Cavern Kit & Tarantulas?

[runCMD]

That looks great! I must say I was really sold on the Exo Terra enclosures when looking at them and I think you really did a great job decorating yours. Do you use the mesh top it comes with? I was thinking on replacing with an acrylic top or something.

 

[socalqueen]

Thanks for the info Chris! It seems to be sticking to the glass just fine, though I think I may have used a little too much water, so gotta wait a few days to get a better sense of strength. I find the cork tiles boring, plus takes fun out of designing. I normally do cork chunks with moss and/or expanding foam as filler for backdrop, but spotted this at lps, and employee showed me some bearded dragon setups they made with excavator clay that looked dope. I thought it'd last longer than it did, as you said, took a full 12 lbs bag to do this (and I used hard foam underneath as base!). Here's another update pic. Still need to add substrate, leaf litter, and a few vinyl plants and vines to complete (gonna wait til clay dries first). Will post final pic eventually. Would love to be able to make clay myself, but wouldn't know what to use here in the Bay Area (any ideas dude?).

Merry Xmas yall!

That is a rad enclosure.

 

[socalqueen]

And here is final product... some of clay is probably still drying, I'm pretty sure I used little too much water. Even had to clean a little mold that was starting to grow at base of wood and cork pieces. Either way I'm happy with result, only drawback is this tanks heavy as hell!

I love this site, running into pics like these inspire me. Great job.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

Do you use the mesh top it comes with? I was thinking on replacing with an acrylic top or something.

My versicolor's one still has the mesh but I did this with the one that I'm setting up for my P. irminia, I just ordered a pre cut piece of 3mm thick acrylic, drilled the air holes , cut out the mesh and used 2 part epoxy putty (or "Green Stuff" from Games Workshop) to hold it in place (I tried black silicone sealant but it looked horrible and felt like it would fall out), I'll probably do this with the other at some point.

 

[runCMD]

THanks for posting. I'll probably do that on the nanos that I have coming next week. On my medium I ended up creating just a straight acrylic replacement and gluing balsa wood on the top for a handle and latches to cover. Don't have anything in it at the moment just playing around. Debating cutting out the crappy holes I drilled and putting in this white round vent:

 

[The Grym Reaper]

Debating cutting out the crappy holes I drilled and putting in this white round vent

I personally wouldn't bother, I know it's on the lid but T's like to use them as chew toys or just push them out and escape.

 

[raggamuffin415]

Glad u guys liked the enclosure! As long as you have the right supplies, it's not that hard to make nice looking tanks imo. Instead of the clay between the cork pieces, I've also used thick green moss and stuffed it down real well. Or expanding foam spray and then paint and cover it with cocoa fiber.

As far as the top, I always use the screens they come with. I know that it's not recommended but I've been doing it for years and never had problems with spiders getting hurt or biting through to escape. Those are both good options tho for doing acrylic tops, and very simple to use. Like the use of the green stuff too lol (I used to play 40k when I was a kid)!
Thanks for the positive feedback yall-