Home-made rocks and hides

[Terryz_]

Hi all, have anyone done any homemade rocks and hides for your geckos? I am toying with the idea of using white cement to disguise a hide and to make some rocks for them.. But I am not sure if it is toxic or would it have any thing that will affect the geckos..

 

[Rythm]

I've made a few things now out of foam for rocks and hides
My old tank

my new tank, double tree stump hide

Rock ledges and hides

 

[Krystal]

we used great stuff foam on the hides and rocks. we heard it would be okay. we don't know how it would work. because this is our first geckos in this house

 

[BalloonzForU]

I love this one!! Looks so real!!!

 

[Rythm]

Thanks!!

And Terryz... I guess I uploaded pictures that show off the paint jobs fairly well. But here's a description of how I paint things.
I start of with a general background colour, this is the colour that I want the overall piece to be, so for the stump I made dark brown and for the rocks a sandy gray. Once a coating of this colour goes down then I split the left overs into two containers, one i mix into a darker colour by adding black, and the other I make lighter by adding white. From here i take careful notice of the spots that are going to be in the light vs in the dark. The light areas i put the lighter colour (kind of more rubbing it on lightly rather than trying to cover everything) and same for the dark colour in the dark areas.
From here I will take almost a pure black to due the areas that get almost no light, and an almost pure white to highlight the areas in direct light. All of this should be done in a more dabbing/splotching motion. From here I do any detail work, so like with the stump I added lines to make it look more like back and stippled on some green to look like moss. Or for the rocks I might add some yellow or red in some areas or some blue in darker areas to give it more dimension.

Here's a photo pointing out some light and dark areas

 

[Terryz_]

Looks cool.. Are you using the self expanding foam? or just normal foam and cut them up...
How about the painting? epoxy paint?

 

[snakegirl]

i make hides alot from that stuff, here are 2 i made i have alot more

 

[Rythm]

Looks cool.. Are you using the self expanding foam? or just normal foam and cut them up...
How about the painting? epoxy paint?

On this project I used only foam that I cut and glued, however I have used expending foam as well. I find both are good for different things. The denser foam was good this time since I needed more strength and rigidity from the peices, however expanding foam is great for more simple hides and it is waaaaayyy easier to sculpt. As for the epoxy paint, I've never used it, so long as it's not toxic I see nothing wrong with it. The reason I like tempra and acrylic is not only do I have a hige stash that I got when my high school closed down, but it's not toxic and water based meaning you can water it down to use in a spray bottle, and it's easy to clean and dries fairly quickly. Also it's cheap and easy to find at any dollar store.

And snake girl your hides look pretty awesome as well!

 

[Olimpia]

Heather, I LOVE yours! Those dragons look comfy!

 

[gitrdone0420]

Snakegirl- How did you make those hides? I want to make some!

 

[alocin11]

These just look amazing.... I am certainly getting some good ideas for my first set up... but i can imagine these are not going to be as easy as i think.

 

[Chibii]

Doe anyone know a website were you can order some not toxic sealing spry that sends to Europe?

 

[VitalTears]

nice hides dude..lol