# DIY BACKGROUND 1st ATTEMPT



## BDkeeper (Jul 28, 2013)

Hi everyone as the title states this is my first background attempt for my pygmy bearded dragons and will have more and more pictures as i go along


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## BDkeeper (Jul 28, 2013)

The tank its going in





Where I'm at at the moment


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## Lawra (Jul 28, 2013)

That's exciting! Your tank looks amazing already. I can't wait to see more pics


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## BDkeeper (Jul 28, 2013)

Lawra said:


> That's exciting! Your tank looks amazing already. I can't wait to see more pics



Thanks there will be more pics towards the weekend


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## BDkeeper (Jul 28, 2013)

Just a bit of an update added some ledges and basking spot but yeah any advice with things to do with it would be greatly appreciated


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## Lawra (Jul 28, 2013)

BDkeeper said:


> Just a bit of an update added some ledges and basking spot but yeah any advice with things to do with it would be greatly appreciated



Looking good  

How heavy do your dragons get? When starting mine I got some good advice about making the ledges thicker so they're stronger and can support weight


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## BDkeeper (Jul 28, 2013)

Cause mine are pygmy beardies and there smaller than the normal pygmy i weighed them the other day and the heavier one weighed 91 grams so i think the ledges should be fine once i render it a couple of times


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## BDkeeper (Jul 28, 2013)

And don't worry i will test them once i render it so it cant fall


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## Lawra (Jul 28, 2013)

BDkeeper said:


> And don't worry i will test them once i render it so it cant fall



I believe you  just passing along the advice that was given to me


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## BDkeeper (Jul 29, 2013)

Lawra said:


> I believe you  just passing along the advice that was given to me



And i thank you for your concern


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## BDkeeper (Jul 29, 2013)

What do you guys reckon grout or render 
I am leaning towards render cause its a lot thicker an that but because my background has some deep cracks and yeah 

You're opinion will be read and taken into consideration


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## Rogue5861 (Jul 29, 2013)

BDkeeper said:


> What do you guys reckon grout or render
> I am leaning towards render cause its a lot thicker an that but because my background has some deep cracks and yeah
> 
> You're opinion will be read and taken into consideration



Render is easier to do, can mould it better an it can go on a lot thicker. Remember to add bondcret/PVA to your first couple think coats and rough up the foam a little.


Rick


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## BDkeeper (Jul 29, 2013)

Rogue5861 said:


> Render is easier to do, can mould it better an it can go on a lot thicker. Remember to add bondcret/PVA to your first couple think coats and rough up the foam a little.
> 
> 
> Rick



Will do the PVA/bondcrete thing if I end up doing the render 
Thanks


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## Rogue5861 (Jul 29, 2013)

BDkeeper said:


> Will do the PVA/bondcrete thing if I end up doing the render
> Thanks



Either render or grout will need it.


Rick


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## BDkeeper (Jul 29, 2013)

Rogue5861 said:


> Either render or grout will need it.
> 
> 
> Rick



Oh well thanks for the advice no matter what one i do


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## BDkeeper (Jul 31, 2013)

Is this ok to use for the render


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## Rogue5861 (Jul 31, 2013)

Bunnings sell dunlop acrylic render for $12 a bad (20kg), this is what i used and what most others seem to use as well.


Rick


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## J-A-X (Jul 31, 2013)

Render is cheaper and will cope with claws better. And yes, some sort of glue in the first couple of thin coats - it helps it stick to the foam


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## BDkeeper (Aug 2, 2013)

Finished rendering woooo  
Here are some photos

Top









Bottom


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## BDkeeper (Aug 2, 2013)

Ps sorry for the dodgy photos


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## wildthings (Aug 2, 2013)

Looking good


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## BDkeeper (Aug 2, 2013)

Thanks and what do you guys reckon, a more yellowish reddish background for a desert tank or a more brown black background for a rainforest/bush land tank?? 


Need some ideas and as usual any will be much appreciated 


If you can't be bothered looking at the first page here's a photo of the tank it's going in


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## Jason.s (Aug 3, 2013)

I'd use a more lighter brown colour as they come from the black soil plains, abit like the colour they are if that helps any, with abit of dry grass and abit of sun bleached timber for them to climb on, looks good.


