Razor's Crib
I built this cage for my son's Bearded Dragon, Razor. It is my first attempt at creating fake rocks. It took a great deal of time but was fun and I feel it was well worth the effort, and I think Razor would agree..
I wanted to give the cage a Southern Utah red-rock look-and-feel. I spent a lot of time in the red, white and black stained canyons of what I like call "God's Country" enjoying the solitude and great expanses.
Construction Info
Basic Structure
and Design:
Original Structure - The cage started out as an old store display case (6' W x 3' H x 2' D) that was found at a 2nd-hand
store ($15). You are actually looking at the back of the display
case. The case was constructed of wood and glass and had several coats of
paint on it. I'm guessing it was made in the 1950's or 60's. The top
had a 3/4" thick piece of scratched up beveled glass on it. The back
of the case had two sets of sliding wooden doors. A horizontal wood shelf
divided the case in half , giving the case an upper and lower level. The
upper level had 1/4" glass on the sides and front (same as it does now),
with the sliding wood doors at the back .
Modifications - I started off by removing the
wooden shelf that separated
the top and bottom levels and the sets of sliding doors. The glass top was
also removed. Then I began the laborious task of stripping the
multi-levels of paint of the case. I got lucky and found a glass table from another 2nd-hand store that had two 1/4" pieces of glass that I used for the sliding glass
doors ($10). Fortunately, I was able to use the existing case tracks and rollers for the glass doors.
A 2x4 was cut and placed under the sliding door track so I didn't have to cut
the glass at all. I also wanted the doors off the bottom of the cage so
substrate couldn't get out. The top track was already in place and I
didn't have to modify it at all.. I wanted a removable top, so
I built one out of decorative baseboard. It has 2x2 rails running around
the inside 2 inches up from the bottom which rests on the original display case
top. I stapled 1/4" grid wire mesh to the bottom of the rails to set
my lighting on and to provide adequate ventilation. I wanted to use a big
grid so I would block as little UVB, from my UVB lights, as possible.
Basking Sites - Because of the height of the cage (3ft) I wanted to provide 2 levels for basking. To ensure proper UVB exposure, reptiles need to be within 10 inches of the UVB lights. To accomplish this, I built a middle shelf out of plywood and 2x4s. I cut out a rectangle in the plywood and attached a box underneath the opening so I could put in a 24" combo light
setup (2 incandescent bulbs and 1 24" UVB florescent bulb) inside the box. The box was made of 2x4s and
the same 1/4" wire mesh on the bottom. I cut a large rectangular hole
in the back of the case into the box to run electrical through and to provide
more ventilation.
Steps to Create Fake Rocks:
1 - Polystyrene Base- Polystyrene is what I used to create the basic structure of the rock. It is similar to
Styrofoam but is much easier and less messy to work with. I got all the
Polystyrene I needed from scraps at a nearby constructions site. Yes, I
did get permission first. First I lined the sides of the cage with the
polystyrene sheets (2" thick). Next, I cut additional pieces and
glued them to the outer edge of the middle shelf and to various other places
around the cage. The pieces were glued into place with liquid nails foam glue. After all the polystyrene was in place, I filled in all the voids with "great stuff"
(foam-in-a-can used for weather proofing).
2- Shaping - For my first attempt at shaping I tried brushing a light coat of paint
thinner to slightly eat away the top layer of foam and create a more realistic
look, but it didn't work. So, I tried acetone and it worked really well for creating a volcanic rock look. However, I wanted a desert sandstone look and I found that just using a handsaw and several different types of metal files worked best.
3 - Tile Adhesive - To cover the polystyrene, I used tile adhesive. All you have to do is
mix it with water and mix it until it is about the consistency of peanut butter. I tried using a putty knife at first, but I found just applying it by hand with rubber gloves worked best.
4 - Sand/Finish - After the tile adhesive was given plenty of time to dry, I applied several coats of a non-toxic,
water-based poly-acrylic finish. The finish is applied to seal the tile
adhesive and provide hardness. You don't want any Polystyrene exposed or
provide any chance of a beardie scratching into the Polystyrene. Each time I applied a coat
of finish, I periodically alternated throwing three different colors of sand at the finish while it was still wet.
Throwing the sand makes it stick well and provides a nice non-glossy, sandstone
looking surface. I applied the darker sand first and then created
contrasts with the lighter colors sands. When I applied the second to last coat of finish, I brushed
some on watered
down black Rit die in a few places to add contrast and even more contrast and darken up some areas. After everything was dry I lightly sandpapered a few area to give it a worn-in look.
Additional Pics
 On top of cave |
 On top of cave |
 Looking into cave |
 Bridge |
 Top level of cage |
 Top level lights |
 Bottom level lights |
 Bottom lights close-up |
Cage Building Links
I used information
from the following sites to learn how to build fake rock structures:
German Site - Really nice looking cage which gave me most of my inspiration. I bit is lost in the translation but is still good.
Reptile Room Article - An article written on how to build a fake rock enclosure from
scratch. This enclosure has more of a tropical look.
Water Dragon Condo - Nice beginnings of a enclosure for a water dragon. Very nice ideas on creating a waterfall system.
Last updated on 11/16/03.
