DIY Thread?

>>2342444
What are you trying to sprout in the top?

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>>2342444

How tasteful. I assume its safe. Hopefully its sustainable so he can develop a calm sense of routine when thirsty. Id hate for him to have such a nice relaxation stop just to eventually have to lose it to a common dish later. Not that I know if cats would notice such things consciously. But it seems like it would be nice and taken in on an emotional level. I find decor does a lot for morale.

I crumble up paper and foil for the cat to bat around.

>>2342465
Oat grass.

>>2342484
I've had the basic setup running for a few months now. I just changed the back recently to allow for the hydroponics tray.

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This is a height extension for one of my crested gecko tanks. Walls are made of corrugated plastic. Front window is clear acrylic. It will sit on top of an 18x18x18 exo terra tank to give an extra 8" of height. The screen top hasn't been added yet and I still need to water seal the bare parts of the wood.

This was partly a project because the gecko in question is very active and I think needs the extra room. It's also partly a prototype for a full size tank I plan to build in future for a couple of my other geckos.

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>>2342500

This is likely to be a slow exchange on /an/ but I want to ask and promise I will read:

How old was he when you first introduced it?

I ask because I am curious if you have noticed any routine or behavior changes compared to before, namely towards disposition and general morale.

Running water is a universally recognized sound, among species that are exposed and sensate towards it at least. It may be associate with relief or other positive emotions, and most household kitties may not get that sort of audio stimulation, to say nothing of the light patterns as well.

I once kitty-sat a cat that would become absolutely transfixed on a stream of water from a leaky faucet like shown here; it would mesmerize him. He would stare at it, cautiously swat it, and watch it trickle down the drain. It always enthralled him and I often wondered why, and what was going on in his kitty brain.

>>2342444
not sure how any of that is diy.

>>2342701

He made a nice fountain for kitty.

I doubt he extruded molten glass or mined the copper for the wires, but s/he did make attractive water art. I bet kitty likes it.

Sometimes you build a bird house, sometimes you paint it. Don't forget Lowe's motto: "Never stop improving"

>>2342721
granted, but by that metric every post in the aquarium, plant, reptile, and invert threads is diy.

which would seem to broaden the definition to meaninglessness. Putting two legos together according to instructions isn't diy, is it?

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>>2342724

Thats fair. But any assembly takes a bit of passion that doesnt exist for something you just pop out of a box ready made.

The effort of transforming something out of even finished elements requires wish and vision. That part of the mind where sticks become a nest, a dob of mud becomes a shelter. That abstract space between what is and what might be.

So broad definitions may dilute a term, but narrow ones out of context can hide the value of an experience also.

In this case, he made something nice for kitty. I appreciate the uniqueness of it more than any particular metric of how much of it is diy and how much is personalization.

Also, I have a real soft spot for people who can take even a little pride in their aquariums precisely for those reasons. To me, its all art.

Try as I might to find a nice video of Bower Birds building nice bowers, all the vids I checked were either anthropomorphized to the point of absurdity or dumbed down to a childs level. I hope at least the pic suffices.

>>2342737
I guess my complaint is in the modern ideal of 'building' an aquarium.

back in the day building an aquarium meant at the very least gluing the glass together, and the real experts cut, ground, and drilled that glass too.

Just a bit disappointed I guess. These skills used to be pretty common among hobbyists but it gets harder all the time to find people to discuss them with. I've built a few tanks from scratch, and at least as many stands. I don't even consider that real diy though. Because once upon a time you HAD to if you wanted anything bigger than 125g or needed a tank to fit a specific spot.

Reminds me of participation awards or something. 'Building a tank' no longer means what it used to at all.

>>2342523
Very neat. I'm sure the gecko will appreciate the extra room. Are you going to use steel cloth for the screen top, and are you going to use the Exo Terra tank for something else once you upgrade the crested?

>>2342642
Sorry, I don't think my answer will be very helpful because the cats have always had access to something similar. Before I had this set up, they had access to an open top aquarium in my room, which was where they drank nearly all of their water from. I started closing off my room, so I made sure they had this instead.

