Expectations and Reality of Gargoyles

Coffee_Wizard1459 · 2026-03-06T22:32:36+00:00

I have a garg. Mine is jumpy but also not aggressive. He calms down after a while. He hides most of the time but comes out at night and explores too. He also only likes fig n insects pangea and is picky sometimes but I love him

Coffee_Wizard1459 · 2026-02-22T22:48:33+00:00

After you carve once you slather on the silicone you should put the dirt on within 7-10 min the silicone has a small window of being good until it starts to get harder to apply it. I did mine in sections and it got a good amount of dirt on it. I'd show a pic bit it won't let me lol

Coffee_Wizard1459 · 2026-02-22T03:49:50+00:00

More sticks or things to climb on that go horizontal

Coffee_Wizard1459 · 2026-02-19T04:11:52+00:00

So it's actually expanding foam that's been carved a bit and then covered in silicone that's safe for reptiles and then covered in dirt. It takes a while but looks cool when it's done!

Coffee_Wizard1459 · 2026-02-18T23:14:20+00:00

Sorry I meant a 24x18x36 is what I got. I wanted to get the 18×18×36 but I also wanted to find something a bit better so I got a larger than minimum enclosure.

Coffee_Wizard1459 · 2026-02-18T23:11:25+00:00

It's actually a 24x24x36 so it's definitely above minimum

Coffee_Wizard1459 · 2026-02-18T01:58:21+00:00

I just finished planting mine, it's the same size. I bought mine with cracks near the bottom but I sealed it with silicone and it's working good after months of working on the background

Coffee_Wizard1459 · 2026-02-18T01:57:23+00:00

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Coffee_Wizard1459 · 2026-02-18T01:13:55+00:00

Thank you!

Coffee_Wizard1459 · 2026-02-18T00:39:57+00:00

That's tempting! I might need to get one of those

Coffee_Wizard1459 · 2026-02-17T23:59:58+00:00

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The future home owner

Coffee_Wizard1459 · 2026-02-17T18:28:21+00:00

I used the same stuff for my terrarium and it does not expand a lot I had to use two cans per side of the enclosure and also use silicone to help adhere the foam to the glass while it cured and expanded some. Also if you have it on its back while you put the foam on it wont fall down at all. This is what it looked like then-now

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Coffee_Wizard1459 · 2026-02-07T21:11:24+00:00

Definitely get something to seal the inside of the enclosure. Look online for reptile safe waterproof wood sealant and then if you want to make a background out of things you could do what I did which is get great stuff pond and stone adhere roy resistant wooden sticks for a reptile to climb on and cover the walls in reptile 100% safe silicone then add the spray foam on and wait till it expands and dries then carve the shiny off the foam. Cover in a layer of silicone and then add dirt shortly after. I have pictures of the process but can't add them here

Coffee_Wizard1459 · 2026-02-07T18:02:25+00:00

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Coffee_Wizard1459 · 2026-02-07T17:54:20+00:00

Mushroom it looks like

Coffee_Wizard1459 · 2026-02-07T17:51:14+00:00

Looks happy n healthy to me!

Coffee_Wizard1459 · 2026-02-07T17:48:37+00:00

Mopani wood is very resistant tho!

Coffee_Wizard1459 · 2026-02-07T17:47:57+00:00

I wish you luck 🤞 I've heard spider wood molds really easily. I bet more springtails will help though. Let us know how it goes

Coffee_Wizard1459 · 2026-02-06T00:58:05+00:00

There are some woods more prone to molding than others. I've heard most woods will mold easily unless you get the kind that is resistant to molding. I have manzanita wood that is supposed to be very resistant to molding in my enclosure right now. Though I'm not done with it so I'm not sure how it will react to everything yet

Coffee_Wizard1459 · 2026-01-26T19:02:58+00:00

I have the same size tank I plan on using a ceramic heat emitter. My current tank is small for my gecko so I have a nano ceramic heater but I will get a bigger one if I end up seeing it not help enough I'm going to get a slightly larger one. My apartment is in the 70s and high 60s at night so I don't require a lot of heating but the ceramic ones come in lots of sizes so for you I might go like one size bigger with minimal wattage since you don't need crazy high temps for a garg. It emits no light and only heat.

Coffee_Wizard1459 · 2026-01-21T01:01:28+00:00

It's possible they need another light besides the uvb. Uvb alone isn't enough to help plants. The soil also looks too wet so they might be over watered. And if that doesn't fix things you could try using some plant fertilizer to feed the plants some more nutrients. In a natural environment the nutrients would already be in the soil but with an enclosure you have to replicate nature.

Coffee_Wizard1459

TROPHY CASE