# new viv build journal



## deansie26 (Apr 28, 2009)

Hey, Im starting a new viv for a trio of darts ill be getting in a couple of weeks so thought id do a wee journal, this will be my second viv and Ive went for an exo 60x45x45cm, im doing the expanding foam option for the background.
I started yesterday by sporadically applying silicone to the back panel and to a few inches of the sides so that the foam will grip better. I didn't take pics of the siliconed glass as it was nothing to see. 
Ive incorporated 2 pieces of corkbark onto the glass before foaming as I thought it looked good and be better for mounting plants, before mounting the cork I siliconed the back of the 2 pieces because there was probably channels in them for water to seep through and build up behind the unsealed expanding foam.








I covered the bark in tape to protect them








I inserted peat cups for egg laying sites etc,








A few things Iearned about using foam is that you have very little time before it hardens in the spraying nozzle, Id only done 2 corners and the rim near the roof before it hardened and was useless lol!! The second can I had to go for it as it was my last and just got it done before it finished (there's not that much in a can BTW)
Will be carving and adding the coco fibre to the foam on friday so will update then


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## ephiedoodle (Oct 22, 2008)

well it looks like you're off to a great start,i look
forward to seeing how you get on.


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## stewie m (Sep 16, 2009)

looks good so far


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## nessa (Mar 30, 2010)

hey there  looking good so far, will be interesting to see this one progress  
one question, won't the peat cup start to disintergrate as you mist the tank? 
Nessa xx


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## deansie26 (Apr 28, 2009)

*peat*



nessa said:


> hey there  looking good so far, will be interesting to see this one progress
> one question, won't the peat cup start to disintergrate as you mist the tank?
> Nessa xx


Thanx,
Yeh they would but im going to be covering them with silicone and then with coco fibre 

bet wishes

Jamie


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## nessa (Mar 30, 2010)

deansie26 said:


> Thanx,
> Yeh they would but im going to be covering them with silicone and then with coco fibre
> 
> bet wishes
> ...


ooh clever  good luck


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## soundstounite (Sep 6, 2009)

hey dude,you can buy expanding foam with a reausable gun from a builders merchant, about £25 for gun, can o cleaner and a can of foam, there after about £6 per new can of foam,might be a better option if more than one viv to build,you can also shape the foam with your hands,just before it sets but ware surgical gloves just incase it ain't ready,its a sod to get off your mits,regards stu


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## deansie26 (Apr 28, 2009)

*foam gun*

would be cheaper Stu, wonder how you clean the gun to re-use it?
I got 2 cans from Dartfrog.co.uk, is what the german guys use apparently. First time using these things is always gonna be the trickiest thou I guess


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## liamb111 (Apr 2, 2010)

tbh the dartfrog stuff seems ovrepriced. i just use expanding foam from hardwear shops, around £7 and no delivery charges! just make sure it's NOT fire resistent.


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## soundstounite (Sep 6, 2009)

the cleaner is in a can same as the foam,basically while usingthe gun it shuts down foams contact with air,you just break any hardened off,and ready for next app. end of a can remove foam can,attach can"o" cleaner blast through gun ,ready to go for next time simples....stu


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## deansie26 (Apr 28, 2009)

*viv*

I was getting other stuff from dartfrog so delivery charge wasn't an issue-your right I could have got it cheaper probably but only £3 difference so no biggy plus It meant I didn't have to check the label.
Will look around next time if I do more vivs, is just easy placing one order lol-me is a bit lazy ha ha


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## deansie26 (Apr 28, 2009)

*update*

Well id been away for 2 nights with the wife and just back today-managed to get the coco fibre on the foam-wasn't to bad to be honest and only took me an hour thou im sure ill have touch ups to do tomorrow, ill also have to scrape some silicone from the glass (impossible to avoid if doing it fast ha). Here are some pics


























My plants & other equipment arrived today as you can see so I want to have the viv planted/ roofed and light wired up tomorrow so I can relax on sunday before going back to work 









Will try update tomorrow


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

Looking good. I get so excited when new plants arrive.


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## whale_omelette (Jun 3, 2010)

what cocofiber and silicone do you use?
x


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## deansie26 (Apr 28, 2009)

*coco, silicone*



whale_omelette said:


> what cocofiber and silicone do you use?
> x


Thanx Morgan,

Hey, I used a black silicone and a coco that you buy in a bag dried ready to go, I couldn't be bothered expanding a block then drying it etc.

