Abronia garminea Setup

Vicious_Fish

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Mar 9, 2007
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Hey guys, I haven't had a new thread in a while so I thought I'd share the new project I'm working on.

I received my 18"x18"x36" screen cage the other day in the mail that I ordered from LLLReptiles. The cage go a lot of good reviews and is of much better quality compared to the similar ones Zilla and Zoomed make. I also purchased a substrate box for the bottom of the enclosure. I'm pretty excited to get it ready for my future pair of Green Aboral Alligator Lizards, Abronia graminea. I choose a screen cage for the fact that this species lives high in the misty cloud forests of southern Mexico and they enjoy a good air flow that is hard to achieve in a glass tank. I also want to keep the setup light because I plan to move them outdoors when the weather is nice. Natural sunlight really helps bring out this species green coloring.

First.jpg

Below I'll share the step by step process of constructing the fake background. I plan on adding a lot of live plants such as bromeliads, which are an important plant for this species.

I cut a 3/4" piece of foam insulation board I picked up from Lowe's and placed this in the back. This becomes the base for my background. Here's a photo of the first can of Great Stuff spray foam placed on the foam board. I have the cage laying on it's back which makes things much easier because you're not working against gravity.
Second.jpg

Next I added a second can of spray foam after the first dried for a day. The second can will be what I use to give depth to the background. I'm also using it to form two placed where I'll can place potted live plants. I let the foam cure for about 20 minutes and then placed pieces of cork bark into it which glued into place. Not only is the bark a nice natural background for the lizards, but I will also use it to attach live bromeliads to.

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After it dried for another day I carved out the areas where I plan on placing live plants.

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I placed a piece of manzanita wood in the front of the background and glued it in. I plan on placing live broms on this too.

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Fifth.jpg

First.jpg

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Vicious_Fish

Here fishy fishy fishy...
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Mar 9, 2007
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I actually did work on some of the background yesterday. I covered all the exposed foam with a coating of brown 100% silicon caulking and then sprinkled dried Eco Earth on it. I also placed a few prices of dried sphagnum moss into the backgrounds a well. I noticed that I missed a few spots so I need to buy some more caulking and touch it up before i add the plants.


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Z Trip

Fire Eel
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Really cool setup with the foam and all.
 

ceeej31

Fire Eel
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I actually did work on some of the background yesterday. I covered all the exposed foam with a coating of brown 100% silicon caulking and then sprinkled dried Eco Earth on it. I also placed a few prices of dried sphagnum moss into the backgrounds a well. I noticed that I missed a few spots so I need to buy some more caulking and touch it up before i add the plants.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
That looks awesome, looking forward to seeing it planted
 

Vicious_Fish

Here fishy fishy fishy...
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Mar 9, 2007
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Thanks for the compliments guys.


Awesome setup. Love the naturalistic look.

I gotta ask... how are you gonna do spot cleaning in the background and the cork bark?

Cant wait to see this project progress!
I did a very similar background for my crested gecko setup. It's held up pretty good over the last 4 years with just me just using a spray bottle and paper towels to clean the background.
 
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