# 37 Column with Cork Tree



## Corpus Callosum (Apr 7, 2007)

Well, this is a tank for a pair of Lygodactylus williamsi, but I had some cork laying around and tried to see what I could do with it. I started with a Perfecto 37 gallon column tank, 20"x18"x24" and used over 50 pieces of cork bark, plus foam and silicone, to recreate a tree trunk. I blacked out the back of this tank from the outside, and left the sides open to make this tank viewable from 3 sides on my coffee table. 

First I joined a few pieces to make them look like tree roots, right here there are about 20 pieces of cork bark.




























Then I collected some tree roots to use as branches and sterilized them in the oven. 










I will only be adding plant species which occur in Tanzania where these geckos are from, so it will be fun tracking them down. So far I know that some Streptocarpella, Streptocarpus, and Saintpaulia occur in this area. I got some Plectranthus prostratus which also comes from this area, and there are some begonias as well that I'm tracking down.



















Will post an update when it's well planted.


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## gold3nku5h (Jul 24, 2008)

a good site that has alot of begonias is robsviolet.com, they ship pretty nice plants, and have alot cheaper stuff than black jungle, for the most part. And nice tree, i like how nicely you got those lined up.. I really want to do a similar thing, but want to find a live bald cypress stump, but know that i wont be able to do that, so im looking for any tree stump, or branch that has nice taper that i will be able to sink just enough to look like a tree stump.


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## Riley (Sep 20, 2008)

I know exactly what to do with my extra cork bark! Excellent idea.


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## DizzyD (Sep 19, 2006)

You have some serious skill and patience. Very nice work.


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## IndianaJosh (Jun 20, 2008)

Wow! That is really cool! I have always wanted to do something like this. Are you going to plant in the top of the "trunk"?

A lot of places (pet shops) sell something like this:









I just do not have the creativity to produce such a thing, and I do not want to put a prefab tree stump in.

You, on the other hand, are awesome!


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

Hey Mike,
i was just about to ask you what happend to this project, looks great!!!


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## Derek Benson (Feb 19, 2004)

Wow, that looks awesome...


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## Otis (Apr 16, 2006)

hows it comming? looks great!


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## AndrewFromSoCal (Jan 1, 2007)

This is freaking amazing. I can't wait to see this grown in.


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## MountaineerLegion (Apr 8, 2008)

Josh - Where did that pic come from and what pet shop sells it...none around here do...I'm far more forgiving about fabricated stuff...thanks.

MountaineerLegion




IndianaJosh said:


> Wow! That is really cool! I have always wanted to do something like this. Are you going to plant in the top of the "trunk"?
> 
> A lot of places (pet shops) sell something like this:
> 
> ...


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

you can order that online form doctor foster and smith


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## boogsawaste (Jun 28, 2008)

What did you use to cover up the foam? 

BTW, thanks for the inspiration! I will be trying something like this in the future.


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## pilo0024 (Aug 22, 2006)

(shakes head in amazement).....
That is really innovative and is gonna look sick on your coffee table.


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## Sarkany (Mar 11, 2008)

Soo... I saw your question on geckosunlimited.com regarding the Repti Glos... I have one of those in a dart tank, and they don't really generate much heat at all. In fact, if the room temperature goes below 75°F I have had trouble in the past getting the temperature in the tank to go up to 77°F... (it's a 24''*18''*18'' tank using one 26W Repti Glo 5.0 (for the plants) and one other 18W compact fluorescent bulb).
I do know though that one Repti Glo 5.0 in combination with another compact fluorescent bulb and a spot lamps (or several "mini spot lamps") is a popular choice (at least here in Germany ) for, say, a 16''*16''*24'' Lygodactylus tank.

On another note, that is one nice kork tree... I'm sure the williamsi will love it. (On a whole different note, the _williamsi_ themselves will be lovely as well )


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## Corpus Callosum (Apr 7, 2007)

Thanks for the comments, I will post an update in a few months when this is fully planted and grown in with the respective species. Until then, I would like to let the thread die and won't be replying, so if you have any questions you can just PM me.



boogsawaste said:


> What did you use to cover up the foam?


I hand carved each piece to fit into the next piece seamlessly, so there wasn't much foam to cover up, but whatever foam did need covering up was coated with silicone and then covered in a fine montmorillonite clay, which matched the cork bark well.

Sarkany, Thanks for the info! I ended up using two 26w Repti Glo 2.0 bulbs for the plants (which are growing well under them), one 13w Repti Glo 5.0 bulb over the screen area for occasional UVB, and a small halogen light on a dimmer for a basking spot. 

Male: (still needs a few more sheds before he colors up with more blue)



















Female:


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## roxrgneiss (Sep 30, 2007)

All right! Lets see some corktree! I bet this tank is really grown in now. 

(continuation from this thread )

Mike


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

I've seen it, it looks much better now with some eggs layed on the glass too.


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## BlightedChemist (Jul 21, 2008)

What an incredible design you have there! that is exactly something that I would like to recreate in another tank.


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## Corpus Callosum (Apr 7, 2007)

Well Mike.. I got pretty lazy on this one, lol. How is your epoxy tree going? 

I started off with the plants I mentioned before, and once the geckos started breeding I didn't really want to get in the way so I didn't touch the tank since. They lay 2-3 eggs every month, usually after a big meal like a firebrat or cricket. For now I'm just not going to add any plants let the stuff in there spread more, maybe take divisions off and plant them in other spots so at the end it will just look like a tree covered in 2-3 species max. I removed the plants from the ground and just kept that to plain leaf litter. Don't have much for recent pics but here's what I found.. otherwise I'll post another update in a few more months when the plants spread more.


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

Looks like they are laying all over! I like that plant on the right hand top of the cork.


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## JoshH (Feb 13, 2008)

Corpus Callosum said:


> Well Mike.. I got pretty lazy on this one, lol. How is your epoxy tree going?



Don't pressure him about the epoxy buttress, he still needs a few years to finish ist, lol ;-)


Looks great, the gesneriads in it are cool, the tiny gecko is really cute!


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## roxrgneiss (Sep 30, 2007)

Nice job, Mike, thanks for updating... this year! haha seriously, this tank turned out well and very different from the usual vivariums. My only criticism is that you covered the roots! 



JoshH said:


> Don't pressure him about the epoxy buttress, he still needs a few years to finish ist, lol ;-)
> 
> 
> Looks great, the gesneriads in it are cool, the tiny gecko is really cute!


I gotta say, that was an easy one to get started, but has turned out to be a challenge to finish. Need: bigger tank (front opening), more funds, & more time! Oh well, maybe next year!


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## thelegend76 (Feb 10, 2009)

That looks like a gecko's heaven! I really like what you did to make the stump. Are the roots cork tubes? I like it and I don't think I'd ever have the patience for that. But do keep us updated, the pictures are amazing.


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