You defo a woman  -nice pic:lol2:


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## whale_omelette (Jun 3, 2010)

deansie26 said:


> Thanx Morgan,
> 
> Hey, I used a black silicone and a coco that you buy in a bag dried ready to go, I couldn't be bothered expanding a block then drying it etc.
> 
> You defo a woman  -nice pic:lol2:


 lolo, make sure your wife doesnt see you looking, she might slap you!:lol2:
i use a unibond black one i think
where on earth do you get the dryed stuff from
the local petshops here are crap.
i bought some coco stuff and stuck it in the tumble dryer in a pillow case. worked though, but i need more and cba doing that again


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## deansie26 (Apr 28, 2009)

*ha ha*



whale_omelette said:


> lolo, make sure your wife doesnt see you looking, she might slap you!:lol2:
> i use a unibond black one i think
> where on earth do you get the dryed stuff from
> the local petshops here are crap.
> i bought some coco stuff and stuck it in the tumble dryer in a pillow case. worked though, but i need more and cba doing that again


She might :whip:

If your pet shop doesn't have it they can order it for you from there supplier, is so much easier- and will save your pillow cases


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## whale_omelette (Jun 3, 2010)

deansie26 said:


> She might
> 
> If your pet shop doesn't have it they can order it for you from there supplier, is so much easier- and will save your pillow cases


i doubt they would, my locals are run by idiots one of them is run by scallys and has been bollocked by the council for not looking after the animals, they are banned from selling reps. 
what do you expect from liverpool though, its full of morons.
im the only great one and im moving in a month or so:Na_Na_Na_Na:


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## Frogmad (Nov 10, 2008)

whale_omelette said:


> i doubt they would, my locals are run by idiots one of them is run by scallys and has been bollocked by the council for not looking after the animals, they are banned from selling reps.
> what do you expect from liverpool though, its full of morons.
> im the only great one and im moving in a month or so:Na_Na_Na_Na:


Hey come over the water to Rock Ferry and see Nat and Dave at Repti-lisious, they will get in anything you want (or at least try their best!!!!)



deansie26 said:


> A few things Iearned about using foam is that you have very little time before it hardens in the spraying nozzle, Id only done 2 corners and the rim near the roof before it hardened and was useless lol!! The second can I had to go for it as it was my last and just got it done before it finished (there's not that much in a can BTW)
> Will be carving and adding the coco fibre to the foam on friday so will update then


I poured nail varnish remover into the nozzle with some water and massaged it out and it works well, to get the top of the can clear wipe with some nail varnish remover and use tweezers to pull the bits off!!!
Make sure it is the acetone nail varnish remover!!


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## whale_omelette (Jun 3, 2010)

Frogmad said:


> Hey come over the water to Rock Ferry and see Nat and Dave at Repti-lisious, they will get in anything you want (or at least try their best!!!!)


is that newish?


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## Frogmad (Nov 10, 2008)

whale_omelette said:


> is that newish?


They have been there about 18 months repti-lisious Nat and Dave are really helpful and friendly and will help out as much as possible


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## whale_omelette (Jun 3, 2010)

Frogmad said:


> They have been there about 18 months repti-lisious Nat and Dave are really helpful and friendly and will help out as much as possible


 thought as much, i had a look about 2 years ago for one over there and there wasnt one, 
ill have lok when i get my car back 
ta!


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## deansie26 (Apr 28, 2009)

*spray foam*

Thats good to know that cleaning is possible but think id rather know where I wanted to put it before spraying and do it in one go. The can didn't actually last that long anyway to be honest. Seems good stuff as I got no shrink back once it hardened as Ive read folk have had problems with this-nothing beats hands on experience with these kind of things thou eh


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## deansie26 (Apr 28, 2009)

*update*

Done the floor tonight and mounted the plants etc, looks pretty good considering id had a few pints watching the football before ha ha.
Ill add some leaf litter etc tomorrow.










































Still have to wire up the light unit and silicane the roof etc, will finish of thread tomorrow with better photos as these dont do it justice-sorry about the pics. Mobile is crap and dull light didn't help. : victory:


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## whale_omelette (Jun 3, 2010)

my viv always looks :censor: in mobile phone pics


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## deansie26 (Apr 28, 2009)

*light*



whale_omelette said:


> my viv always looks :censor: in mobile phone pics


The difference between taking pics in the day time to night time is crazy-you can see the difference in clarity, plus Ive those long life bulbs which are dull


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## whale_omelette (Jun 3, 2010)

deansie26 said:


> The difference between taking pics in the day time to night time is crazy-you can see the difference in clarity, plus Ive those long life bulbs which are dull


 i had NO lightbulbs yesterday, they all popped!


