Bioactive Ghost Mantis Vivarium w/ Realistic DIY Background (pt2)

yo what's going on serpa squad tanner here i'm back again with my ghost mantis and in this one i'm gonna set him up in his vivarium in last week's episode i showed you how i built the enclosure itself so if you missed that one definitely go back and check it out but in this one i'm gonna show you how i did everything else so let's get started last time we left off with the enclosure build i think it turned out great and we'll escape it in this one go back and check out the first installment if you're curious to see how i made it anyway i took some measurements of the inside to appropriately scale the background my canvas for this is a large piece of 2 inch thick polystyrene foam i used the measurements to mark for the width i cut out two pieces to the same size then i cut them down to the desired height the enclosure itself is 12 inches tall but i cut the foam to 10 inches tall there's no need to make it the full height because of substrate i ended up with three identical pieces i marked for the sides on the back because my initial plan was to have full panels on all sides of the tank i went on to draw a rough design of rocks on the phone i want a nice rocky formation full of cracks and a lot of texture [Music] now it's time to carve the foam for that i'll use a hot wire foam carving tool it came with various attachments for different types of cuts to begin i carved in all of the cracks and deep areas of the rocks these gave me a good foundation to work with then i used the wire attachment to trim off the bulk and refine the shape i went back and marked for the rocks once more i continued carving things out this is when i added most of the meticulous details it took a while to get the right texture and look but eventually i got close at this point i went back with the heat gun this will tighten things up and harden the exterior of the phone [Music] after that it was looking really close but it's not quite as detailed as i want i went back for final time to add the rest i think it looks really good now but the details won't come through until i paint the phone instead of making full panels for the sides like i mentioned previously i decided to make individual rocks i drew the basic shapes on the phone i cut them out and carved for the rough details [Music] then i went back and added the details to match the rest of the background here are the final pieces i think they'll look really good once they're covered in paint for that i'm going to use dry lock original masonry paint i got the idea to use this paint from fellow vivarium artist troy goldberg he works extensively with poison dart frogs which like other amphibians are sensitive to chemicals and things of that nature he's found this paint to be effective and safe to use for his backgrounds i've never seen him use it like this though i use a few painting techniques to make the foam look like a real stone wall or as close to it as i can get the dry lock itself is white but it is tintable for that i have various quikrete pigments we'll start the process by mixing up black for the base coat i poured paint into a separate container and mixed in the charcoal pigment my recommendation is to mix up extra paint in something that can be sealed in case you need to do any touch-up work or paint other pieces this will ensure your values are consistent once i got the desired color i went on to paint the phone i made sure to get it down into all of the nooks and crannies the desired effect is only possible if we get the piece completely covered i painted the individual stems as well [Music] i let the paint dry for a few hours here's how it looks now even with just one coat you can start to see the detail a little better i also painted the backs to hide the foam from the outside of the glass now we'll add the second coat this time i mixed it up with a lot less of the charcoal pigment to get a medium gray i added a blob of this paint to a palette i applied it to the foam with a dry brush technique i picked up a small amount of paint with the brush and lightly coated the foam this keeps paint from going into the recessed areas and thus makes the piece look more realistic and dynamic i applied it to everything and let the paint dry with the second coat applied you can really see the details we can continue exclusively with values of gray but i want a little more color i think it would be neat if a few areas looked oxidized due to higher concentrations of iron i added drops of pigments to the palette so i can mix up different hues for the remaining layer first i mixed up brown and added it throughout i went back with the rusty hue to make the look i described earlier [Music] i also added tan to make things look a little more saturated [Music] lastly i mixed up a very light gray i used this for the highlights which concludes this portion of the build here's the end result i think it looks decent not my best work by any means but it should suffice either way i'm excited to fine-tune this process and incorporate it into other builds let's install it in the tank as i'm sure you'd expect i have silicone for that i applied a few dabs to the back and pressed it onto the glass i let it cure for a few hours and added the individual stones i secured these one side at a time i stuck them to the glass allowed the