# For bexzini as promised ;) wd viv.



## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

Inspired by wilco92s enclosure.

The other night I asked Gav if he would give me a hand setting up the water dragon viv, got that done in about an hour, it has been sat there for months and months and should have been done ages ago really.










I bought 2 tins of expanding foam from [email protected], £16 I still had some paint left over from the iguana enclosure background so I gotright on with the fake rock build.

























I still need to varnish some coco soil onto the background, waterproof it etc, so this is not permanent or finished, today I decided to play around a bit with the plants and branches to see what will fit, and what will be going where and what else I might need (more branches etc jungle vine), also a good oppurtunity to do a temperature run test. 

























I hope you like it so far, and I will update the thread with the eventual completed result.
P.s sorry for blurred pics LOL.


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## wilko92 (Aug 29, 2011)

Looking good dude  now just for the water hehe


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## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

wilko92 said:


> Looking good dude  now just for the water hehe



I have a 2ft fish tank to eventually go in there, but I that is most likley going to be the last thing that goes in, as said this is just a trial run for the temps and the branches (which a few more will be going in too, £2 a plant, if you remember the ones you seein in my iguana enclosure, they are stronger/bigger and cheaper than the pet shop ones, and I can get them from up the road for £2  so I am gonna grab some of those next time I head up that way. :2thumb:

I just orderd the cocosoil on ebay, I need some varnish to varnish it on the background


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## Bexzini (Oct 21, 2010)

I absolutely LOVE it, its incredible. Its obvious you worked really hard on every aspect of that, well done hun, they are going to live like royalty in that lol!


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## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

Bexzini said:


> I absolutely LOVE it, its incredible. Its obvious you worked really hard on every aspect of that, well done hun, they are going to live like royalty in that lol!


It isn't quite done yet  
I might just move in there myself yet.:whistling2::flrt:


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## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

Gonna have a play aroun with the water today, and see about an exo terra water pump thingy mabob, an if I can be botherd I wil pick some varnish up later on.


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## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

and wilco92 I swear you jinxed me with that tank.:devil:


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## wilko92 (Aug 29, 2011)

i have to say.. yours looks better then mine :2thumb: heres afew piccies of mine :O


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## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

wilko92 said:


> i have to say.. yours looks better then mine :2thumb: heres afew piccies of mine :O
> image
> image
> image



Looking good mate, thanks I have something to reference now without diving through all your pictures on fb, what happned to your live plant?  and I am sure you had some colourful ones in there at some point?


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## wilko92 (Aug 29, 2011)

Salazare Slytherin said:


> Looking good mate, thanks I have something to reference now without diving through all your pictures on fb, what happned to your live plant?  and I am sure you had some colourful ones in there at some point?


 Well.... when my girl was digging she liked to smash the crap outta them! :whip: so i took them out and nurtureing them back to life abit.. before they go back in haha!


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## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

wilko92 said:


> Well.... when my girl was digging she liked to smash the crap outta them! :whip: so i took them out and nurtureing them back to life abit.. before they go back in haha!


Haha, I see LOL, it will look better when it does go back in


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## wilko92 (Aug 29, 2011)

Salazare Slytherin said:


> Haha, I see LOL, it will look better when it does go back in


 yeh deffo! but atm not down to looks but practicality haha plus they looked batterd! but i might buy a 2ft ficus tree it put in there soon, along with T5 lighting :2thumb:


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## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

wilko92 said:


> yeh deffo! but atm not down to looks but practicality haha plus they looked batterd! but i might buy a 2ft ficus tree it put in there soon, along with T5 lighting :2thumb:


I was thinking about a Ficus tree.:hmm:
Or maybe a palm of some kind, I suppose it depends what I find first really, I already have the t5 system ready to go in


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## wilko92 (Aug 29, 2011)

Salazare Slytherin said:


> I was thinking about a Ficus tree.:hmm:
> Or maybe a palm of some kind, I suppose it depends what I find first really, I already have the t5 system ready to go in


 one thing with palms, they can cover up alot of the viv, the big one i had just coverd way too much! also its very flimsy if the WD got on it would just fall down, fiscus tree will be alot better :2thumb:


