Never thought to mix silicone and substrate first then apply, always spread the silicone in the enclosure then applied the substrate. Interesting…. Loved how it came out. Can’t wait to see it at the show.
I use to breed brown and green anoles in my teens, they've always been my favorite lizards. When I found out there was so many other types of anoles I was happy as hell and always wanted to get them. The smallest anoles species are my favorite tho.
Don't be so hard on yourself hehehe, sloppily made video - no WAY!!! Absolutely awesome filming, your lighting etc is amazing! Looks seriously professional. Especially the intro. Absolutely love your setups and videos, keep it up! Subscribed :)
Can you make a video on how you keep the micro geckos please sphaerodactylus elegans spices or other ones thank you I could come help you shoot it 😉 anytime just let me know
I wonder if sticky feet geckos, new cals tokays, can actually cling to the walls if you mix the substrate with the silicone. They can't really get good purchase if you coat the silicone w substrate. I would like to have a substrate wall enclosure build for a gecko. The one I built was with the drylok method, which works well, looks great, but it'd be cool to have the other as well.
Gecko toe pads are pretty amazing. They stick to things due to literal molecular forces (van der wall). That being said, it would probably be more difficult if its super muddy or gooey. But assuming the silicone actually dries, I don't see any solid material beyond teflon that geckos cant stick on assuming they don't have stuck shed on their feet or something.
@@johnsonjunior547 I know that if you use the method where you spread silicone over the foam and then toss substrate on top of the silicone the geckos can't climb on it. But in this video he blends the abg mix with the silicone, and I think they probably could climb on that. Serpa Design takes pieces of orchid bark and puts them into the substrate he applies to the silicone so they _can_ climb on it, since, but still they wouldn't be able to navigate it quickly at all.
@@LukeMcGuireoides Do you know why they can't climb on it? Is the substrate on the silicone too loose and gets stuck on their pads? I just don't know the mechanism that would cause them to not be able to climb. I could maybe see the seal between the silicone and substrate not being strong enough so the gecko's weight basically just peels off the substrate and they fall but idk what other reason there would be.
@@johnsonjunior547 nah, the substrate is stuck fast to the silicone, so it won't come off on their pads. It's because the substrate is so uneven. A surface has to be sufficiently smooth before the pads will stick. It doesn't have to be that smooth, since mine can climb on the drylok covered foam I have, but the substrate surface is too broken up. Theres too many points of seperation between the particles. At least that's _my_ hypothesis. The grains of dirt are too fine.
it took HOW MUCH silicon to fill in the foam gaps????? Note to self, never use that method unless there's no other good options, holy hell. And I thought applying the silicon first then pressing substrate into it after was resource intensive... Less than half a tube was enough for me for an entire 50 gallon background in a corner tank, so that's 2 sides. Maybe I had fewer gaps, but for real, this much used silicon is nuts to me. The texture doesn't look very good either, almost stringy, with peaks left where it stuck to the gloves as you pulled away. Compare that to the areas where you switched tactics that has a much more natural texture, I think there's a clear winner. I think mixing the substrate in would only work with a much finer grit size. Maybe silt or clay. I did see someone do that with the kind of clay people will sometimes use like excavator clay, mixed with silicon to keep the texture of the clay but make it water proof. Next time, I might recommend that approach. Need to test it myself though.
I noticed video is a year old. How is your build holding up? Do you think this built will work for a Bearded Dragon build in a 50 gallon lounge aquarium???
Just came into his channel was asking my self the same question that’s why I won’t even waste my time asking a question I just go to another channel that do respond back to my questions don’t even give the materials being use then saids at the end to ask any questions for what if don’t even respond back how many people asked the name of the rocks what plants were used 🤦🏻♀️
