DIY backdrops, what do you use?

[iamthegame06]

hey guys! so im thinking about making some backdrops, i saw RobC's video on how to make one, then he made another video that says "Do not use GEII caulk for backdrops!" (which was the caulk he used for the DIY video) and he recommended the use of 5005 or something..so i went to walmart, target, and home depot yesterday and they didnt have it..i know you can get it online, but im trying to avoid having to pay for the shipping and stuff because im only doing a couple of backdrops, i just dont think it's worth it lol..so my questions are; are there any other alternatives? what do you guys use? brand name? and where do you get it from? would any other non toxic adhesive work? like say maybe a non toxic glue? thanks in advance!



oops! should've posted this on the "Vivariums and Terrariums" section..my bad!

 

[gizmosdeath]

You can use GE I silicone and that will work just fine. I think that the best place to look for your questions is on the Dendroboards because most of those people are doing dart frog setups and thus they are always dealing with a lot of moisture. Also, I think dart frog are a lot more fragile than T's. I have used GE I with no problems but you definitely need to make sure that you give it several weeks to cure. I also just did a background using Great Stuff foam, acrylic paint and Polyurethane varnish and it worked like a charm. After spraying the whole thing with the Polyurethane I let it cure for almost a month until I could hardly smell it anymore. I now have that tank set up for my 2 P. Metallica females(It's a split tank). I also did a viv setup using the silicone thinning method and it came out awesome it's messy though and a pain to mix. HERE is a link to the site that I fallowed if your interested. You can also coat the background with silicone and then pres moss/coco fiber into it but it won't last as long as the other method. I have heard of other people using Gorilla Glue but I haven't tried it myself but I would like to someday. GS foam gives you a really good start to you background though.

Here is a pic of how mine turned out.

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[iamthegame06]

wow! yours looks awesome man! i'll definitely check out that GE I silicone! Gorilla glue sounds sketchy, im not sure if its non toxic..have to check that out too lol i like the acrylic paint idea though, seems easier lol is any acrylic paint safe? spray paint ones?

 

[gizmosdeath]

Thanks man. Took me a while to get it all done. If you go to Wal-Mart in the hobby paint section I think that most of the acrylic paint is nontoxic. That's what I used and that's what most of the guys on the dendroboards use too.

 

[iamthegame06]

so i just went to walmart and bought a spray paint..i talked to a guy who works there and he gave me a "Krylon" spray paint, he said it was non-toxic, but now that reading the thing on the back, im kinda sketched out because it doesnt say it's non toxic anywhere -.-

 

[gizmosdeath]

so i just went to walmart and bought a spray paint..i talked to a guy who works there and he gave me a "Krylon" spray paint, he said it was non-toxic, but now that reading the thing on the back, im kinda sketched out because it doesnt say it's non toxic anywhere -.-

Yeah you might want to try and find as much info on the web as you can about that particular paint. Or try calling one of their reps and finding out for sure. I was even a little unclear on the acrylics that I bought but I went online and the company stated that all their acrylic paints were non toxic. You can never be too careful with your T's. If you haven't yet you should really check out that dendroboard though. Those guys know from trial and error what works and what doesn't.

 

[MatthewM1]

GeII kitchen and bathroom has mold inhibitors and shouldn't be used but the window and door is safe. You can also pick up titebond III wood glue. Mix it with coco fiber spread it on, let it dry a week, repeat, this time spread coco fiber over there top of it and press it in, let it sit over night and shake of the excess then give it another week before using it.

Sent from my LG-P930 using Tapatalk 2

 

[edgeofthefreak]

I tried using regular caulking, but didn't notice the 'anti-fungus/mold/mildew' on the side of the tube. Big chemical smell that didn't really go away. Filled the tank with plants, which are thriving, but added isopods and they all died.

So now, I'm testing out Titebond III with substrate. I like what it does so far, but I was not expecting it to be so thin of a substance. Two methods: first was to mix sub + titebond in a bowl and spread onto styrofoam; second was to spread as much titebond onto the styrofoam first, then press substrate. I'll post pictures soon of the results, but I'm liking the second method.

 

[gizmosdeath]

On the tank above I used GEI and GEII and haven't had a problem with it. I have a tone of Dwarf White isopods in it too. I let the tank air out for about a month after completing it and allowed time for the silicone to cure completely. I liked working with the GEI better though cause I didn't have as much shrinkage when it dried and it also seemed like it was easier to mix and apply. My only problem now is the fact that I have a ton of mites in it and I wanted to try and kill them off without losing all of my isopods too. So i either have to get a different mite species to wipe them out or just clean the whole thing out and get more isopods. Also, I have noticed mites crawling all over the silicone so I think as long as you give it enough time to cure you should be fine.

 

[iamthegame06]

thanks for the inputs guys! i will have to try that titebond thing..i haven't used the spray paint yet because im still sketched out by it lol but I did an experiment last night, got a piece of foam (not sure what brand but it was from one of the T's I ordered a while back..then I used Elmer's glue, the non toxic one for kids..so I applied that onto the foam and put potting soil on top of it..I checked it this morning, and it surprisingly worked lol I'm not sure how good the glue is though, so we'll see once it completely dries up..it's non toxic so it shouldn't harm the T's right?

 

[edgeofthefreak]

The only support I can say for Titebond III (not other ones like I and II) is waterproof. Most of our spiders do not care much for humidiy, but there is the odd time that a water bowl get knocked over....
Still testing my Titebond pieces, I'll try to post pics soon.

 

[edgeofthefreak]

So big pics incoming. And maybe a little thread hijacking too.

