How to Build a Realistic Reptile Background Ep2 with a Removable Cave 

Yep they are my little helpers. Although unfortunately we lost our black lab Mia late last year 😢 but bear (our chocolate lab) is still around and still my best mate.

Thanks. I love making them and it makes cleaning and removing your animals so much easier.

Thank you and I’m glad you enjoy it. It’s such a great feeling creating a natural environment for captive animals.

Thanks mate really Appreciate that. I just do this as a hobby when I’m not working full time.

@@Cambart1 swear mate your brill

Haha yeah it’s not the greatest part of the build but more time spent there can make a huge difference in the finish.

Thanks mate. Appreciate it

Thank you. I’ll be starting a new build soon so stay tuned for that one. It will be a desert habitat

Thank you

Glad to have helped mate. Feel free to send some photos of it to my Facebook/Insta page. I’d love to see how it turned out.

Thank you. I am currently building and filming the next one so will be out in a couple weeks I’d say. Building them is a hobby of mine so I don’t get a heap of time to spend on them. But I do try and keep the content coming as fast as I can.

Thank you. Yes most of my builds were local people. Usually friends or friends of friends etc. I don’t do that anymore though.

Thanks. Nah no need. The pointing is waterproof and the paint is pretty hard wearing and haven’t seen any wear on my builds yet.

@@Cambart1 Ok, thanks!! 😉👍🏻

Thanks mate. I just use water based acrylic paint.

@@Cambart1 awesome! thank you !

do you have a way for viewers to submit photos of their work to you? thinking since a lot of comments on here are people saying youre motivating them to try this out.

I have a Facebook page you can send build photos etc too and also happy to answer build questions too. Search for Cam’s Custom Backgrounds on Facebook and click the send message button.

I use either the sika brand or the bostik brand. Sika brand I use with the gun which makes it better to do vertically but I still have problems if I go to heavy to fast. Use the bostik one of using it with the tube only and if using the tube only I will lay the tank down. On melamine enclosures you can give the surface a rough up with course sandpaper to help it stick. Can do the same with glass but you will scratch the glass severely so you’ll wanna sand it only where the foam is.

@@Cambart1 thanks so much 💕. I was sitting here trying to freeze frame one of your videos on the foam can 😆 . You’re work is so realistic. Thanks for sharing your talent

I do show what I use in some of my videos but not all sorry hahaha. Happy to help and glad my videos are helping you learn. Our animals deserve a great natural home

@@Cambart1 So much appreciation for your help Cam. I can’t wait to move my diamond into his new home ❤️

No problem at all. I’d love to see the finished build for your diamond

Yes it will but you need to wash the wall down quite a bit and do multiple water changes before adding aquatic animals. Also I recommend waterproofing the foam prior to coating in pointing. Watch my Angle Heads Rainforest build video to see how I did that for the waterfall.

The pointing is usually ready for paint after 24hrs. During hotter months you could paint after 12 hours.

I use an insulation foam panel available from Bunnings. Fairly cheap and comes in 1200x600x50 and 1200x600x30 panels

Sorry mate it seems that it’s only available in aus. I’m not familiar with any product in EU you could use. Try looking for a product called liquid sandstone. Not sure if that is available either but it’s a similar product. In the US they have a product called dryloc that seems to work well for backgrounds too.

@@Cambart1 thank you man

No worries mate. Hope you can find something. Let me know if you so if I get asked again I will be able to point others in the right direction.

Not from Canada mate. From Australia 😁

No I don’t. The product I use is designed to seal roof tiles

I have a video of a removable one I have built. You can apply the same concept as the way I have done it but just scale it up to your needs.

@@Cambart1 Awesome! Thank you so so much!!

@@Cambart1 hi again! So, I watched the videos about the removable backgrounds, even the installation video. However, my question now is how would you safely removable the background (due to the silicone)? I don’t have a glass terrarium tho, mines is extremely similar to the one of your friends (Luke), mines is PVC.

Hey, So to make it removable you wouldn’t use silicone to install it. Maybe look to make it a more snug fit or potentially even some Velcro tabs on the back.

@@Cambart1 thank you!

Because I had no reason or need to. Definitely a good option for anyone that wants to try that.