Background adhesives

[joneill809]

What’s everyone using these days? My go to for years has just been siliconed cork to glass without additional treatment. I blackout the background with shelf paper for a pretty clean look. I’m building out a large V prasinus enclosure and I want the entire background and sides climbable. I’ve lined the entire enclosure with cork panels and I’m attaching cork flats and rounds to that for a more natural look. Additionally I want to treat it with peat and glue to soften the look and make it more natural looking. 

So is the go to still gorilla glue? If so which one? Any other adhesives that look promising?

[Philsuma]

I am going to start going with flat @ 1 inch dark cork flats with a roller of brown silicone applied and weighted down with bricks to dry flat.

Black contact paper is the best for concealing bar none.

[joneill809]

I had an interesting problem to solve with the prasinus (it's going to be 4' x 2' x 6' - the current lower portion is 4x2x4). I was nervous about how well the adhesives would hold to the PVC panels supporting an active climbing reptile so I ended up building a skeleton of egg crate, then gluing and zip tying the cork panels to the frame. I zip tied cork bark through that, then I inserted the entire structure in the viv. After that was in the viv I zip tied additional branches and hides to the bark framework and walls. I'm going to start applying great stuff and gorilla glue / ground sphagnum moss in the cracks and gaps to complete the look. We'll see how it goes. By far the biggest project I've ever taken on. And it had to be claw proof lol.

So I settled on:
- silicone 1
- zip ties
- black great stuff (she's likely going to tear it up a bit)
- gorilla glue

[pet_tree_gnat]

I just started working on this background.  It's plantable, and should last forever hopefully.  It's my first time trying this approach fully I have integrated tree fern fibers with tight bond but never with the cocoa fiber and sphagnum.  Integrated two nice cork planters, liking it so far, but now waiting to dry is the problem.  The major benefit here is there's no foam to carve or shape and you don't have to worry about drying out your cocoa fiber to get it to stick to silicone it works fine when it's wet actually loosens up the glue a little bit so you get more aeration in the background material.

[pet_tree_gnat]

Gorilla glue is harder to hide when it bubbles up, titebond 3 dries clear and not toxic and waterproof. I'll post my other tank, it's three months in with titebond and tree fern fiber

[joneill809]

I started the gorilla glue coating earlier today. I did have to baby sit it as it bubbled up and I kept pushing more spagnum in to it. I have some touchup work to do tomorrow. I'll have to try the titebond approach next time! That's a nice background. I'll get some photos posted of this monster when I'm done this weekend. Home stretch - touch up tomorrow, plant this weekend and environmental shakedown after that!

[Philsuma]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95u-fd4Yi8o&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0KJ-G6kZfjdlYG4Q-6jKFbgrx828cjuAOalTWvmfWYxdIMD4ShZ5UbSvU

[pet_tree_gnat]

Update on the progress for my vivarium.  It's now been almost 48 hours and it's still wet I put a heater/fan on last night and half is now dry so that's the way to go I'm going to put a bigger fan on there.  I was wondering what your thoughts are on this foam tree I carved out that's been sitting on a shelf for a year. You guys think I should put it as one of the sides, or scrap it I'm kind of on the fence I don't know how it'll look once it's actually installed.

[joneill809]

Was that expected? Does it set quicker so you can stand it up while blowing air on it to cure?

How tall are the root structure? Will much of it be exposed once you add substrate and leaf litter? Amazing carving work on that trunk. The detail is impressive.

[pet_tree_gnat]

Thanks Jim, I expected it to take a day to dry. The fan has made a huge difference with the mix. I should be able to do the sides tonight. The root structure will be mostly exposed I can sick it to the side and build around it with the glue mix. A fan will be used.

[pet_tree_gnat]

I put it in, stuck and sealed with silicone, surrounded with titebond mix.

[pet_tree_gnat]

This is going to house a group of 7 ranitomeya sirensis, so I want a lot of high plant spots and a sort of open ground area.

[joneill809]

Looks great!

[pet_tree_gnat]

Thanks man, just finished the sides, now to plant and cover!

I may trim some of the Manzanita to clean it up a little bit.

[Rusty_Shackleford]

I know this is a frog forum but I kinda wanna see the V. prasinus enclosure too.

[joneill809]

I know this is a frog forum but I kinda wanna see the V. prasinus enclosure too.

It's still in the phase 1 build out at 4'x2'x4'. I have another 4'x2'x2' module on order that will be in next week that will stack on top of this one. I'm going to paint the panels on that one sky blue and try to treat the upper third of the viv like a canopy with branches and extra pathos for climbing. Here's the lower section with my custom build stand and hood:
   
This is in our kitchen / dining area, in the nook where normal people would display their china  

Here are the occupants:
   
   

They have pretty much destroyed the palms with their climbing. The pathos is hanging in there and it will be a few months before it's really taken hold like it did in the QT viv. Anyhow, the background is cork squares zip tied and glued to an egg crate framework that can be lifted out. The cork bark is zip tied and secured with black good stuff. I top coated with gorilla glue and milled sphagnum (yeah, I had to keep checking on the gorilla glue as it expanded - it did get through on some areas, but overall it's not that noticeable, and the pothos will eventually overrun the viv).

I'm also running a full fledged false bottom, but I used a sheet of plexiglass over the egg crate to keep these two from shredding any screen layer. So far they haven't destroyed the viv....