Pimp My Tank!

Pimp my tank – how to give arboreals a beautiful home

This is an article for people with way too much time on their hands. It’s about do-it-yourself rocklike backplanes for terrariums, featuring a step-by-step explanation how to try this at home .


So what are the pros of backwalls?

They are not only pretty but also give an excellent foothold due to their structure. Plus, they provide a certain amount of visual cover for the t without impairing your view. Many arboreals feel more secure when they are less exposed – my avicularia for example wanders about a lot more and doesn’t bolt so easily since she has two sides of her terrarium covered by walls. Not all ts may react like that, though. If you keep more than one t on the same shelf, you can also use walls on both sides to keep them from seeing each other.

I think that the following example is an ideal setting for arboreals, but in my experience, no spider falls from this kind of wall (no guarantee, though ). Even reptiles without adhesive feet (leopard geckos, bearded dragons) can climb those walls vertically. So you can pimp your ground dweller’s terrarium as well, as long as you don’t make it dangerously high.

The terrarium in the pictures is a standard glass terrarium 30x30x50 cm that will house my big P. regalis girl. The platform I built in, btw, is not a waste of space. Arboreals can get used to a water dish if you offer one at ‘eye level’, so that’s what the platform is for.


Here we go

Checklist materials:

• 0,5 cm styrofoam panels (about 2 times the surface you want to cover)
• styrofoam glue (solvent-free!)
• flexible cement
• wall paint, as many colours as you like (solvent-free!)
• LOADS of moist paper towels
• epoxy plus solvent (optional)


Checklist tool kit:

• trimming knife
• long handled lighter
• plastic bucket for mixing cement and paint
• spoon or some other tool for stirring
• several brushes, at least 2 different sizes plus one very small paintbrush for the edges
• putty knife (optional)


Step 1:

Choose a well ventilated area to work in and make sure no cats are around (mine stepped on my first wall before it was dry...).
Also make sure the glass or plastic terrarium and your tools are dry and clean – fatty fingerprints or moisture may cause your backwall to come off. Dish soap is great for removing fat stains, but rinse and dry well afterwards!

Step 2:

Cut the styrofoam panels to the size you need and keep the vacuum cleaner ready.
Glue a single layer of styrofoam to the wall/s. If you want to get fancy and leave holes or make the edges zigzag, feel free to do so. Just remember that this will make it more difficult to coat it with cement.

Step 3:

Think about how you would like to structure the wall, cut or break the remaining styrofoam into smaller pieces and glue them on. The more you glue on, the more structure it gets . Just remember that you have to be able to clean everything, so don’t make any structures you cannot access easily. If you want platforms, use several layers of styrofoam to make them more stable. Let the glue dry for at least 24 hours.

Step 4:

Use a long handled household lighter to melt the structures you have made into a more rocklike appearance. Quickly moving the flame near the surface usually yields the best results. Be careful when you touch the styrofoam with the flame, it melts VERY quickly and may catch fire!
It is possible to use diluted acid instead of the lighter, but in my experience it is harder to get beautiful structures as the acid melts away a lot of the styrofoam very quickly. And if a drop falls off your brush, it makes a hole in your wall.

Step 5:

Mix a cup of flexible cement (it must be flexible or you’ll get cracks when it dries) with plenty of water. It should be quite liquid, only a bit more viscous than honey. When you’ve reached the warm-nutella-stage, you’re nearly there. Only prepare small amounts at a time, as it dries quickly.
Apply a thin layer of cement to the styrofoam with a broad brush or a putty knife. Use a small paintbrush for the edges. You can clean the edges with moist paper towels, especially if you’re working on glass. Let the cement dry out for at least 24 hours. You can clean the brush easily with warm water if you do it immediately afterwards.

Step 6:

Mix another cup of cement with less water and about 100 ml of paint. Apply a second thin layer of cement and make sure you cover all the styrofoam thoroughly. Don’t skip the first layer, if you apply too much cement in one step, you will get cracks all over the place.
Let the second layer dry for about an hour, and then mix only a little cement with a lot of colour. Apply this mixture in some places only – deeper colours for deeper places, this makes the structure more prominent. This is also the time to get fancy if you want to use more than one colour. If you want a natural look, work on the wall while it is still wet, so the colours will merge, and use similar colours. But you might as well go for neon if you like . Just remember that the cement will make the original colour lighter! Let the second layer dry for at least 24 hours.
If you want to, you can ‚drybrush’ the wall afterwards to make it even more beautiful. Just dip your brush in a wall paint of lighter colour and wipe it on a dry paper towel. Then rub the brush over the surface, so the lighter colour sticks to high places only, making them appear even higher. Let it dry for another 24 hours.
Remember not to choose dark colours if you want to use light bulbs as a heat source – they get much hotter than light-coloured surfaces.

Step 7:

If the terrarium’s inhabitants require a high humidity, coat the styro-cement-wall with epoxy or clear latex (solvent-free!). Brachypelma and Grammostola species or Chromatopelma don’t need this however. The cement can easily deal with a humidity of 50-60%.
Prepare only small amounts of epoxy as it tends to dry quickly and work very carefully. Stains are hard to remove. Depending on what kind of epoxy you use, you’ll have to proceed differently – so just follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Epoxy will give your wall a ‘wet look’, latex less so.

The wall is not that pink irl, btw – it’s the flash and reflexions on the epoxy coating.

Step 8:

Let the terrarium dry out in a well ventilated area for at least two weeks, then give some t a beautiful new home .

Don’t put any animal in such a cage that might get the idea to nibble or gnaw at the cement or epoxy – it might poison itself!


I hope you enjoyed my article. If you have questions, just ask!

BTW: This is another backwall without epoxy that I made for my gartersnakes. It's not so fancy, but it's more natural looking - just so you see that there are different ways to do this .