homemade hide???

[dani_boy]

does anyone know a good homemade hide "recipe/method" and possibly no icecream tub one cuz i was wanting it to look more natural.

 

[leighroy6]

havent got many ideas haha but the brand exo terra have some really good natural looking hides and are fairly cheap to

 

[J-A-X]

use the ice cream tub as a mould, cut a hole where you want an entrance, stuff it with paper, make sure the paper comes out of the hole, turn it upside down, cover it with aluminium foil. mix a small amount of plaster of paris, reasonably thick. then pour that over the upside down icecream tub, make sure to keep the 'entrance to be' open, plaster of paris isn't the easiest thing to file down when its set. once your first layer has set (couple of hours), then make a thicker mix and put big handfulls onto the tub, make it all sorts of irregular shapes, lumpy and bumpy.

give it a day or two to go right off, take the tub and newspaper out, use a very rough file (actually called a bastard file but the filter will block it ! ) to smooth the entrance and any sharp edges around the base.

a couple of coats of cheap acrylic paint and you should be good to go. being a rock the paint job doesn't have to be a perfect replica,

 

[user 16324]

you could use the ice cream tub as a mould like it has been said and then cover it in grout or expanda foam. then paint over that? or just start with styrofoam and make some really cool interesting shapes and textures followed by grout or expanda foam. a really good video is here. no a hide but you can adapt it [video]http://www.youtube.com/user/LizardLandscapes?blend=2&ob=1#p/u/21/a244JCEIQHs[/video]

 

[dani_boy]

do you think that it would still hold the heat?

 

[J-A-X]

foam is a great insulator, remember they make foam eskys ! if you have heat under the hide it will retain a fair bit of it. so make sure your probe is IN the hide when testing temps.

 

[Kristy_07]

you could use the ice cream tub as a mould like it has been said and then cover it in grout or expanda foam. then paint over that? or just start with styrofoam and make some really cool interesting shapes and textures followed by grout or expanda foam. a really good video is here. no a hide but you can adapt it [video]http://www.youtube.com/user/LizardLandscapes?blend=2&ob=1#p/u/21/a244JCEIQHs[/video]

So glad you posted that link, thanks!!