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I recently set-up a new enclosure for my Avic. Just thought I'd share how I put it together for anyone looking for cheap ways to make an arboreal set-up that doesn't look too bad.
I started with an inexpensive standard aquarium bought at a local petshop, which will be placed upright as many people do for arboreal species, and made a DIY background. I got the idea from youtube and went for it. I simply took clear silicone sealant and laid down a thick layer on the "bottom" portion of the aquarium, spreading it around with my hand (note: wearing a latex, or latex free, glove helps a lot). I had a portion of cork bark flat lying around and trimmed it to the size I wanted for this particular aquarium. I then applied a nice thick layer of silicone sealant to the back of the cork bark flat as well. The reason behind this is to prevent any small gaps being left around the section of bark in which your pet or its food can get into. I proceeded to place the bark into the silicone on the bottom of the aquarium and firmly pressed it into place, smoothing the silicon around the edges. Now with the bark in place I poured in a good amount of dry, loose coconut husk bedding. This bedding sticks to the remaining exposed silicon, completing the remainder of the background. The trick here is to press the coconut husk into the silicon firmly to make sure enough sticks and there are no exposed areas. I wanted to dress up the cork bark a little more, so I simply glued some terrarium moss to a few random locations on the bark. Once dry, I trimmed the moss to neaten it up. I then glued a small juice bottle cap in an upper corner to serve as a water dish. Disclaimer: The silicone used will take a long time to dry completely. Mine took around 12days. Until then, there will be a large amount of fumes throughout the enclosure.
I created one of my DIY potted plants to add a little vegetation to the enclosure. These are very easy to make. Walmart carries an assortment of silk plant sections that cost around $0.50 a piece. I just take a look through and gather what I think will look nice for whatever my end goal is. they have plastic coated wire bases and are easy to trim to size. Once I gather them into place, I wrap the base with sewing thread and prepare the "pot". The pot is simply a delicup or something similar that I have lying around. I fill it with silicon sealant and seat the base of the plant bunch in the center. random small stones from my garden (washed and dried of course) are placed around the base of the plant to help hold it in place. Then I set it up against something around the house to keep it upright while the silicon dries.
The final addition to this enclosure is a small cork bark tube. I trimmed it to fit how I wanted and dressed it up with terrarium moss the same way as the cork bark flat.
Once everything was completed I created a standard DIY front panel out of lexan with holes drilled for ventilation. The bottom portion was glued into place and sealed with silicon to prevent any leakage. A hinge was bolted to both portions to allow the door to open and close easily and a handle placed at the top.
Here's how it should look with everything in place.
I hope this can help anyone looking for a new project.
I started with an inexpensive standard aquarium bought at a local petshop, which will be placed upright as many people do for arboreal species, and made a DIY background. I got the idea from youtube and went for it. I simply took clear silicone sealant and laid down a thick layer on the "bottom" portion of the aquarium, spreading it around with my hand (note: wearing a latex, or latex free, glove helps a lot). I had a portion of cork bark flat lying around and trimmed it to the size I wanted for this particular aquarium. I then applied a nice thick layer of silicone sealant to the back of the cork bark flat as well. The reason behind this is to prevent any small gaps being left around the section of bark in which your pet or its food can get into. I proceeded to place the bark into the silicone on the bottom of the aquarium and firmly pressed it into place, smoothing the silicon around the edges. Now with the bark in place I poured in a good amount of dry, loose coconut husk bedding. This bedding sticks to the remaining exposed silicon, completing the remainder of the background. The trick here is to press the coconut husk into the silicon firmly to make sure enough sticks and there are no exposed areas. I wanted to dress up the cork bark a little more, so I simply glued some terrarium moss to a few random locations on the bark. Once dry, I trimmed the moss to neaten it up. I then glued a small juice bottle cap in an upper corner to serve as a water dish. Disclaimer: The silicone used will take a long time to dry completely. Mine took around 12days. Until then, there will be a large amount of fumes throughout the enclosure.
I created one of my DIY potted plants to add a little vegetation to the enclosure. These are very easy to make. Walmart carries an assortment of silk plant sections that cost around $0.50 a piece. I just take a look through and gather what I think will look nice for whatever my end goal is. they have plastic coated wire bases and are easy to trim to size. Once I gather them into place, I wrap the base with sewing thread and prepare the "pot". The pot is simply a delicup or something similar that I have lying around. I fill it with silicon sealant and seat the base of the plant bunch in the center. random small stones from my garden (washed and dried of course) are placed around the base of the plant to help hold it in place. Then I set it up against something around the house to keep it upright while the silicon dries.
The final addition to this enclosure is a small cork bark tube. I trimmed it to fit how I wanted and dressed it up with terrarium moss the same way as the cork bark flat.
Once everything was completed I created a standard DIY front panel out of lexan with holes drilled for ventilation. The bottom portion was glued into place and sealed with silicon to prevent any leakage. A hinge was bolted to both portions to allow the door to open and close easily and a handle placed at the top.
Here's how it should look with everything in place.
I hope this can help anyone looking for a new project.
