finally an
UPDATE:
firstly i'd like to apologize ahead of time for the poor quality pics. they were taken at night in my basement. ok, so basically since the last time i posted i ran the bead of silicone around the inside corner of the new piece of glass installed on the back and smoothed it with my finger. then cut some screen and siliconed that in place over the air flow vents. let that all cure for 24 hours.
then started cutting/shaping/carving styrofoam for the faux rock wall backround.
my girlfriend had this sweet little tool that carves styrofoam. it has a plastic handle with a thin metal rod that extends out maybe 6" that gets really hot. it basically just melts the styrofoam, but it is very versatile. you can see it in the bottom, right of the pic above (she says she got it at hobby lobby for about $30 if anyone is interested). the small hole in the bottom, left of the backround is for wiring access for either a hidden temp probe, or flexwatt if i decide to use that for belly heat rather than a UTH, or both. a pic of it from the back of the tank:
*found a close up of the styrofoam carver:
on the middle vent i put a ledge in front of it, then carved an arch/hide thingy out of a block of styrofoam to sit on top of the ledge for a little built-in hide:
another small ledge in front of the far left vent/arch (there are actually ledges all over from top to bottom):
anyway, here it is pretty much done:
let's see, couple more small things.
i don't know if you can tell from the pic above, but the very bottom edge of the faux backround is very uniform and straight with no jutting edges. this is so i can try my concrete underlayment/grout substrate idea i mentioned a few posts ago.
on the top, between the two arches of the left and middle vents is the spoiled boy's name who will inhabit this terrerarium:
on the left side of the tank is another built-in hide that is actually removable:
on the inside edge i hot-glued some small dowells in that will sit in holes so there is no chance of it falling over on the boy:
on the right side of the pic is a homemade desert reed decoration thingy. i bought a pack of these reeds at hobby lobby for about $4. you actually get quite a bit. they are about four feet long with about 15 of them in the pack. anyway i just cut them down and hot-glued them into a small piece of styrofoam that i will grout over later:
also made my own calcium powder/mealworm dish that i will grout later:
lastly i made a humid-hide. bought a pack of cheap tupperware containers at wally world, hot-glued styrofoam all over it, used the carving wand to cut a hole in it. again, will be grouted later:
it's quite hard with the light and poor quality of the pics to see what the actual shape is. will look ten times better after grout-
along with the reeds, scored this bleached willow that should fit in well with the desert theme. not quite sure yet how i will use them. also got acrylic paint, mod podge to seal, sand to throw on the mod podge for grip, and some sponges and a brush for the paint:
whew! that was long-winded. what do you guys think?
next step will be several layers of grout, then painting, then sealed with mod podge. sand tossed on the mod podge for grip. will probably be another month or so again for the next update.
i also recently bought some rivets for my rivet gun, and the bulb sockets to build and start wiring my light hood. just need the led's (can't find them anywhere locally, will have to go to the net for those), dimmers, and timers. this is getting expensive!
after that, make the concrete underlayment/grout substrate. as well as order the retaining wall and sliding glass doors, and the track, and install all that. i wonder if i'll ever finish this thing? maybe by the end of summer?
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