The Zoolab Tropical Themed Zoo

[Acromyrmexbob]

Not sure what happened regarding Photobucket last night. Here's the update on the job at Larbert.

The guys were on other jobs, sheeting plasterboard etc in the main office...





so not so much progress was made on the party room today, I was working on it myself.

More plastic sheeting was applied to both areas, the main zoo style exhibits and the stage area...









The three small nest areas were lined with ply. These will have glass vivariums slid in. One of these, probably the top one, will be for the leaf cutting ant colony. This will probably be the 'Big 10' colony I have a thread running about in the Journals section.



and the big, narrow display, which will have a very large glass front, is now lined with ply also, ready for any internal theming we will do.

[Acromyrmexbob]

o that was the last day of putting up polythene and we are about to start the mesh which is followed by a scratch coat of concrete. So for today just a few pics of the final polythened structures.


This is the big Aztec wall, thicker at the bottom and thin at the top. The blocks will be done to reflect this. The blocks at the bottom will be huge foundation blocks and as we go further up so the bricks will get smaller.


This is the stone arch and the ant feeding station



And the Zoo Style Exhibits are completely covered in polythene also.

[RichardP]

I'm really looking forward to see it develop. Thanks for the update.

[Formica123]

Sorry if this is just me being absolutely stupid - but what's all the green plastic for?

[Acromyrmexbob]

Sorry if this is just me being absolutely stupid - but what's all the green plastic for?

Its the first layer for the creation of artificial rockwork. We then cover this in steel mesh and then put whats called a scratch coat layer of concrete onto this. Finally we add the finished coat and at this stage we get all artistic and actually sculpt the surface to look exactly like natures rock and feel like rock too (thats the plan anyway).

[Acromyrmexbob]

Progress today!

We added the mesh to the polythene rockwork ready for the first coat of concrete













The framework for the huge stone supports and lintel were built around one of the doors in the Aztec wall



and the Buttress root tree was started. This will be growing out of the Aztec wall and its branches will eventually look as if they are supporting the leafy canopy which will form the ceiling to the area.





The root to the right will form the barrier around an open air Tortoise exhibit



The fish tank and rock pool were worked on also today. The process of covering the tank stand with offcuts of wood was started and the pond outline was formed. More on this later.



Finally the door through from the Party Room to the hand washing area was cut out (partially).

[Deansie26]

Fantastic, this is great. Looking forward to the concrete going on.

[Bitterlime]

It's looking great! Just out of interest what type of tortoise will be going into the enclosure?

[Acromyrmexbob]

Not sure. Possibly Red Footed. This facility is, however, part of the Zoolab programme so it may be there are a few Tortoises inhouse, which may not be Rainforest, but that are kept in there as a convenience.

[Atta solider]

Will any of it be housing big leaf cutter atta ? Looking great good read so far