# Expanding foam background!



## Julz350 (Jan 21, 2011)

Hey guys i was just wandering if anyone had one? and how hard they are to remove if you decide to do something diffrent?

And also does the eco earth not rot or just fall out over time ?? 

And is it not difficult to clean ?

Cheers Julz!


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## dinostore (Feb 23, 2011)

they're a pain in the a** in my opinion, grout it


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## em_40 (Sep 29, 2010)

Most people who use the cocofibre, I think have a completely natural setup...

My vivs with cocofibre background do not need to be cleaned because of the 'clean up crew' (bugs) parts have fallen off a bit and it's a little patchy in some areas but with the plants growing up the background you can't tell.

Depends what you want, a grouted background is harder to plant in and doesn't look as natural, but if you want a rocky look and a theme, and to be able to wipe everything clean, then go for grout.


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## Rednurse (Nov 13, 2010)

We've done both. We've got the usual polystyrene/grout/paint background, and we've got an expanding foam/coco fibre background.

to be honest, the poly/grout ones always look exactly the same - like polystyrene covered in grout. No matter how hard you try, you will never, ever make it look like actual natural rock. We gave in with ours and mixed up clay, water and various sand types to cover it, and it ended up looking ace but it was a lot of work.

The expanding foam one was FAR easier to make, and looks far more natural. Press bits of bark into the foam when it's wet, and once the whole thing has dried it'll be bullet proof. You then just coat it in wet silicone and press eco earth, coco fibre, dirt, sand, mud or whatever into it. Once that's dry not even our fast growing boa constrictor can knock anything off.


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## Rednurse (Nov 13, 2010)

If you want to see ours, this is the tutorial my partner made

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/habitat/634365-first-build-rainforest-jungle-theme.html

In terms of easily removing it, the whole background was made onto pieces of thin hardboard, so if anything requires it to be taken out, it can just be lifted straight out. It's held in place by a couple of tiny screws. It never needs to be cleaned as our boa doesn't soil it at all, and the springtails etc that come with orchid bark take care of any bacteria also.


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## ch4dg (Jul 24, 2008)

i done one for my water dragon....... it lasted a few months,and only weeks in his fave spots...
in the end i ended do a diff method to most
1.grout
2.silcone
3.eco earth
4.varnish
5.bark
6.varish
7.eco
8.silicon
9.eco

alot of work but lasted about 4 years before it started showing any wear




Rednurse said:


> to be honest, the poly/grout ones always look exactly the same - like polystyrene covered in grout. No matter how hard you try, you will never, ever make it look like actual natural rock.


i disagree....poly&grout method dont always look the same, you just need to put a lil' imagination and some effort into it

this are all fake poly rocks.....


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## Bipedal (Apr 7, 2010)

Hi. Could anyone explain what the silicone metioned is. Is it really needed or would the grout and sand etc be fine without it? Cheers.


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## sambridge15 (Nov 22, 2009)

I tried most background methods, and grout backgrounds tend to look very fake imo, supose they can be cleaned though .... expanding foam does look amazing but then unless you have used it before chances are you will use to much and lose alot of valuable space.as for cleaning unless you are having a "live viv" i wouldnt bother using any eco earth background 

gorilla glue is the new "in thing" with us dart keepers :2thumb: similar to expanding foam only you apply the eco earth directly to the glue.Its avaiable on ebay the £10 tube I purchased had enough to cover a 2ftx2ft background with a fair bit left over.Its basically expanding foam that doesnt expand as much! so all you do is cover the background ,mist it wait 10 mins or so for it to be foaming up. Then press in eco earth and anything else you want on the background.I usually press in some bogwood or cork bark for some extra dimension.

The silicone should be aquarium grade silicone dartfrog.co.uk sell it as do many other online retialers and yes it is needed unless you use gorilla glue or grout method instead


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## Rednurse (Nov 13, 2010)

ch4dg said:


> i disagree....poly&grout method dont always look the same, you just need to put a lil' imagination and some effort into it
> 
> this are all fake poly rocks.....


Ah but nobody on this forum has ever done anything close to those! Unless you're a master sculpter and airbrush/paint expert you're going to end up having those strangely scaled sets of polystyrene painted either brown or grey, and covered in tile cement. 

Even those "professional" Exo Terra poly backgrounds just look like painted polystyrene!


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## ch4dg (Jul 24, 2008)

Rednurse said:


> Ah but nobody on this forum has ever done anything close to those!
> 
> Even those "professional" Exo Terra poly backgrounds just look like painted polystyrene!


the top two were off this forum and before you ask no they are not professionals or master airbrush artists

and the exo ones,they are pants anyway but they look like painted poly because it is just painted poly... they dont use a form of grout


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