Post subject: Home made hides -- pics Posted: Oct 28, 2007 - 10:28 PM
Here is a thread to show off your home made hides, and explain how you made them, what features you like the most about them, and what you would do differently if you made another similar one.
I've made all Boo's hides myself. Here is her most recent one.
This is Boo's wall hide. It is made with a piece of 12'' slick tile that goes from one end of the tank to the other. It's purpose is to give her large tank a feeding end, and make catching those crickets easier on both of us
Good things about this hide:
The hide holds up the wall, and gives her a nice place to hide while she eats if she so desires.
The roof is removable so that I can get to any hiding crickets without too much trouble when she is finished eating.
The top of the wall goes all the way across the top so that the crickets can't climb it as well if they climb the rough cut or glued edges of the house itself.
How I made it:
To start with, I drew, calculated, cut out paper, and drew some more before cutting the tile for the original plan. What you see is actually the second edition. In the original wall house, the house and wall were the same height, there were no cute little doorways, and all the house pieces (with the exception of the roof) were the same size. However, it was too heavy, and did not have enough support, so it kept breaking apart. Already, this one has worked out much better. The near side wall with a door is glued into the crack. To make them stronger, I cut wedges which I glued into the corner joints. Because for the original house, I had cut the house pieces all about the same size, I had to glue in an inside wall to join those pieces together better. Also, I dropped one of the doorway pieces so that it broke at the top of the doorway. To fix that, I cut a small scrap piece the right size to glue to the top and join those pieces together. In the last picture, only the far end inner wall is not structurally important. The glue I used was hot melt hot glue. It didn't all stick well though, so I propped it up on a cookie sheet, and put it into the oven till the glue remelted. Then I pulled it out, and with hot pads, carefully squeezed the offending pieces together so that they joined properly. Then I let it cool thoroughly before moving it.
Things I might do differently:
Cut the front wall as one piece, and not break the end doorway
Make the wall at the top of the house at least 1/2 inch taller
Heat the tile before attempting to glue it with a glue gun . . . so the tile wouldn't cool off the glue so quickly, and it would hopefully stick better the first time (It worked great after taking it out of the oven . . . potential problems were burnt fingers and the whole thing collapsing while I was trying to put it together.
If I needed an inner wall I would at least cut it the right length (still working on getting a scrap piece to fill in that gap)
Cut the house corners at angles so that they meet nicely
This shot was an accident while I was taking pics for this thread
The roof is removeable; it just slides off and slides back on. This is a very nice feature to include if you want to be able to keep those crickets contained while you are chasing them down to get them out of the tank.
The crickets can and do get over/under/around the wall. They just don't get into the rest of the tank as easily, and they are easier to chase down.
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Post subject: RE: Home made hides -- pics Posted: Oct 30, 2007 - 12:11 AM
Little Louie, I really like your hide! I wonder if I can convice my boyfriend and his dad to help me make something like that for Spikey's tank. Maybe for her birthday.
I guess my hide doesn't really hold a candle to some people's, but it's the one on the left side of the picture...
The hide is made out of the plastic tray that her digital scale came in. I cut off extra pieces to make the cave shape and the two doorways. The pattern is just a picture that I found online and printed on some normal paper. I then taped over all the paper and all the edges to make sure that none of the ink or the edges would be accessible.
A portion of the hide is over the UTH so Spikey will often hang out under there after her dinner.She can also see almost all of the apartment without much light getting in so she seems to enjoy lounging under it. She will often sit under there and watch movies with us since she can see the TV too.
My only complaint is that the hide is VERY light and she has no problem moving it around. At least I don't need to worry about it hurting her toes or tail if she moves it around though.
Post subject: RE: Home made hides -- pics Posted: Nov 15, 2007 - 11:33 PM
I got some more pictures of hides loaded and ready to post. Here is one for tonight.
Sadly, this hide broke the other day, and is no longer in use
This hide is made out of potters clay. I never fired it or glazed it, though I originally had planned on getting that done to it. The purpose was to make a two-in-one hide dish that would also hold my thermostat and thermometer probes in place. I also wanted it to fit snuggly into a corner so that the corner spaces would not be wasted. I originally made it by taping an upside-down bowl and the corner of a cardboard box together, covering them in wax paper, and then forming the clay around them. Next, I built up the edges and made a long flat piece to go on top. This was suppose to be a platform where she could stand to catch worms from the built-in dish. When the clay was firm, but not quite dry, I cut the holes for the probes, and also slits in the back for their wires. The texture, I made later by taking some very soupy sticky clay, and tapping it onto the nearly dry hide.
I probably like the looks of this hide the best. It it just really has a nice look to it. I also like the L shape and the two doorways. The probe holes worked out pretty well for me, and if I had some way to store the extra wire, I think I would have liked the cord slits as well. Boo seemed to like the snuggness of this hide. Once she started eating again this summer, and got a fat belly, it was a squeeze for her to fit underneath it. I could often hear bumping around as when she moved around inside it, she lifted it a tad.
What I would do differently: I would not make the worm dish. It was a neat idea, but it wasn't very practical, superworms could escape from it in spite of the deep lip I put on the dish part and how smooth I made the inside; because of the amount of overhang, the worms would hide underneath it where Boo didn't notice them or couldn't get to them (besides the fact that she isn't much of a worm eater)
It was really a bit too small for her; by taking out the bowl, I think that the extra height would make it ideal.
I would like to add a place to keep extra cords neatly and hidden; maybe by putting a couple of holes in the back near the top, and using a bread wire to keep them in place.
Because of the way I made this hide, it probably had too many air bubbles to survive firing and glazing. I would try to make it so there were no air bubbles so I could fire it
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Post subject: RE: Home made hides -- pics Posted: Nov 20, 2007 - 09:36 PM
Here is Boo's humid hide. It is made from two cool whip containers with one lid. I cut the holes for the windows, and cut the roof to the right size to fit into the inside edge of the lid. I also used a candle to melt holes for the doorways in the top and the in the ceiling. Next, I sanded the areas I planned to paint. I painted them with non toxic acrilic paint, then sealed it with polyurathane. Finally, I covered the windows with plastic and clear tape and filled this humid hide with sifted dampened peat moss.
Things I like about this hide:
I like the entrance. I usually have the roof opening leading to the ceiling platform, and from there she can climb down into the box. Since I am using peat moss in the humid hide, she was making big messes from digging in it. Since I have changed entrances, the mess has cut down drastically . . . and she still digs in it too.
I also like the windows, because I can kind of peek inside and see her without disturbing her by taking the hide apart.
I like the looks of the overall shape and paint job too. Sanding the plastic has helped the acrilic paint to stay on the container.
I do not like the polyurathane sealer that I sprayed on the outside. It took lots of time for the smell to get out so I could let her use the hide, and when I cleaned them recently, sterilizing caused the polyurathane to get discolored a bit.
Fiche and Crazikris, I appreciate you're posts. I want this thread to be inspiring and educational for anyone and everyone who wants or needs to make their own, so it's nice to have a mixture of simple and elaborate home-made hides.
_________________ Whatever is true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, praiseworthy:
Think on these things!
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