Glue? And my first viv "build".

[Kisa]

Hey guys, I had a quick question regarding adhesives and a few pointers if anyone has any for me.

I was going to use these ideas on my White's viv but I guess I chickened out...>> I have another opportunity though and I think it's time to take it. I won't be building my own background like all you amazing people out there who have the patience and knowledge to do so, but I want to customize a styrofoam background and build ledges and a stick into it to utilize the vertical space in my 12x12x18 Exo Terra.

I'll be receiving two Phyllomedusa Tomopterna by the end of next week so I have a little time for an adhesives to dry and cure before I put the frogs into the viv, so ANY suggestions AT ALL are helpful. XD I want to steer clear of silicone and foam though, I don't think I'll be needing that for what I want to do.

I'll upload some pictures below to give you all a better idea of what I'm talking about, but the project is as such: I want to use mushrooms to build little ledges against the back wall of my viv into the styrofoam background and I was wondering what you all thought was the best way to do this. The way I'm thinking of it now is I will be cutting out little "cubbies" and sticking the mushrooms into them, along with some sort of adhesive to keep them stable to create the ledges I want. I'll also be putting a stick in there to keep IT stable and create a climb for the frogs. (My Whites Tree Frog is so terrestrial something like this in his viv would probably be a waste anyway, he hasn't even tried to climb any of the plants or cool sticks I put in there for him. The closest he's gotten to the bromeliad is just to sit on the bridge nearby and stare at it. >>)

Now I heard from a friend that I could use gorilla glue in the background as adhesive to stick the mushrooms in and keep them stable, but my uncle (whose been a plumber for 30 years) said that gorilla glue would melt the styrofoam. Is this true? I'm not sure at this point who I should believe, my uncle seems pretty adamant about that fact. Has anyone used gorilla glue on styrofoam before? And if so, what were your results?

I think I found a solution to anchoring the stick though, my uncle suggested I use a screw to anchor it to the background and keep it stable, I think this will work but if anyone has any other suggestions I would greatly appreciate the input.

Here are those pictures I talked about before:

Here is the styrofoam background (12x18) and stick I'll be using from different angles.






And here are the mushrooms I'll be working with, currently baking to remove bacteria.

(Thanks again Ginger!)

Thanks in advance to anyone who has thoughts or suggestions, I'm really looking forward to doing this "build". ^ ^

[Kisa]

Oh, also I just remembered.

I wanted to ask also if anyone had any suggestions for plants to use in a P. Tomopterna's viv. I'm not very familiar with this type of thing, but I do use real plants in my WTFs viv (A flowering bromeliad, a snake plant and some lucky bamboo). I want avoid using the same exact set up for the P. Tomopterna so if anyone has any suggestions regarding that they would be awesome to hear.

I received these pictures from DonLisk when I asked him for pointers on how to change my WTFs viv, to great success (Thanks again Don) and was wondering if anyone could tell me what kind of plant this is. I'm not sure where he got these pictures, but they're water-marked, so that should be ok.

http://www.frogforum.net/members/unc...y-treefrog.jpg

http://www.frogforum.net/members/unc...y-treefrog.jpg

This is also the kind of look I wanted to achieve, with the mushroom as a ledge, so for anyone who was confused on what I was talking about, there it is. I won't be sticking the mushrooms to glass though they'll be going into the styrofoam, so keep that in mind. I'm also interested in creating a planted ledge like the one in this picture (the part with the plant hanging down) but making a sort of planter out of an old juice carton or something.

Thanks in advance again for any feedback you guys may have, I'm really new to this stuff and wanted as much help as I could get before I dived right in. XD;

[Kisa]

Here are some more reference pictures for you, sorry about all the posts before anyone's had a chance to reply, but I thought I'd get all this out of the way.

Here is how I think the mushrooms will be arranged without the stick.


And here's how I'm hoping it'll look with the stick in place.


Thanks everyone!

[John]

Glue: You do want Gorilla Glue, but not the normal Gorilla Glue. You want the stuff that says on the bottle "Dries White". It won't do much damage to foam I believe.

