Styrofoam Hides?

[Trevor's Leo]

Hey,
when i was at walmart today, i saw this diah-rama foam for carving. I was wondering if anyone has cut this type of foam and made hides? I am just curious.

Trevor

 

[Cola7]

regular Styrofoam will work just fine and its cheaper...

 

[SoLongOldBean]

Guess who's in the middle of making custom hides from styrofoam right now...
Styrofoam really is cheaper and works just as well, so don't waste your money on a little piece of over-priced foam. I bought 32 square feet of 1" thick styrofoam at Lowe's the other day for under $10, and that will get you through a LOT of projects, or you can use pieces you happen to have lying around in empty boxes at home - it's probable you'll cut it up quite small anyway. You'll also need basic non-sanded tile grout, but Lowe's only seems to carry 10lbs and upwards of the stuff in store, which'll set you back another $10 or so, but you can buy 1lb bags for $1.80-something on their website, or just shop around (I'm not American so I don't know the best places to go). You can get non-toxic acrylic paints at around $2 a bottle at Wal-Mart. You won't use up all the paint for one project, but the smaller bottles seem to cost about the same price as the bigger ones, so it makes sense to go for those, right? Then comes the sealant. A non-toxic, all-surface sealant, preferably water or acrylic-based, NOT oil or gloss. You can find a bunch of them around, but we went for a large tin of water-based sealant for $16 (don't worry, you can find much cheaper ones) because I wanted to paint it on, rather than use a spray bottle. You'll also need a knife (your basic $1.99 utility knife is perfect, or you can wreck the kitchen knives like I do) and some glue. Some people use Elmer's glue but I'm afraid it'll be too weak on some ledges so I use silicone. Liquid nails are also good, but sometimes a pain to use, so I'd go with regular super glue if you're sticking on a ledge that looks like it might snap off under pressure. Common sense. Sand's also good. Weird hearing that after having everyone scream "ARGHH! SAND BAD!", but it's good to sprinkle some over your last layer of sealant to high-traffic areas for grip. They can't eat it.
So, yeah, I'd estimate a total cost of around $30 to make more hides than you're ever going to use, or $25 to make a couple. Buying in bulk's occasionally a good idea.

That's a lot of writing, huh?

 

[chechatonga]

SoLong has the idea down! I have done the same for my geckos...it started out as a climbable background and now my whole tank is filled with homemade projects.
I plan on selling them in the near future!!!!!!
__________________________
Check out my site i have picks of my previous projects to give you an idea of what you can do and a idea of what to expect when products become available. http://reptileisle.webs.com

 

[Mich]

SoLong has the idea down! I have done the same for my geckos...it started out as a climbable background and now my whole tank is filled with homemade projects.
I plan on selling them in the near future!!!!!!
__________________________
Check out my site i have picks of my previous projects to give you an idea of what you can do and a idea of what to expect when products become available. http://reptileisle.webs.com

I agree they are very cheap and fun to make! I bought a huge pack of styrofoam at Home Depot for $10 and started building little hides and things to climb. Then I started building biggest and better and just sold off the other ones for about $40 each, far better then the fake rock boring enclosure pieces you buy at a pet store for $30+ and one pieces sold was anough to cover what I spent on the faom, grout and foamboard glue! A few extra dollar would have covered paint and sealant. It's also fun to have a bunch of pieces around for variety. Good stimulation for my lizards I've even made ones to fit easily over my moist hide container, looks way better then a plastic box full of damp moss hahaha Addictive hobby, I'm looking into water proof fake rock wall backgrounds for fish tanks now, any suggestions pls let me know! I've seen a few online and they are awsome!!

 

[bman123]

This is cool, I have a tall tank and could do something like this to use up that extra height..