These are the result of my first experiments with Titebond III. First 2 images are an 'oatmeal-like' mix spread onto styrofoam. The other 2 images are a of a thick spread of Titebond, then dry substrate pressed firm.
Included is the brush thing I use... have a whole bag of 'em.



This looks fairly wet still but it is very dry, and very very rigid. It's incredibly solid, almost too much. Might even cause injury to something that fell or slid across the surface.


May need to thin out the mix before adding. Heard that adding small amounts of water can help this method out.


This method is patchy, and I'm told to do this method twice, for a second coat.


This close up shows the patchiness, and where I'd really need to cover up.


There's may be a method in between these two. Covering the first layer in oatmeal-style, then a coating of thick spread dry pressed sub to give it a more natural look.
I'll run these under a tap for a few minutes to test the waterproofing.

Also, apologies for the hijacking.

 

[gizmosdeath]

Actually what you did with titebond looks a lot like what I did with silicone. It might have been cheaper too. If you don't mind me asking how much did you spend on the titebond? I also used another method on the construction of the bottom half of the above cabinet. I spread silicone on the foam and pressed the coco fiber on. I also had to use several coatings to cover the bald spots. I will throw up a few before during and after pics for you guys.

To keep the wood from swelling and rotting I covered the inside with a layer of silicone. If you can see in the photos there is a space at the bottom of each cabinet. I did that for attaching a heat pad to the glass. It gets really cold in my living room especially in the winter so I needed an extra source of heat. As an added precaution I took epoxy resin and coated the bottom of each half.

View attachment 121761

Then I added the foam bark and everything else that was going to be held in place. I used these biodegradable pots that I found at Wal-Mart for creating plantable spots in the foam.

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This was the finished version of the bottom half of the cabinet and you guys already saw the top. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. The bottom half is going to be used for a terrestrial desert setup and the top for an arboreal setup if I can ever get the mite problem taken care of. Also, I have computer case fans mounted to the back of the cabinet for added air flow when I need it. There are air holes drilled in the back of each half so that I can circulate air through.

View attachment 121760





BTW EDGEOFTHEFREAK, hijack all you want. It's called a discussion board for a reason :biggrin: Besides, I try to get as much info as I can for future projects. I'm really curious about trying the titebond now. IMO I like the wet substrate look better but I suppose it depends on your end goal.

 

[gizmosdeath]

thanks for the inputs guys! i will have to try that titebond thing..i haven't used the spray paint yet because im still sketched out by it lol but I did an experiment last night, got a piece of foam (not sure what brand but it was from one of the T's I ordered a while back..then I used Elmer's glue, the non toxic one for kids..so I applied that onto the foam and put potting soil on top of it..I checked it this morning, and it surprisingly worked lol I'm not sure how good the glue is though, so we'll see once it completely dries up..it's non toxic so it shouldn't harm the T's right?

Hey, I took a couple pics for you so that you can see what the acrylic paint looks like. It didn't come out too bad. I tried to make mine look like wood in the background but it probably would have looked better painted like a rock wall.

View attachment 121765
View attachment 121766

 

[Mandiblehead]

Well I think its pretty obvious that I need to make one of these asap

 

[edgeofthefreak]

I clearly need to get some paint skills.

I bought a 16oz bottle of Titebond III from a store called Busy Bee Tools, for about $16.99. I used about 1.5oz on the test set above... so I'm already thinking of picking the 128oz bottle, which is $45. I'll post again after I do a second coat.

Great thread! I tried the silicone method, but bought caulking instead. Titebond is almost like water compared to silicone/caulking. Much tougher to get a thick layer, so in many places 2 coats would be needed. I'm not sure if Titebond ever goes on sale though... so silicone can be a very cheap method if the timing is right.

Also, using biodegradable pots is brilliant!

 

[gizmosdeath]

The cheapest place that I have found to buy silicone was Wal-Mart and its about $3.50 a tube and If I remember right it took me about 6 tubes just to do the top part of that cabinet. If the Titebond works the same it's cheaper to go that route. I know you said that the Titebond came out pretty rigid but does it have any give at all or is it like stone hard? When you have T's that are used to walking on tree bark or rough stone/ground I wouldn't think it would be too bad for them unless it turns the coco fiber into razor blades. The problem with the silicone is its so stiff even after you dilute it with mineral spirits that it's really hard to work with. You have to change your latex gloves every couple minutes. 3 tubes of calk only covered half of my taller cabinet.

 

[viper69]

This is a great thread you guys. The pictures are worth a thousand words. The Dendro communitiy is definitely the place to learn more about creating vivariums for exotic pets. I haven't seen a community better at it then them due to the nature of their pets. I do know that they are super helpful. I've talked to a lot of them at meetings, and all the breeders were really helpful. These pictures as well as others on this board give me inspiration to create my own setup with a spray foam backing. Someone did on the board here took some nice pictures of the work in progress, it was helpful!!

 

[iamthegame06]

you guys did a really good job on yours!! wow! i have a long way to go and a lot of practicing to do on how to make those haha im sold to that titebond thing! definitely picking some of those up asap! i checked out Dendro and man! they have sick enclosures! got some really good ideas! cant wait to start making mine this weekend lol

 

[viper69]

you guys did a really good job on yours!! wow! i have a long way to go and a lot of practicing to do on how to make those haha im sold to that titebond thing! definitely picking some of those up asap! i checked out Dendro and man! they have sick enclosures! got some really good ideas! cant wait to start making mine this weekend lol

The best enclosures I've seen come from the Dendor community. I was at a reptile show once, and man, these dart breeders had some that looked like the jungle had been dropped into their tanks. They were so impressive. I need to join that forum and get some ideas.