Make Fake Rock for Hermit Crab Habitat
Caves, Cliffs and Mountains!
Hermit crabs need to climb and explore, it’s a natural instinct and how they live in the wild. By providing plenty of climbing and exploring opportunities in their habitat, they will live healthier, happier and longer lives. Make fake rock for hermit crab habitat caves and mountains to add levels!
Make fake rock for hermit crab habitat DIY fun and give a more natural-looking home your hermit crab pets! This DIY project is messy and fun… so get creative!
Supplies needed for Fake Rock
We’ve been making fake rock for our hermit crab habitats for years. We use this method because it’s simple, easy and gives us the best results.
We also used this same method for creating waterfalls in our backyard koi pond (in case anyone also loves koi and wants to make fake rock for their pond!)
You’ll need these three products (or similar):
- Quikrete (quick setting cement / dry powder)
- cement dye (powder and liquid both work well)
- non-toxic sealer
If you have similar supplies already in your shed, they’ll probably work fine! No need to spend lots of money on your hermit crab habitat, try to use what you already have.
I purchased everything used for this project from Amazon (aside from miscellaneous styrofoam and acrylic craft paints, etc. that I had already been collecting at home).
Here are the exact products I used here, that came from Amazon. Tip: you should be able to find the Quikrete for much cheaper at your local hardware store.
Using Quikrete Cement powder
We used a full 10 lb bucket of Quikrete cement powder for our Ikea Milsbo Hermit Crab Habitat Hack. The enclosure is big and tall and we used this “fake rock” method to cover over a ton of styrofoam used.
Quikrete cement comes in powder or pre-mixed forms. We used the powder, so we mixed it with water. When we mixed it, we added cement color at the same time which makes the process slightly less messy. Because isn’t painting always messy?!
Using cement color or dye
It’s important to know the color and look of “rock” you want BEFORE you buy your supplies! There are tons of colors of cement color you can buy online. If you go to Home Depot or Lowes, chances are they’ll have one 2-3 colors to choose from: charcoal (black), red and some shade of orange. These three colors mix together to make the most popular shades of cement color most people want for their household projects.
For colors like blue, green, etc you’ll probably need to do a search on Amazon for cement color or dye. Pay close attention to the amount being sold. For a small project, you won’t need much! But for a big project like our Ikea Milsbo Habitat, we used about a .75 lb of charcoal and about .25 lb of the red. If you can’t find the powder version of cement color/dye, look for cement dye in liquid form. We have also used black cement dye and added it directly to the cement mix in a bowl, with water, and it worked perfectly.
Just know the color and look of rock your end goal is! It’s much easier to make the color at this point than trying to paint it after it’s dry, inside the enclosure!
Step 1: starting with styrofoam
We prefer to use styrofoam as the base for our fake rock. BUT you can also use wood, plastic, rock etc. Styrofoam is super lightweight and easy to use, no tools are needed to shape it into how you want.
We started with these oddly shaped pieces. They are dense and strong and we used them as the bottom back braces to start building levels on.
You’re going to put a coat of your “fake rock” substance on top of your base (in this case, styrofoam).
Then you’ll seal it with a non-toxic sealant.
Step 2: cut, shape and set up styrofoam pieces, stacking levels or shaping caves, cliffs and mountains!
Note: use toothpicks, wood skewers and masking tape to hold pieces in place when laying out levels, cutting and fitting them how they will eventually be secured inside. Rough up the styrofoam pieces so when you add the fake rock cement mix, it will look like natural rock.
Step 3: once levels are planned and styro-pieces are ready... MIX!
Work in small batches. Add some cement powder to a bowl, add a little water and color. Mix until it’s a pancake consistency. Use a paint brush and “paint” the fake rock mix onto the styrofoam pieces.
Note: it’s MUCH EASIER add the cement mix onto the styrofoam outside of the enclosure. But for larger pieces, it may not be possible. Do what you can outside, and the rest you’ll need to finish up once the pieces are set up inside.
Step 4: paint the cement mix onto the styrofoam pieces
Step 5: add depth and a more natural look with acrylic paint
Use a light and/or contrasting color paint to add depth and a more natural look to your fake “rock”. Because our rock is dark grey mixed with a tiny amount of red in spots… we decided to use a light beige to add depth.
We used the “dry brush” method: thin a small amount of acrylic (water-based) paint with water. Use a dry paint brush with a small amount of paint and dab onto your fake rock. In nature, color is NOT consistent. Use some creativity and create a natural rock look.
Add a second medium shade color for a different rock look like what you may find at the Grand Canyon, or in granite.
Step 6: seal and protect the fake rock!
Once your fake rocks are painted, dry and you’re happy with how they look, it’s important to seal them.
We used Tuff Duck concrete sealer which is made for kitchen concrete countertops. It’s a water-based safe food-grade product.
It gives the rock a beautiful satin sheen making it look a little shiny and more natural. It waterproofs and protects it and makes it safe for our hermit crabs.
Because it’s expensive and we ran out when we were almost done, we supplemented this sealer with Modge Podge glossy sealer for the fake rock we had left to do. Mod Podge is also a non-toxic water-based product mainly used for crafts (it’s like a thick Elmer’s glue). It comes in matte and glossy (we used glossy).
Step 7: start attaching rock and layers INSIDE the enclosure!
This step is the most crucial! You’ve spent time designing your theme (colors, look and feel) and now have fake levels and fake rock. When you’re ready to start setting it all up inside the enclosure, that’s when the fun starts!
Think about your hermit crabs. Smallest to largest. Make sure everything connects with easily climb-able branches or rope ladders etc. Do safety checks constantly: meaning, think about ways they can get trapped or climb out etc and plan ahead!
In next posts continuing the step-by-step of this Ikea Milsbo Hermit Crab Habitat, we’ll be showing more on all this. For now, the main product we use to connect levels, rocks and branches inside the enclosure is Great Stuff Pond and Stone. It’s a product made for outdoor koi pond waterfalls and rock work, so it’s safe for koi, fish and plants and is waterproof when dry. It’s an expandable foam spray product and we’ve used it for years in many of our hermit crab habitats. We’ve got more posts and photos coming on how to use this product.
To adhere pieces fake rock (styrofoam) to each other, or to add other materials like moss… we use black or clear aquarium sealer. It’s non-toxic when dry and make to be safe for fish, plants and water. It’s the non-expanding good alternative to using Great Stuff Pond and Stone.
Last update on 2024-05-07 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API