# Vivarium shelves and your ideas



## donia (Apr 15, 2009)

Right, I'm putting a shelf in each of my vivariums to maximise the room. The inhabitants are leopard geckos, and even though they are terrestrial, mine love to climb, so I thought a big shelf for each of them would be great. I've just cut up a couple of shelves from some bits of chipboard I had lying around. 

My question is: what do I do with them? They are ugly as they are, so I was thinking of painting them and glueing sand on them. Would wood glue be OK for this or is varnish better? Does anyone have any better ideas? I'd love to hear them!


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## jetsmart1 (Feb 7, 2011)

id stick with varnish, or if you want to be clever you could cover them with paper mache and then sand and then varnish to make them look more rocky


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## Welsh dragon (Oct 27, 2009)

you could grout of the shelves making a rocky effect then paint with acrylic paint.


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## donia (Apr 15, 2009)

Hmm....Liking paper mache, as not done that before....

I've already got grouted and painted hides, but to be honest I'm not that keen on them - mine always turn out rubbish!


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## jetsmart1 (Feb 7, 2011)

as long as you are patient, and when uve got it looking a better shape with the paper mache leave it to set solid then do several layers of pva to harden it up or mix pva into the paint as this will work too.

also a good amount of varnish to aid cleaning, keep it looking nice and clean and to keep it solid 

also some varnish will discolour with cleaning agents so be careful when it comes to cleaning


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