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## deansie26 (Apr 28, 2009)

*finished*

Thanx buddy, putting 3x E.mysterious in there in a few weeks.
Here's the finishing pics, done it today 
I cut a sheet of PVC to size then sections to mesh for ventilation. I used PVC from dartfrog that lets UV's through which glass doesn't plus its heat resistant so wont buckle.








I then cut and siliconed the vents into place (I kept the cut out sections so I can cover the vents to adjust humidity) then got light equipment out to try and assemble.
















Managed to wire up the ballast/ plug etc-have to say unless you have some knowledge you might find it tricky. I had to get an electrican friend to point me in the right direction as instructions where useless.








Finished pics,
















Thanx for looking and hope folk found it interesting


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## jme2049 (Jan 11, 2008)

Looks ace. Really nice.


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## deansie26 (Apr 28, 2009)

*thanx*



jme2049 said:


> Looks ace. Really nice.


cheers:no1:

cant wait for frogs now ha


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## liamb111 (Apr 2, 2010)

looking great! nice thinking on the new lid idea


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## deansie26 (Apr 28, 2009)

*thanx*



liamb111 said:


> looking great! nice thinking on the new lid idea


Thanx very much :notworthy:


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## stray66uk (Mar 14, 2010)

Nice viv :notworthy: Its hard to believe its all expanding foam, glue and muck when they are finished :lol2:


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## deansie26 (Apr 28, 2009)

*lol*



stray66uk said:


> Nice viv :notworthy: Its hard to believe its all expanding foam, glue and muck when they are finished :lol2:


Thanx, I know-I wonder who came up with the idea in the first place?
imaginative


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Looking very good indeed!:2thumb: As I've said before, while I really can't be a:censor:d with the whole fake background/permanant structure thing myself, I admire it bigtime in other people's vivs. My trouble is that if I want to reuse a tank (as I will be very shortly in Operation Shiftaround, now Blue the corn snake has finally shed and can be disturbed), it's much easier to clean out a tank and start again if things are relatively simple and removable in the first place. I'd rethink it though if I had that gorgeous 4ft viv featured in Jezza's recent thread!


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## deansie26 (Apr 28, 2009)

*foam*



Ron Magpie said:


> Looking very good indeed!:2thumb: As I've said before, while I really can't be a:censor:d with the whole fake background/permanant structure thing myself, I admire it bigtime in other people's vivs. My trouble is that if I want to reuse a tank (as I will be very shortly in Operation Shiftaround, now Blue the corn snake has finally shed and can be disturbed), it's much easier to clean out a tank and start again if things are relatively simple and removable in the first place. I'd rethink it though if I had that gorgeous 4ft viv featuered in a recent thread!


Cheers Ron, I think these sorts of backgrounds are best suited to things like darts that have a perminant mini-eco system. Wouldn't take longs for it to look grubby after cleaning snake poo from it everytime you cleaned it


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

deansie26 said:


> Cheers Ron, I think these sorts of backgrounds are best suited to things like darts that have a perminant mini-eco system. Wouldn't take longs for it to look grubby after cleaning snake poo from it everytime you cleaned it


Yah, but I have this ridiculusly complicated multiple move to orchestrate: Aging plated lizard (think dry savannah habitat) from 3ft tank to 30in tank, corn snake (temporate foresty) from 2ft tank to 3ft tank, then young cane toad (tropical foresty) from plastic temp tank to 2ft tank. In each case the tank has to be stripped down and re-furnished. So moving and replacing substrate, logs, plants, rocks etc is a lot easier if they aren't permenantly fixed in the first place. For the lizard and snake in particular I will be using some or all of the old substrate mixed into the new, so that they'll still have some familiar smells.


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## deansie26 (Apr 28, 2009)

*update*

I thought I should update this incase anyone does similiar with the roof.

After a few weeks the plastic roof started bowing with gaps appearing between the plastic roof and the exo terra top








The material was supposed to be heat resistant so I contacted Mark at dartfog and said he would get in touch with his supplier-they go back to him and they said that the plastic has to rest on 4 sides (which mines does) but silicone glue is not enough and a primer must be used first, lesson learned.

Was to late for me though so I bought some wooden beading that you find as edging on laminate flooring and cut the to the length of the roof, I then drilled and screwed the plastic to the strops from in the viv and then re-siliconed everything and siliconed the screw heads inside the viv.
Is looking good with bowing more levell than id thought I could have achived.

Frogs arrive on tuesday so another example of why you should let your viv settle for a while before adding frogs

Cheers to Mark at dartfrog also as he was on the case asap, very helpful


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