Gecko Palace

[Olimpia]

I recently got a 40 gal breeder tank for my girls, and when I finished decorating it with the same rocks and plants I'd decorated their 30 gal tank with, I realized it sucked lol It couldn't have been more boring if I tried. So I decided to finally start the project I've had in my head for months now with the left over foam from a past project.

It's not done yet, obviously. But I wanted to run the design by my sister, so I figured that since I had photos I might as well post the process here.

Step one of the building process - I built the front wall of the back building. The inside of the building will have all sorts of levels and caves, but that's not finished yet.

Step two - begin building the wings on the building. At this point I was just measuring and using toothpicks to hold it together, just to check how it looked.

This is what it looks like as of right now. There is still stuff on the front I'm working on. But I have to get feedback from my sister as to the asthetics.

The roof will have those Middle-estern domes that are so cool, so I still have to get those done. And um... what else. I'll paint it and all that later. OH! And the roof opens up on hinges, so I will be able to get into the building when it's in the tank.

If you want to critique please critique only the structure itself, not any of the techinical gecko husbandry stuff. I have taken all of that into consideration, you just have to trust me

 

[Chibii]

I love the looks, how big is your cage? You are very creative!

 

[puckett26]

Wow thats cool, your really talented! Want to build me one lol!

 

[BioWorkZ]

That's awesome. Can't wait to see what it looks like when it's completed. Please keep us posted.

 

[Olimpia]

Lisa - Thank you! It's almost 34 inches by 17 inches, so it's a nice sized tank.

David - Thank you too! it's what happens when you're bored haha.

 

[Olimpia]

That's awesome. Can't wait to see what it looks like when it's completed. Please keep us posted.

Thank you! Hopefully I can get it completely finished (perhaps without paint) by the end of the weekend. I'll post photos as I work on this

 

[artgecko]

Wow! Love it

 

[L-G-C]

Awesome! I have a project I want to do.. might start it... but yours is awesome! can't wait to see it done so please keep us posted.

 

[ofek]

Olimpia, that's great!!! VERY well done...can't wait to wait! VERY VERY creative.

 

[Olimpia]

Thank you everyone! I'll keep you posted with more photos as I continue to work on it. Lets hope that after all this work my girls actually like living in it! lol

 

[little98dime]

murphy's law of leos,.... leos are like small children.... give them something nice and they will pay more attention to the cardboard box it came in. fantastic job so far BTW. i can really appreciate the effort in this as I took drafting in college,...i still have nightmares of cutting balsa wood for those scale model house frames....

 

[Olimpia]

Absolutely, it's what they did with my last project. I built something really natural with lots of levels, and they ended up living on the bottom floor and pooping on the second. Fingers crossed, though, that they don't look miserable in it! The back part is all little nooks and levels to sleep in, so they should enjoy it, in theory.

Thank you! Yes, I don't regret not going into architecture, not after seeing my sister go through building models during her summer courses.

 

[Enigmatic_Reptiles]

Wow thats going to be awesome. Looks good already

 

[Olimpia]

Thank you!

I'm waiting at this point for my roommate to clean out his beardie's 40 gal so that I can test the fit of this thing before I get anything else done. I was making the domes to go on the roof and I realized they might not fit lol So that's why I haven't made a lot of dramatic progress on it.

 

[Olimpia]

Here's a small update. I did do the whole inside part of the building, but it's not very interesting yet. It's just a foam and hot glue mess right now lol when I finish it I'll add photos of the inside also.

I'm still working on the domes (there should be one on either side of the middle one) and those small tower things. This is because I'm still waiting to get this thing into a 40 gal tank to see how everything fits. The dome might already be too tall, so we'll see. Oh, and the black tape is just to mark visually where a thin wood trim will go, which I still need to buy.

Aaand I think that's all I have so far. The next update might be early next week.

 

[little98dime]

I wish I had your creativity. Fantastic work so far. What are you planning on covering the foam with?

 

[Olimpia]

Thank you! I usually use plaster, but I might use grout for this since everyone seems to recomend it.

 

[little98dime]

thinking of adding any plants?

 

[gekko.gurl]

Wow, looking so creative! Of course, it's made by Olimpia! Can't wait to see it finished!

 

[Olimpia]

I would love to find some sort of small plant/bonsai tree to put right in the center of the courtyard. But we'll see as it comes together what I can find to put in as greenery, because I do love plants too.


Hahaha thank you Jami Hopefully it won't take me longer than a week to finish.