silicone to cure for a few hours and repeated the process on the other side once the pieces were in and the silicone cured i rinsed off the background in retrospect i should have done this prior to installing it in the tank here it is now the tank is built the background is done and installed and now we can bring the setup to life first and foremost is the false bottom since the enclosure is so small and to make things easier for myself i decided to go with the sand false bottom i added a thin layer to the bottom of the enclosure i've outlined various ways to do this in a dedicated video which i'll link above above the sand i'll add a layer of activated carbon for my charcoal layer without getting into too much detail this will help keep this setup fresh it also provides more surface area for the springtails to colonize in now on to the substrate per usual add a version of my tropical substrate mix this mix was part of the same batch i used for the terrarium computer desk it's composed of sphagnum moss cocoa fiber orchid bark coarse sand tree fern fibers and aqua soil i put a good layer into the vivarium i slipped it up toward the back of the setup to create a better sense of depth now we can finally escape the tank i'm keeping it simple with a few branches of mupane wood and spider wood as i typically do i situated the largest elements first once i liked the placement i secured them together with a bit of hot glue [Music] i went back and added the spiderwood branches [Music] i really like the direction of everything and i think it complements the background quite well let's add the plants i don't want the tank to be overcrowded so i've just a few including begonia rex spitfire ficus pumula quercifolia hemigraphus or panda phylodendron wendimby slaginella fairyplum and tilancia ionantha i started with the begonia i placed it near the hardscape and will use it as a hub to plant the remaining items since there won't be many plants i thought it made sense to use something as beautiful and striking as this i added the phylodentrin to its left this one doesn't grow very large and should look nice as a mid-ground plant i use the dragon's tongue as a background plant as it grows the fine leaves will create good contrast against the other plants the salacionella will have the same effect i used it as an accent plant throughout lastly i placed the talansia within crevices in the top of the scape before i add the remaining items i'll cover the bottom with leaf litter i also include a small seed pod the leaf litter naturalizes the setup provides nourishment for the cleanup crew and plants and of course matches the look of the mantis while on the topic of the cleanup crew i'll add some springtails these will clean up after the mantis eat mold and turn this set up into an ecosystem rather than just a glass box to finalize the design i added the ficus i also gave the setup a good spray down [Music] [Music] and there you have it my mantis is new for varium i like how it turned out and i think that it showcases the animal quite well you may have noticed that compared to other ones i've done in the past that it's actually set up somewhat sparsely now i did that on purpose because they don't need a lot of coverage to feel secure they also need a lot of room to mulch so this will give them adequate room to do so in addition to that i didn't want to cover up off the background seeing that i put that much work into it and lastly i didn't want the prey items to be able to hide away and just really not be able to be found by him as i alluded to this is a male and unfortunately the males don't live quite as long as the females which usually max out around 8 months or so now this one's in the l6 phase of its life which is just an indication as to how many times it's molted and it has two more to go before adulthood my guess is that we'll probably have it for about another month and a half or two months max before it passes away that's unfortunate but i wanted to get an older one just so my chances of success would be higher and thus far i have no complaints it's a good eater it's fun to watch i like handling it all that sort of thing and honestly i really have enjoyed having a mantis thus far it's probably something i'll explore further you know getting different species and that sort of thing and i don't know maybe we'll just get some other bugs too i don't know we'll see what happens but i really hope you guys all enjoyed this video uh if you wanted to know specifics on care just do some research on it all mantises are different some require very similar conditions others not as much but i didn't want to really get into all of that just because this is my first one i don't really feel qualified to you know tell you all kinds of information on it if you want to know more just do your research before you buy one i did that of course and um i've had good success thus far so as always i really hope you enjoyed the video and learned something new and until next time surprise squad take care and peace [Music] hello

Channel: SerpaDesign

Views: 341,958

Keywords: bioactive vivarium, bioactive terrarium, praying mantis, ghost mantis, planted tank, diy background, drylok background, bioactive mantis, vivarium, terrarium, naturalistic

Id: rKz3u-RGRks

Length: 13min 16sec (796 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 26 2020