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## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

wilko92 said:


> one thing with palms, they can cover up alot of the viv, the big one i had just coverd way too much! also its very flimsy if the WD got on it would just fall down, fiscus tree will be alot better :2thumb:


The benefit of palms though is they create good hiding areas  (not nessacily need to be climbed on to be of benefit  they are good for humidity, and putting out moisure into the air.:2thumb: so which ever one decides to show itself first I am not too botherd.:2thumb:


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## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

Varnishing, and sealent bought today from [email protected] so the viv itself should be finished this week.


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## dubs (Oct 13, 2008)

Hi,

Currently planning a build of similar size. Been searching for a background material that I could also use to create "cups" on the sides to grow live plants in as well as use to create grey rockface style sides with perches. 

Had thought of expanding foam with some sort of wire internal frame for strenth, but I am worried that due to wanting to cover the 3 vertical sides with it the CWD would be able to touch and would potentially use it to climb/scramble up the side or between perches, do you think expanding foam would be up to the job or would claws digging in become a problem with snapping bits off etc?

Also thought about something like modrock but this would not cope well with water running down it. 

Any suggestions to a material would be great.


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## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

dubs said:


> Hi,
> 
> Currently planning a build of similar size. Been searching for a background material that I could also use to create "cups" on the sides to grow live plants in as well as use to create grey rockface style sides with perches.
> 
> ...



Hi, I use expanding foam in one of my iguana backgrounds, I varnished a thin layer of cocosoil onto the fake rock to make it more naturalistic, and it copes quite nicely so I would think a water dragons claws would be no problem, it also is great for holding in humidity too.

With the other bits I honestly have no idea... lol.:blush:


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## dubs (Oct 13, 2008)

Cool looks like its that with a chicken wire frame for strength then


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## switchback (Nov 25, 2011)

Salazare Slytherin said:


> I was thinking about a Ficus tree.:hmm:
> Or maybe a palm of some kind, I suppose it depends what I find first really, I already have the t5 system ready to go in


 
I think a ficus benjamin would be perfect...available from all major garden stores but they are a rip-off! 
I bought a 3ft tall 1 for my chameleon from B&Q and it was £27. Thats fine till 2 weeks later i pass my local aldi and they have 3ft'ers which were in much better condition...they were alot stronger,thicker branches and more leaves......

£9.99.:bash:

So I bought a couple to keep as spares,they dont look too bad in my lounge  

Little tip if you do get a ficus...give it a good shake. If any of the leaves fall of even its only a few dont buy it, it would have been kept in a draughty place which thety hate and wont last long :2thumb:


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## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

switchback said:


> I think a ficus benjamin would be perfect...available from all major garden stores but they are a rip-off!
> I bought a 3ft tall 1 for my chameleon from B&Q and it was £27. Thats fine till 2 weeks later i pass my local aldi and they have 3ft'ers which were in much better condition...they were alot stronger,thicker branches and more leaves......
> 
> £9.99.:bash:
> ...


I went to Aldi this morning, half their trees were dead, I think for now I am gonna stick with the plastic and wait for next year, [email protected] is no better tbh


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## mellee70 (Jun 22, 2011)

What kind of paint did you use over the expanding foam as I have 3 or 4 tins lying around is certainly cheaper than £22 per 2ft x 2ft sheet of the polystyrene rock wall?
Also what other live plants/trees, other than fiscus, are safe to go in with Fred (baby igg finally got a name)


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## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

mellee70 said:


> What kind of paint did you use over the expanding foam as I have 3 or 4 tins lying around is certainly cheaper than £22 per 2ft x 2ft sheet of the polystyrene rock wall?



I used a tin of grey paint from [email protected] not sure what kind it was.

I done a good few vivs with that, it needs another layer of paint on tbh, I still haven't finished it with the soil varnighing, no particular reason other than i have been lazy.


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