout stop the polystyrene melting or do you just not have it to close to the basking spot ? :blush:


well when you think about it the basking spot is only 40-43ºc, that's not really boiling hot xD so no it wouldn't melt.


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## Dynamos Dragons (May 23, 2009)

Ah good point i will start tomorow .........er.........hopefully.....


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## JPP (Jun 8, 2009)

nice job there 

i was looking for what finnish to use on my own rock/caves ive carved out from 4inch celotex (insulation foam) i think its so much better than polysterine , as it will keep heat in it (very well) and also u can get it free from a loft conversion , just ask someone having a some building work done if they got some cut offs  no need to pay for these types of material :Na_Na_Na_Na:

anyways il just seal it with pva and sand


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## scalez (Apr 24, 2009)

okay, the hot end is finished, and spyro loves it, i think anyway,

i applied a few more layers of waterproof pva just to be safe, and this is it in the vivarium








and here's the happy dragon xD


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## scalez (Apr 24, 2009)

BADNEWS, the left side is just a few cm's too big and needs to be cut, no worry though  but Spyro loves it, i thought he might get a bit fussy with it and not eat today but he still wolfed down alot of crickets xD

it looks really good in the viv


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## fourdown (Oct 3, 2008)

really well done there.

I like the forms that you have made, nice and subtle.


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