They'll sometimes spend a few seconds at a time just staring at the water.

>>2342701
DIY: Do it yourself.
Instead of buying a pet fountain, I made one myself.

That's as much as I want to get into it. I don't want to get into an argument about it, and I'm not asking for a participation award.

>>2342803
>Are you going to use steel cloth for the screen top, and are you going to use the Exo Terra tank for something else once you upgrade the crested?

1/4" hardware mesh for the screen top. Pic related. I like it better than aluminum screen as it doesn't sag as much and is easier to secure to the top of the tank with screws/washers.

That addition will go directly on top of the existing exo terra tank, sitting on the lip that the old screen top used to be.

The full size wood and coroplast tank i'm building is for a pair of female cresteds who are currently living in a 36" (width) x 18" (depth) x 18" (height) aquarium style tank. They're doing fine in there as they have the required 18" height for the species but that tank takes up way too much space and is pretty awkward. New tank will be same dimensions except 18 width x 18 depth x 36 height. ... err, no, wait I'm looking at my drawings here and i changed that around a bit. It'll be 22" wide x 14" deep x 36" height. I decided to do that because reaching in all the way to the back of those 18" deep tanks is annoying.

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>>2343322

the hardware mesh pic

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I've.... made some holes in a box so the rodents could play in it.


If I had the space and skill I would totally make a playhill of wood for my chins.

I made a foal. Don't have any pictures though.

I made a cat tree. I wanted something tall and with big platforms for her to lay/sleepy/play comfortably on. Any cat tree over 2 feet tall seems to be $80+ so I made one out of 2x4s and some particle board. Salvaged some cotton batting from an old box spring, got upholstry fabric and stapled it in place. Covered the supports with sisal rope and called it a day.

Ended up with an almost 5 foot tall tree with 1'x2' platforms. She loves it. Cost me maybe $40.

>>2343735
Could you post a picture of it? Sounds interesting.

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>>2343739
Sure.

It's a bit wobbly, hence the foam bumpers along the wall. In hindsight I should have made 3 legs supporting the platforms but it works. The little house on the bottom is just cardboard covered in fabric.

Cat for scale.

>>2343749
Very cool. What did you use to attach the sisal to the 2x4's?

>>2343706

That's how i got started on diy stuff for my geckos, too. I made elevated perches for them out of suction cup shower soap dishes with a toilet paper roll zip-tied on the top. Little hides and huts out of PVC pipe pieces and once out of ceramic pots.

You can easily make a wood exploratorium out of bamboo stakes and zip-ties. Bamboo stakes are sold at garden centers. Usually five bucks for a package of several six foot long ones. Trim to desired sizes, zip-tie together, use a nail clipper to cut the excess part of the tie really short so it doesn't leave that pointy sharp bit.

>>2343798
Staple gun.

>>2343822
You're my hero. I've been trying to think of an easy alternative to the ones you can buy for too much money.

Oh for fucks sake. I just learned a lesson about wood sealing. I'm using shellac on the outside of my tank thing because it's completely non-toxic after the alcohol evaporates. It off gasses a lot faster than water based polyurethane. Anyway, it turns out using this stuff, and most paints and sealers actually, in combination with silicone requires a specific order. So me being all willy nilly about it sealed joints with silicone first, and then did the shellacing after. Shellac no stick to silicone. So any place i happened to get a bit of silicone on the surface other than the joints left a nice bare spot where the shellac refused to go.

On the up side, silicone DOES stick to dried shellac. So, apply shellac first, rough up the areas where you plan to caulk with silicone, then silicone. Tried this on a test piece earlier today and there is no issue with failure of silicone to adhere.

>>2343735
I was about to try and build one myself, but then the PetSmart near me had a good sale and I managed to get a 5 foot one for $50.
I might make a second one when I have some more free time. Doesn't look too difficult and it would be nice to put everything I want into it.

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I make canister filters that cost 1/10th of what the retail ones go for.

>>2342444
That's neat

>>2342721
>not /x/s/he
>2017