As for the plant, it's either Pothos or a Philodendron (both kinds of plant called Aroids).

[Kisa]

Glue: You do want Gorilla Glue, but not the normal Gorilla Glue. You want the stuff that says on the bottle "Dries White". It won't do much damage to foam I believe.

As for the plant, it's either Pothos or a Philodendron (both kinds of plant called Aroids).

Alright, that's really helpful thanks John. I'll go take a look at those two plants and see if I can figure it out. Both of those are safe for the viv right? I assume so I just want to make sure. And if anyone has any ideas about that white frilly-looking mushroom that would help me out, I can't seem to pinpoint what exactly it's called. I know the darker hard ones are called Artist's Conch (thanks to Ginger), but she wasn't sure about the other ones. I'm pretty sure they aren't poisonous though, and I baked them so that should've gotten rid of anything harmful inside them.

Thanks for taking the time to help me out John, I really appreciate it. ^ ^

[DonLisk]

The pics are from this forum of a members viv :-)
One of the nicest vivs I seen for artistic ideas and layout.

Gorilla Glue is awesome and no smell pretty much. Remember is expands three times the size that you squeeze out and don't get it on your hands, it will take some time to get it all off.

You can wipe away excess as it foams out over time (I checked every half hour or so at 1st) and remember to dampen the area you are going to apply the glue to since that is what helps it adhere and activate.

[Kisa]

The pics are from this forum of a members viv :-)
One of the nicest vivs I seen for artistic ideas and layout.

Gorilla Glue is awesome and no smell pretty much. Remember is expands three times the size that you squeeze out and don't get it on your hands, it will take some time to get it all off.

You can wipe away excess as it foams out over time (I checked every half hour or so at 1st) and remember to dampen the area you are going to apply the glue to since that is what helps it adhere and activate.

Yeah I found the member after I posted the pictures and left a comment letting him know that I posted them but didn't take credit or anything.

I went out and got the Gorilla Glue and am testing it on a piece of styrofoam now. If it all works out I should start modifying the background tomorrow. Hopefully it will be ok for the mushrooms too.

Thanks for the pointers Don, sorry I doubted you but my uncle seemed pretty sure that it would melt the foam. From what it looks like now I don't think it will though, I should be in business in no time!

[UncleChester]

I received these pictures from DonLisk when I asked him for pointers on how to change my WTFs viv, to great success (Thanks again Don) and was wondering if anyone could tell me what kind of plant this is.

The big leafed vine is Pothos, the vivarium wonder plant (though you seem to have found some already). There's also a smaller leafed vine, a boston ivy of some variety. The ground cover is some kind of sheet moss I harvested from rocks in the woods, and there's also a couple of maidenhair spleenworts in there (small ferns, one is on a mushroom ledge, the other is on the ground).

If you're interested, here's a link to the build of that viv:

http://www.frogforum.net/vivarium-te...-treefrog.html

Quick question: Is it ever too early to set up a viv? I want it to be ready for the frogs but they're not coming in for another week or so and I don't want to set up the viv and have it sit there for a week with them not in it if it's a bad idea. I heard that you can set up vivs a month in advance, is that true? O:

Absolutely it's fine. It gives the plants a chance to grow in a little before they get trampled on


It looks nice, lots of climbing and hiding spots, well done!

I don't see a water dish or pool though, do these frogs need water to sit in? I really don't know, they are about 2 or 3 down on my list of frogs I'd like to own one day, so haven't spent much time researching them.

[Kisa]

The big leafed vine is Pothos, the vivarium wonder plant (though you seem to have found some already). There's also a smaller leafed vine, a boston ivy of some variety. The ground cover is some kind of sheet moss I harvested from rocks in the woods, and there's also a couple of maidenhair spleenworts in there (small ferns, one is on a mushroom ledge, the other is on the ground).