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## BDkeeper (Aug 3, 2013)

Jason.s said:


> I'd use a more lighter brown colour as they come from the black soil plains, abit like the colour they are if that helps any, with abit of dry grass and abit of sun bleached timber for them to climb on, looks good.



Thanks and yeah i want to set it up so it looks like exactly where they come from so once i put the background in i will be changing it 
Thanks for the advice


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## BDkeeper (Aug 4, 2013)

Well its not exactly the brown i was going for but now that its in there i reckon it looks pretty bloody awesome even with the multi colours that people were talking about in another thread


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## Rogue5861 (Aug 4, 2013)

BDkeeper said:


> Well its not exactly the brown i was going for but now that its in there i reckon it looks pretty bloody awesome even with the multi colours that people were talking about in another thread



Is that UVB on the left? I would raise it up a little higher.

Background looks pretty functional for getting them up higher.


Rick


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## BDkeeper (Aug 4, 2013)

Rogue5861 said:


> Is that UVB on the left? I would raise it up a little higher.
> 
> Background looks pretty functional for getting them up higher.
> 
> ...



Yeah it is i moved it up as high as I can now


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## Rogue5861 (Aug 4, 2013)

BDkeeper said:


> Yeah it is i moved it up as high as I can now



Now if they need more UVB they can get up on the ledge and lay under it.


Rick


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## BDkeeper (Aug 4, 2013)

Rogue5861 said:


> Now if they need more UVB they can get up on the ledge and lay under it.
> 
> 
> Rick



Yeah that is good thinking 
I was going to do that before you said it but didn't know how it would've looked because iv tried it before but now it looks good so thanks


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## BDkeeper (Aug 4, 2013)

Rogue5861 said:


> Now if they need more UVB they can get up on the ledge and lay under it.
> 
> 
> Rick



And just if you're wondering where my male is in this photo you can kinda see his tail in the light on the right but I've put something there now so he can't get out


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## DeadlyDanny80 (Aug 4, 2013)

Nailed... One of the better backgrounds I've seen... Done well...


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## Lawra (Aug 4, 2013)

It looks fantastic! What did you end up sealing it with?


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## BDkeeper (Aug 5, 2013)

Lawra said:


> It looks fantastic! What did you end up sealing it with?



Sealing it to the back of the tank? You mean


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## BDkeeper (Aug 5, 2013)

I don't think my female realised the uv was below the top of the tank haha


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## Lawra (Aug 5, 2013)

BDkeeper said:


> Sealing it to the back of the tank? You mean



Sealing over the render so it can be cleaned


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## BDkeeper (Aug 5, 2013)

Nothing i just spray painted does the sealing make it easier to clean or just help with cleaning


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## Lawra (Aug 5, 2013)

Cool of never considered that. What sort of spray paint?


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## BDkeeper (Aug 5, 2013)

Lawra said:


> Cool of never considered that. What sort of spray paint?



Some cheap $10 non toxic called "squirts" or something, but any non toxic one will do


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## Lawra (Aug 5, 2013)

BDkeeper said:


> Some cheap $10 non toxic called "squirts" or something, but any non toxic one will do



Cool, thanks  I'd been wondering if a non toxic aerosol sealant would work since it's not going to be wet.


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## J-A-X (Aug 5, 2013)

It will get wet - how do you intend cleaning it ? Or training your snake to only squirt on the floor for that matter. I've had liquid stains on the upper sides before and there's only one way that got there (he's 8ft of muscle with no sense of bathroom ettiquette )


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## Lawra (Aug 5, 2013)

Haha that must be interesting! I moreso meant that it's not going to be constantly wet so would it seal it sufficiently to allow for disinfection... I know there is a very good reason for using pondtite sealer, otherwise you wouldn't


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## J-A-X (Aug 5, 2013)

Just make sure any final coating can be scrubbed. I've seen some poo smearing that would make any toddler proud


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## BDkeeper (Aug 5, 2013)

J-A-X said:


> It will get wet - how do you intend cleaning it ? Or training your snake to only squirt on the floor for that matter. I've had liquid stains on the upper sides before and there's only one way that got there (he's 8ft of muscle with no sense of bathroom ettiquette )



I dont keep snakes but I'm pretty sure that bearded dragons don't have as much liquid in there poop, Do they


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## J-A-X (Aug 5, 2013)

In that case feel free to ignore everything I said ! My bad. I lost track of who was doing which enclosure for what pet /)


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## pinefamily (Aug 5, 2013)

Not as much liquid in their poop? Maybe not normally, but every now and then.......
Encountered it just the other day with the 2 yr old female beardie we adopted from an unwanted home. I had her in a tub while cleaning out her new home, and she let it go.


