Enclosure Help

[srfdan]

Hello all,
I've been a lurker here for quite some time and am working towards gaining adequate knowledge for owning dart frogs. I had a few questions about enclosures that I thought I'd ask. I was thinking about getting a zoo-med or exo-terra tank with the swinging doors and was wondering what werethe best ways to seal the doors (it looks as though there are small spaces around the doors that fruit flies could easily get out of)? Also, I have decided against using great stuff as it looks to be not very sturdy. How do cork backgrounds hold up in a humid environment for dart frogs? Do they deteriorate over time? Also, what would be the best way to attach it to the glass? Silicone? Thanks for the help!
-Dan

[DracheFrau]

Hi, I'm still new myself but I think I might be able to help a little. Anyone, please correct me if I am wrong.

For sealing the swinging doors, I'm lazy and I use tape. I don't care that it looks tacky and nobody looks at it but me anyway. Some people seal it with silicon, then run a razor down it once it is dry so they can still open the doors, but flies can't get out. Also really super fine bug netting works, but I don't know how it would look on the doors.

Many many people use great stuff backgrounds. They are just fine if you let them cure all the way. I personally have used clay and it is working well for me so far (fingers crossed, knock on wood).

Cork is perfectly fine for a background. I imagine you would use silicon. There are also fern panel backgrounds that are fine to use. If you used cork you would have to find a perfectly flat piece. Anything that bows a bit your froggies can get behind because it's fun to make you mad or something.

Hope this helps!

[tfox799947]

I used a piece of air tubing with a slit cut in it to fit right on the edge of the glass and it works great.

[frogface]

Great stuff is actually pretty sturdy. More sturdy than you like when you're trying to take it out.

Cork is a good choice and holds up well.

[Pumilo]

Cork will hold up very well. I broke my son's salamander viv down about a year ago. It had 7 year old cork bark in it. I use GE silicone 1 (safer that GE silicone 2) to glue it to the back wall. It does NOT have to be flat, in fact, I love the effect you get from piecing the wall together with different sized chunks. We call it the cork bark mosaic method. Here is how we do our mosaic walls. Pumilo's 75 corner viv

[srfdan]

Originally Posted by DracheFrau

Hi, I'm still new myself but I think I might be able to help a little. Anyone, please correct me if I am wrong.

For sealing the swinging doors, I'm lazy and I use tape. I don't care that it looks tacky and nobody looks at it but me anyway. Some people seal it with silicon, then run a razor down it once it is dry so they can still open the doors, but flies can't get out. Also really super fine bug netting works, but I don't know how it would look on the doors.

Many many people use great stuff backgrounds. They are just fine if you let them cure all the way. I personally have used clay and it is working well for me so far (fingers crossed, knock on wood).

Cork is perfectly fine for a background. I imagine you would use silicon. There are also fern panel backgrounds that are fine to use. If you used cork you would have to find a perfectly flat piece. Anything that bows a bit your froggies can get behind because it's fun to make you mad or something.

Hope this helps!

Hmm the silicone sealing idea is pretty good. I might just do tape too though haha. Do you use a special kind that is non-toxic for the frogs?

Originally Posted by Pumilo

Cork will hold up very well. I broke my son's salamander viv down about a year ago. It had 7 year old cork bark in it. I use GE silicone 1 (safer that GE silicone 2) to glue it to the back wall. It does NOT have to be flat, in fact, I love the effect you get from piecing the wall together with different sized chunks. We call it the cork bark mosaic method. Here is how we do our mosaic walls. Pumilo's 75 corner viv

Wow that looks great. I think I might try something like this!

Originally Posted by frogface

Great stuff is actually pretty sturdy. More sturdy than you like when you're trying to take it out.

Cork is a good choice and holds up well.

Okay so does it have some type of consistency similar to Styrofoam? I remember watching a YouTube video and it looked like it was very giving and flimsy, but maybe it was just not dry yet.

Originally Posted by tfox799947

I used a piece of air tubing with a slit cut in it to fit right on the edge of the glass and it works great.

Thats a pretty good idea as well. I guess I will have to measure the gap between the door and the adjacent glass to see how thick of tubing I need.

Thanks for all the help guys!

-Dan