Building the terrarium

This is a new thread started after another one went totally off topic!


My boyfriend is rather handy when it comes to handcraft skills. The 'box' he built me was so perfectly squared off...angles were all perfect 90 degrees....seams were flat, so I guess it's not hard if you're good at that and have the tools. I would make a mess of it if I tried it!

I then painted everything white with a matt acrylic sealantand he put in the ventilation pannels, I built up the textured background shelves from polystyrene sheets and polyeurithane expandable filler and slopped a whole lot of mortar over the top which I then coated with plaster and painted with acrylic paint in a beige-ish colour. I then painted it again and while the paint was still wet, I pressed sand all over it so the back wall has a sandstone cliff effect to it.

Then Thomas did the wiring, I bought the glass tracking and had the glass cut to fit, he installed it, I added the bark, plants, water, etc.....and finally, the snakes!

It was a big effort and took us about 4 months from go to whoa but it's just as nice as a nice aquarium in a living room. So many people hide away their terrariums cos they're a real eyesore but we wanted to make it something really nice and we're really happy with it!

It sounds wonderful! could you post some pictures please!

Yeah, I'd love to see pics too!

Pic of my terrarium


I'm a little short on time (boyfriend will be home in 1 hour...he's been away for 10 days....I'm all excited !!) so I'll just give you this link cos I can't fid the forum I jumped the topic from for the life of me!! -it was about sunstrates I think???


http://img46.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img46...=5120019vk.jpg

this should show you a pic too.

Thanks for the praise by the way, it was hard work but we're really pleased with it!

very nicely done. I am going to start working on building a rack for my snakes, but I am going to be building a vivarium for the bearded Dragons that I am getting this weekend. Not sure when I am going to get started on it, but it will probably take me as long as this took you guys.

Do you have any tips for people looking at building their own viv?

Excellant viv.

I'm so impressed i've desided to build another one and will be ordering the wood tommorow, this one will be a little bigger then the main one i have now and have a better lighting system, so any advise on better lighting would be most appreaciated. I currenatly use 1 day glo inn each viv i have.

Really well done! Lucky snake!
I hope mine turn out as nice (I bought the cages now I have to decorate)

Yeah, that does look great! I may incorperate a few of your ideas when building a bigger viv for sienna (she's growing so fast). Thanks for posting!

Ummmmm, can't think of anything specific at the moment for tips.

I guess it's important to make the initial 'box' as sturdy as possible and be very accurate. If you start with a roughly tacked together box then the rest will never just 'slip into place'...it's like trying to build a nice house on shoddy foundations...just not worth the trouble.

Look at the terrarium as an investment too, if you put a little bit of extra money and a lot of effort into it, you'll be happier with the end result and get more pleasure out of it. If you then want to sell it in the future, you'll also be able to ask a better price for something that's had a bit of care put into it.

If you have the proper tools and know-how, great...if not, get someone who does on board with the project.

Make it something special and individual with a bit of a personality so that you have a really individual piece you can be proud of...but not so far out that you're sick of the sight of it after 3 weeks.

Think about the overall height of plants and fittings you want to put in it and think about clearance dimensions for things like light fittings, heat bulb, etc. You might think you might like a 150 cm wide terrarium, but make sure you know just how big that is before you start and have a place to put it. A big terrarium can really overwhelm a room (in a not so positive way!!)

That's all I can think about at the moment...It's midnight where I am and I've had a loooooong day! I'm happy to help with any other more specifics. Cheers,
Adèle