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## BDkeeper (Aug 5, 2013)

pinefamily said:


> Not as much liquid in their poop? Maybe not normally, but every now and then.......
> Encountered it just the other day with the 2 yr old female beardie we adopted from an unwanted home. I had her in a tub while cleaning out her new home, and she let it go.



I hear that carrots make it go really really sloppy + watery so I probly won't be feeding to many


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## BDkeeper (Aug 21, 2013)

Them sharing the two ledges together aha. And not a single poop has been done on the rockwall, it seems like they get down of it to do one then climb back up.


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## Jack92 (Aug 24, 2013)

Nice work man!! Looks awesome, I'm sure the beardies will love it


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## BDkeeper (Aug 24, 2013)

Jack92 said:


> Nice work man!! Looks awesome, I'm sure the beardies will love it



Yeah mate they do and thanks


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## Jack92 (Aug 25, 2013)

Yeah I noticed with my Jungle he doesn't really like to poop on his ledges or the wall itself, he only does it on the substrate haha.


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## BDkeeper (Aug 25, 2013)

Jack92 said:


> Yeah I noticed with my Jungle he doesn't really like to poop on his ledges or the wall itself, he only does it on the substrate haha.



Yeah, never a bad thing they do that ahaha


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## DeadlyDanny80 (Sep 28, 2013)

BDkeeper said:


> Thanks and what do you guys reckon, a more yellowish reddish background for a desert tank or a more brown black background for a rainforest/bush land tank??
> 
> 
> Need some ideas and as usual any will be much appreciated
> ...



Hi mate... I'm looking at doing my own background & was wondering what paint you used? Cheers


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## BDkeeper (Sep 28, 2013)

DeadlyDanny80 said:


> Hi mate... I'm looking at doing my own background & was wondering what paint you used? Cheers



I used a brown cheap spray paint called "squirts" the colour is "mission brown" and it was easy to use just don't put it on to heavy and do 2 coats


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## DeadlyDanny80 (Sep 28, 2013)

BDkeeper said:


> I used a brown cheap spray paint called "squirts" the colour is "mission brown" and it was easy to use just don't put it on to heavy and do 2 coats



Ok thanks mate... Much appreciated for the reply...


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## BDkeeper (Sep 28, 2013)

DeadlyDanny80 said:


> Ok thanks mate... Much appreciated for the reply...



No problem


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## Woma_Wild (Sep 30, 2013)

For my enclosure, I sealed the lot- the DIY background, the floor sides and even the ceiling. Several reasons for doing that. 
I clean my enclosures out weekly from top to bottom. I may want to put another python in it one day so it needs to be disinfected . Germs do spread so you need to be able to wash all surfaces of enclosure.


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## DeadlyDanny80 (Sep 30, 2013)

Woma_Wild said:


> For my enclosure, I sealed the lot- the DIY background, the floor sides and even the ceiling. Several reasons for doing that.
> I clean my enclosures out weekly from top to bottom. I may want to put another python in it one day so it needs to be disinfected . Germs do spread so you need to be able to wash all surfaces of enclosure.



What product did you use to seal it?


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## Woma_Wild (Sep 30, 2013)

I used Crommelin waterproofing pond sealer- clear.
But any pond sealer would be fine as they are non toxic.
I applied 3 coats as instructed. 
It says to to leave it cure for 7 days.
Now I will clean entire enclosure before putting my python.


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## Rogue5861 (Sep 30, 2013)

Yep, need to wash the pond sealer down once it has cured. A cloth with dish washing detergent first then a clean cloth an fresh water, this will remove any residue.


Rick


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## DeadlyDanny80 (Sep 30, 2013)

Ok done deal... Thanks guys... Appreciate the info...


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