If you're interested, here's a link to the build of that viv:

http://www.frogforum.net/vivarium-te...-treefrog.html



Absolutely it's fine. It gives the plants a chance to grow in a little before they get trampled on


It looks nice, lots of climbing and hiding spots, well done!

I don't see a water dish or pool though, do these frogs need water to sit in? I really don't know, they are about 2 or 3 down on my list of frogs I'd like to own one day, so haven't spent much time researching them.

Actually there is a water dish in there, it's just really hard to see! It's in the front left side of the viv and is blocked by the black plastic where the doors lock into place, but it's in there I promise! XD

I'm pretty sure all frogs need water dishes to sit in, it is how they drink after all. But I could be wrong I'm not sure, I know I'll be providing a water dish/area for any frogs I get though just to cover my bases, all creatures need water to survive. ^ ^

And thanks so much for the info and compliments, I tried really hard on this and wanted to make something really cool for my frogs to be. ^ ^

[Leefrogs]

looks good! Uv opperated this viv before so for operational purposes there's no need to set up. But it's going to take a day to get warm for your new babes. I say set up anyway. Cuz you'll always want to tweek a vine or move a plant. And these guys are going to be extremely stressed out after the long trip from Detroit. So setting up now will help get all the kinks out and everything warm and perfect for Lil monkeys!!! LOL.

[DonLisk]

Looks great. Get the viv up and going. The longer the plants are in, the better they will be rooted and settled before the frogs move in.

[clownonfire]

Kisha, it looks fantastic!!! Congrats and you seem to be having a blast.

I looked at the list you have and I didn't see a piece of mesh (window screen), unless I missed it. If you put some mesh between the hydro balls and the layer of earth, it will help prevent intrusion of it in the hydro balls.

Have fun today with it!

[DonLisk]

Kisha, it looks fantastic!!! Congrats and you seem to be having a blast.

I looked at the list you have and I didn't see a piece of mesh (window screen), unless I missed it. If you put some mesh between the hydro balls and the layer of earth, it will help prevent intrusion of it in the hydro balls.

Have fun today with it!

Good catch Eric! I did this once and eewwww what a mess trying to correct it.

[Kisa]

Kisha, it looks fantastic!!! Congrats and you seem to be having a blast.

I looked at the list you have and I didn't see a piece of mesh (window screen), unless I missed it. If you put some mesh between the hydro balls and the layer of earth, it will help prevent intrusion of it in the hydro balls.

Have fun today with it!

Thanks Eric! I'm working really hard to make this viv as awesome as possible for the new frogs. ^ ^ I hope it's up to their standards, is all. XD

You know the mesh has always been in the back of my mind, I just forgot to put it on the list. XD; Oops! Thanks for saying something though if I really had forgotten your message definitely would have set me straight. ^ ^

Thanks again, I'm gonna start setting up soon. I'll take a bunch of pictures!

[bshmerlie]

Its coming along great. I can't wait to see what it looks like when you've got everything in the tank all set up. I'm sure your frogs will be happy.

[Kisa]

Looks great. Get the viv up and going. The longer the plants are in, the better they will be rooted and settled before the frogs move in.

Good point. For some reason I get sad when I think of setting up a viv and having nothing in it. XD; It's like if a friend comes over and gets all excited and peeks in and I have to tell them they're not here yet. I think that's what my problem is, but I'll get over it. XD It's only a week after all.

[Kisa]

looks good! Uv opperated this viv before so for operational purposes there's no need to set up. But it's going to take a day to get warm for your new babes. I say set up anyway. Cuz you'll always want to tweek a vine or move a plant. And these guys are going to be extremely stressed out after the long trip from Detroit. So setting up now will help get all the kinks out and everything warm and perfect for Lil monkeys!!! LOL.

Haha that's quite true Ginger. XD Yeah I wanna make this as easy as possible for the frogs, I wish there was some alternative to shipping but it costs less than a round trip plane ticket and I wouldn't be able to have them in the plane with me anyway... Oh well, if I set up the viv now and make it all warmed up and pretty for them then I'm sure it'll make things ten times easier. ^ ^ Thanks Ginger.