I'm looking to make a walk in vavarium with large water feature, and multi levels.

[IrishRonin]

Well first off, what are you planning to keep in there? How do you plan to view it, is it gonna be walk in only or is there gonna be a glass/plex front? So i have built a few LARGE vivs, for monitors and large snakes. If its gonna be permanent the you can go buy this stuff at home depot called resin, in black or grey, you can make a foam buck and then roll it on and when it dries pop it out or you can coat the floor itself in it. Once its dries its non toxic and water proof. As far as the ledges go I've used fake rock pavers cause there flat and light as well as grape wood trunk pieces, also I go out and hunt for unique pieces of wood all the time so... then of coarse clean it (bleach,burn,boil the 3 B's) and then I use butterfly bolts (tugger bolts) to anchor them to the wall. Id be glad to give you more advice but again it all depends on what you plan to keep in there.

[Tyson]

wow! that stuff sounds great! I"m going to keep my two pixies in there, and fish in the water feature also. and lots of plants, and a waterfall going down the back wall, and a digging area for him to hide in coconut with. if I could make it non-permanent then the wife will be happier, esp if it sits on the ground, but we shall see sounds like you have done a lot like this IrishRonin. I'd love any more advise you have! is plexi easy to work with? I altered a plexi tank once, but never made one. I've also concidered building one in one of those big plastic water storage things, then cut the top off

[IrishRonin]

I have built a few, I do it for a living, im an animal curator at a rept/amphibian museum. Right now Im making one for a breeding pair of timor monitors its 6' long-6' high-by 5 1/2' wide. I'll post pics when its done. Ok to clarify you said a walk in viv. with multi levels right? Are you talking about like a water tank? Like the ones that hold a few 100 gallons? Plexi can be a pain until you get the hang of it, but i wasn't talking about building the whole tank out of it just about putting in some sort of window for viewing. The only other thing is if you build all of the multi levels will they even be utilized, cause pixies dont really climb, right? (never owned one). Don't get me wrong if its built with all kinds of plants and vines it will look amazing but again your focus will be on the ground so... Another thing i can say is once you wire all the logs/vines together cover the wire in silicon and press spag. moss on it, it looks really good. if you have anymore ?'s let me know. Building BIG vivs is so much fun! I hope i helped

[Tyson]

helped lots actually! as far as the multi level, kinda had the idea of a plateau thing with grasses, ect and a dig in area where he could bury himself, then the water underneath that way if he fell in two feet, wouldn't hurt him, but he could swim, dig, and have multi level, thats kinda what I was imagining, but if I made one portable, the wife sure will be happier LOL but man, this stuff sounds great!

[IrishRonin]

you know I have wanted to put a nice grassy area in a viv for a long time, but I have come up with 2 problems. 1- grass usually needs to have a lot of soil to root in, which is a lot of weight. Though I did find some "super grass" that will pretty much grow any and every where. 2- keeping it manicured, I like long grass but at a certain point it will need to be cut and unless you've got a tiny mower... Anyway what you've got in mind sounds really cool. For the multi level thing you could make it like a terraced hill with the grass on top and pond at the bottom that way he couldn't really fall, maybe tumble but not fall. Well keep me posted on what you decide to do, you've got my brain running a mile a min. now LOL

[Tyson]

some grass only needs 4-6" of soil, if its made with a wood frame for the upper level, would be very light, very strong, and plenty of grass for the little guy to stretch out on you could even use an organic seaweed based fertilizer on it when you take him out for a bit, stuff is really good, and no pesticides. Got this info from working at a hardware store. Grass seed is something I couldn't get the info out of my head if I tried lol.

[Tyson]

I think I know what grass I'm going to use now. Going to go for Wheat instead hard red wheat, tossed around in clumps so its more like in nature. The other grass is too much work, I know that the wheat will work good. now to autocad the layout for the lights, ect. This thread sure is a good one! people are going to get a lot of ideas for there projects.