# Really need some enclosure help please



## Saf (Sep 16, 2011)

If you've ever made your own "RobC style" backdrops for your T enclosures, I could really use your help.

For the detailed version of what I've been trying, please see this previous topic "Is this safe for my tarantula?, but in short, the problem I have, is that whatever I do, I just cannot get the (acetic acid) smell from the (aquarium safe) silicone sealant used for the backdrop to completely dissipate.

This is my 3rd attempt now to make this work (since previous topic), and the frustration at having all these lovely custom terrariums I'm unable to use, is immense. :bomb:

We're not talking about the very strong distinct odor given off while the silicone sealant is curing here, but rather, a very faint, kind of 'residual' scent that just kind of lingers, for weeks, and months after the time it has 'supposed to' have finished curing.

After the first failure, I figured maybe I was putting on too thick a layer, so for the second and third attempts, I've specifically ensured a much thinner spread, to the exent that in the latest attempt, you could even still see the white polystyrene underneath, before I added the eco earth to it.

Yet still, this trace odor persists, and I am at a loss as to why. 

Plenty of other keepers have made their own backdrops using this method, and unless they're all using their creations with the persistant faint odor still there (the TKG warns against this) and it's not a problem, then I just don't understand why my ones will not work too. 

So if you've made your own enclosure backdrops, please let me know, whether you have no trace smell lingering in them, or are you using them with the residual odor and yet having no problems with your Ts?

Either way, please let me know what works for you, I'm at my witts end with these things. 

I could really do with talking to RobC about this too, does anyone know how I can contact him personally please? (email address ect?)

My last idea to try, having read some accounts of humidy helping with the curing process, is to go ahead and add the substrate to the enclosure, give it a good mist and put some heat through it to get the humidity up, and see how that goes.

In the meantime, if you've had any success with these backdrops yourself, or have any idea why this may be happening, please feel free to add any thoughts you may have.

Many thanks,

Saf.


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## Josh Perry (Sep 17, 2011)

I haven't made any before but I when I'm attaching stuff to my tanks I use hot glue just as good IMO dries in seconds and there is no odor and it is tarantula safe


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## Saf (Sep 17, 2011)

Cheers for the reply Josh, but it is specifically making my own backdrops that I'm having the issue with, rather than attatching things into the enclosure.


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## TalonAWD (Sep 17, 2011)

I have made TalonAWD style Enclosures:biggrin: Now with your concern, as long as you let the enclosure dry than you are golden. I think you are over thinking the situation. My rule of thumb is wait a month before allowing specimen to live in ur custom enclosure. The smell will be there for some time because there is very limited airflow in the container. Not like a bathroom where the silicone would be exposed to alot of moving airflow. Also, water or moisture seems to help with the faint smell going away.
When the silicone dries and fully cures, its no longer toxic. So waiting a month should suffice. Try putting a fan right over enclosure as its drying to make sure you have more than adequate airflow. In every Enclosure Creation I have made in my Series of enclosures (The series is all over the forum under "Enclosure Creations" and in my youtube channel) I have not had any fatalities.

Make sure that you are using 100% pure silicone with no additives. Nowadays the silicones manufactured may contain mold inhibiters which can be a bad thing for your specimens. The mold inhibitor is within the silicone so its not something that will disipate or air out.

Other than that, I have made 15 custom enclosures with massive amounts of silicone, far more than RobC has used in his enclosures. For my ExoTerra enclosure I have used up to two full tubes of silicone. I use the silicone to hold substrate on the landscapes and also to shape the landscape. So its not just a thin layer we are talkin about. Sometimes globs of it!  My enclsoures takes me days and sometimes weeks to complete due to the complexity of them and with using silicone and the amounts I have used You need not worry so much about it causing harm. Just make sure its completely cured. Also For my Exoterra's i wait 2 months before introducing specimen. Much more silicone amounts. Also the Exoterra's have much more airflow capabilities than a standard fish tank. You have the two front opening doors and the entire top fully exposed. In a fish tank you only have the top exposed. Unless you physically drive air to flow into the tank, it will be very limited in airflow on its own.

Hope that helps you out.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Saf (Sep 17, 2011)

Thanks so much Steve, really appreciate you taking the time to share your knowledge. :biggrin:

Just to be absolutely certain, even with the faint odor, the T you had in "Enclosure #8", it's still doing ok?


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## TalonAWD (Sep 17, 2011)

Of course they are all Ok. Like I said no problems with any of my enclosures. Enclosure Creations #8 was for Mommy, My Maraca cabocla tarantula that gave birth to the very first generation of slings in the US. She not only did well in that enclosure but also gave me a sac! And not to mention the largest sac to date in the US with over 300 slings. 

Products I have used in all my enclosures are:
100% Silicone (with no mold inhibitors)
Great Stuff Foam
Styrofoam sheets
Dead tree branches (steralized)
Rocks (steralized)
Hot glue 
and any of the artificial things sold at chain pet stores.

Mommy is still doing great and has molted several times. When I first got her she was missing 2 legs, and even so made me a healthy sac. (She was a wild caught specimen)

Reactions: Like 1


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## Saf (Sep 17, 2011)

Superb. :biggrin:

Thanks again Steve, for your great help, and setting my mind at rest.

I can now confidently continue in my own creations, knowing that my much loved Ts are safe.

Priceless.


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## TalonAWD (Sep 17, 2011)

No problem Glad I could help.


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