We roughed out an opening in the countertop for the lizards "swimmin' hole" on the right half.

The sides were mounted and braced with 1" x 2" along the top and edges. In an effort to prevent nose rubbing, we used a piece of pre-laminated pine (ripped to 7" width) along the bottom front of the enclosure. Don't worry , the dragons won't have any contact with the pine used in the viv. All inside surfaces will be textured with plaster, sealed and painted (waterbase marine paint) and will hopefully simulate natural rock face.

The next step was logically to fasten the back panel to the framework. It is just a full 4' x 8' sheet of 3/8" plywood. This made everything much more rigid (not to mention helping to square everything up). All the inside edges were then sealed with a bead of silicone sealant as added insurance to prevent leakage.  Rick cut a dado groove down the length of two pieces of 2"x 2" spruce to fit the window runners into. He cut some 1" strips of Plexi-glass and tapped them into the grooves to act as window tracks. then he sealed the seams with silicone to prevent sweat or leaking from the humidity that will be inside. After he had screwed the bottom "runner" in place we placed a window on each end of the viv and positioned the top rail above the glass (leaving a small amount of clearance) and screwed this in place too.

Rick lucked out and found 2 matching windows at a used building supply place, and bought them both for $10 !! Of course they weren't the ideal size for our needs, but we made due and have a nice sliding glass window on either end of the viv and a fixed frame Plexi-glass panel in the center. Running a dado cut down two 1x2s and two 1x4s he snugged the plexi in place like a picture frame. It fits snuggly to the sliding windows to prevent cricket escapes and heat/humidity loss. Hopefully it sits high enough from the viv bottom that the dragons don't scratch the heck out of it. If so , it comes off with a few screws and will have to be replaced with glass.  After a long day we laughed as Rick hopped in the viv and said "Give them the house, I'll sleep here". Now I know where to send him since we don't have a "dog house" ;o)

 We found the missing pics ! Included some shots of how we used the Greatstuff ™ Foam. There is foam sprayed beneath the fiberglass matting on the sides of the pool for supporting the matt for gelcoat, making it easier to form the pool's irregular shape. Matting was stapled in place and the staples were filled over before gelcoat was applied.
 

Rough beginnings of  the waterfall	Adding some shape to the falls	Moulding with Greatstuff  ™ Foam	And even more Greatstuff ™ Foam
The rough opening and the pool bottom	The pool bottom through the open cupboard	Pool bottom showing drain hole	Gelcoat applied to the pool bottom

Here is a simple plan of the pool design to help any of you that are making your dragons an elaborate vivarium. A hose is attached to the drain so water can be drained into 5 gallon buckets for an easy water change. This is a PVC ball shut-off valve. It doesn't leak a drop and closes quickly and easily so buckets can be emptied and replaced during draining.
  

Here are a series of pictures showing some of the details we've added  to the viv's interor.The first one here shows the left side of the pool and part of the shelf on the left side that will have a set of flourescent UVB bulbs housed beneath it.  This will provide UVB at a lower level , keeping the UVB rays closer to the dragons if they are hanging out on this side of the viv.  The second pic here shows a view of the waterfall pools in the right rear corner. Making the waterfall was the longest delay in the building process. It was made of a very rough set of plywood shapes and shelves / boxes that were fastened to the walls of the viv. Then Rick added some texture with GreatStuff ™ spray foam insullation. We shaped the cured foam with a utility knife somewhat, and we recommend cutting the foam after it is cured to remove the outer "skin" to expose the holes in the foam if you are applying more texture over top of it.  Next we added some more detail here and there by applying drywall mud right over top of the foam. The drywall compound adheres very well to the trimmed and pourous cured foam. Next Rick covered the the pool and waterfall areas with fiberglass cloth and gelcoat resin to ensure the area was well waterproofed and durable. This was a real time consumer as it proved easiest to do the waterfall in small sections so we had to do a little bit each evening , but it seemed to be worth the wait. We are quite pleased with the finished results. The entire inside of the vivarium was then coverred with a coating of elastomeric latex deckcoating to waterproof averything and provide a paintable surface for the detail watercolor paints that were to be applied next. Watercolors were not recommended to be applied directly to fiberglass surfaces so the deckcoat acts as both a sealer and a primer here (perfect). After some experimenting , Cindy took care of painting details and creating the apperarance of rocks and such from the lumps, bumps and irregularities in the surfaces that we made with the drywall compound and GreatStuff ™  Some of the pictures here scanned very dark and don't do justice to the actual appearance that Cindy created in the detail paint coat. Before the watercolors were applied , we took the time to test the pump and waterfall. It works great !! The top pool fills with water and pours out the front to the next pool area below it. This pool drains out the right and lefthand corners at the same time (Rick got the heights just perfect on the first attempt !) The lower section collects the falling water from both ends and collects it together in the center where it is released back to the main pool. A small piece of plexiglass is placed at each "spill point" to provide a clean edge for the water to run off of evenly and add a nice flowing appearance. Cindy painted some ferns and other details on the sides of the vivarium as well as detailing the floor area on the shelves and ramps that are mounted throughout the viv. Next task is going to be applying another seal coat to the entire interior to protect the watercolors from the water and the dragons. The deckcoat seems a little soft and we think the dragon's sharp claws will possibly cut through it eventually so Rick is going to brush on a final coat of gelcoat poly resin to the entire viv. Gelcoat cures very hard and clear so we feel this to be the best choice for protective and practical purpose here. Other sealers we looked at all seemed to be a possible toxin to the reptiles so this finalized our choice to stick to gelcoat. The drawback here (there's always a catch right ?) is that we will have to heat the viv for a month to release any fumes before we will be able to let our dragons move in to their new home. Oh well , they've waited this long already ....

More updates to come when we get the film developed and pictures scanned.