Help/feedback on a huge enclosure I’m making

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The foam is carved and I applied pond shield over it! I’ve heard mixed things about drylok vs pond shield and that pond shield is the safest bet so I went with that. Does anyone have experience with both or any opinion about whether or not drylok is truly animal safe?
 
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Water test is perfect, I used some pond foam to reinforce the corner seals just to be 100% safe and multiple tests were clean! :)

I used pond shield epoxy to waterproof the foam interior and added some hardscape stuff with more foam. I cut some of the twigs off the piece on the right so my panther has less stuff poking at him when he’s trying to get around. We used to have these branches suspended from the ceiling for them to use as a gym and I noticed them avoiding those bits so I figured that would be more comfortable for him.

I applied some tinted drylok with a roller over some of the background and I’m going to let that dry now while the foam around that piece of cork cures. The next step will be to apply silicone and coconut fiber, moss, etc. to the cured walls. I’ll foam in some plastic plant pots I got as well but being that this has to sit upright, getting things to stay in place while they cure is a hassle. Taking my time!

I’ll hopefully have more done on it soon, I got a massive sinus infection this last week that put me out of work and then somehow injured my lower back to the point of a doctor’s visit. I’ve been stuck in bed and miserable so being able to work on this today was some much-needed fun. :)
 
Beman said:
Have you found branches long enough to go from one side to the other?
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Yes, I have a few of them! I have a ficus tree I purchased to go inside of the enclosure so I’m just trying to figure out how to balance that as well. My panther really loves his ficuses. Once that’s in I will do some additional branches to make sure he has options for gradient/exploration!
 
Does anyone have any recommendations for isopod species for something this size? My partner started keeping multiple colonies, so there’s a lot to choose from:

• dairy cow
• powder orange
• powder blue
• wild type
• Ukraine pied
• rubber ducky
• cappuccino
• jupiter
• scaber dalmation
• jumbo gestroi
• orange cream

I can’t remember what other ones he has but we have a lot of each. I heard dairy cow isopods were pretty good but I’m worried their size might attract my panther’s attention. Since the enclosure is going to be more tropical/humid, would one of the cubaris species like rubber ducky be better?
 
stickenstein said:
Does anyone have any recommendations for isopod species for something this size? My partner started keeping multiple colonies, so there’s a lot to choose from:

• dairy cow
• powder orange
• powder blue
• wild type
• Ukraine pied
• rubber ducky
• cappuccino
• jupiter
• scaber dalmation
• jumbo gestroi
• orange cream

I can’t remember what other ones he has but we have a lot of each. I heard dairy cow isopods were pretty good but I’m worried their size might attract my panther’s attention. Since the enclosure is going to be more tropical/humid, would one of the cubaris species like rubber ducky be better?
Click to expand...


First of all, the enclosure is looking great!

For isopods, definitely no harm adding different species, I feel like at some point whether it’s a week or 5 years one species will probably dominate and outcompete the others. I don’t think there is any escaping a chameleon’s eye. I’d watch my parsons in his walk-in outdoor enclosure snipe tiny isopods that he saw 7 feet below him.

Personally I’d add some cool species you like and just see how they do. Something like giant canyon will definitely do the clean up job, better than any other isopods I’ve seen, but they’re kind of bland looking. For an enclosure like that I’d say go with something unique! Just pay attention to the species requirements, some like very dry conditions and likely wouldn’t last in a Cham enclosure.
 
jamest0o0 said:
First of all, the enclosure is looking great!

For isopods, definitely no harm adding different species, I feel like at some point whether it’s a week or 5 years one species will probably dominate and outcompete the others. I don’t think there is any escaping a chameleon’s eye. I’d watch my parsons in his walk-in outdoor enclosure snipe tiny isopods that he saw 7 feet below him.

Personally I’d add some cool species you like and just see how they do. Something like giant canyon will definitely do the clean up job, better than any other isopods I’ve seen, but they’re kind of bland looking. For an enclosure like that I’d say go with something unique! Just pay attention to the species requirements, some like very dry conditions and likely wouldn’t last in a Cham enclosure.
Click to expand...

I’ll try to find some giant canyons and use those with my dairy cows and a few powders to start. We have a bunch of cultures going so if all else I can just throw in some every other month to make sure things are going well!

Thanks everyone for the advice!
 
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I foamed in 3 floating plant pots with drainage holes and used more moss to hide them. I like the black of the background so I went more minimal on the coconut peat. I will be adding fallen logs etc. and lots of plants to hide the lower background area so I think I’m at a good place here to let the silicone cure and work on other things.
 
The bioactive ABG/fish soil blend is in as well as some isopods and springtails to seed. The clean-up crew seems super happy so far!

I’m planning on adding another branch cluster infront of the ficus to give him more access to the space. Can’t wait to see this thing grow :)

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I moved the lower branch down a little more for balance. Does that open space on the right look too open? Should I add a taller plant there, maybe a mid-large monstera? I know they like feeling higher up so I’m wondering if it’s better to leave the space empty so he has an area for that. 👀
 
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