Building cage for chameleon. Stain ok?

Im working on building an enclosure for my chameleon. i made it out of pine and was wondering if it was ok to stain the wood. im not going to polyurethane it but i wasnt sure if staining it would be ok in case the chameleon licked the wood. does any one know if this is ok?

Why wouldn't you polyutherane it? Once it dries it's non toxic and pretty tough stuff. A chameleon requires relative heat and humidity right? You are gonna want to seal the wood or it wont last. just make sure you let everything dry at least 3-4 days over to make sure it's all dry and you'll be fine.

thats what i thought too but i was told that the nails on a chameleon are porous and if it grasps onto the wood it can absorb the poly through the nails.

they porous, yes, but they can't absorb something dry. The point of poly is to repel water to protect the wood from getting wet. so even when you get water on poly it just rolls right off or beads up. here try this if you really want to be safe, ever heard of method cleaning supplies? It's not toxic cleaner that I use around my animals. It's all natural ingrediants, like lavender and such. Anyways after the poly dries spray that on and wipe of any chemical residue off. I've been using poly for years on my enclosures, from amphibs, mamlas and reptiles never had a problem. Actually my monitors gave me probs with it, they would scratch it constantly. lol

awesome thank you so much for your info im kinda new to this and just want to get it right..... thanx again

No Prob dude. Hey it aint no thing. We all start somewhere. Everyone of these people up here were right there at one point in time. It all take time, you gotta just learn. Best advice I can give is this, alot of people learn and gain experiance at the expense of their animal's lives or health, which is not always avoidable. Instead always reasearch and and learn as much as you can. Which is exactly what you are doing and I applaude you for taking the time and concern for your animal to make sure you are doing the right and not just assuming. Good luck.

Some comments on "polyurethane". Nowadays that term applies to a whole variety of finishes that contain urethane solids. Anymore, unfortunately, the term is misleading.

For the readily available single-component urethanes you can generally break them down into oil-modifed urethanes and waterborne urethanes.

The oil-modified urethanes are what is traditionally considered polyurethane but they are not the same as those from years past. Due to modern VOC restrictions (VOC's being volatile organic compounds) companies have been forced to reduce the amount of the nasty solvents contained in the product. While a less toxic product may sound ideal for a reptile enclosure, that is not always the case. Without going into the chemical explanation of how standard polyurethane cures, the reduced solvent concentration often leads to a seal coat that never fully cures and can offgas toxic solvents for years.

But what the other poster said is still true. Once poly cures it is considered non-toxic. Unfortunately the amount of time it takes to cure can be very long. Poly is no longer recommended to seal the insides of drawers, cabinets, etc. since the offgassing is contained, unlike the outside of cabinets. I read a forum post from a paint chemist once had been asked how long it takes standard polyurethane applied by the average novice to cure. His anwer was "basically forever - by the time poly stops offgassing the finish is starting to fail". I think that's a bit of an overstatment, although it is probably technically true.

I would still consider using oil-modified polyurethane in a reptile enclosure but I would use a very lengthy process of applying thin coats, allowing each to fully cure and the scuffing the coat before applying the next coat. I would not apply the product according the directions on the can, that's for sure.

Now there are also waterborne polyurethanes. Most of these look milky white in the can and dry pretty much clear. These are much safer and in some ways easier to use. However, due to water acting as a carrier rather than a solvent in these products they often take up to 30 days to reach full hardness. You can put a reptile in the enclosure much earlier than this but the coating will be much more susceptible to scratches.

Also, standard single-component waterborne urethane is not nearly as durable as standard oil-modified urethane. The waterborne is also a lot more expensive.

To get to the topic of the thread, do not use stain by itself in a reptile enclosure. Make sure to topcoat it with something compatible with the stain you choose.

What you topcoat it with is a wide open issue. There is no perfect sealer for reptile enclosures, IMO, especially for the average hobbyist to apply. I think WB poly is okay simple because it is fairly easy to repair unless a furniture quality finish is desired. WB poly is not durable enough for floors in cages, especially where it will be exposed to direct moisture from substrate or misting.

True enough. I should have thought to mention all that though I didn't. Sad being I'm a contractor that deals with that stuff all day. Lol. Thanx alot man.

HerpGuy said:

True enough. I should have thought to mention all that though I didn't. Sad being I'm a contractor that deals with that stuff all day. Lol. Thanx alot man.

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No problem. I work from home for a big chunk of the day so I have time.

It's a shame that modern oil-based poly offgasses for so long. It really does offer a nice degree of protection at a very low cost. But the data coming out on extended offgassing has scared me away from it.

Some of the two-component, waterborne urethanes coming out of Europe are pretty nice but not exactly something you can pick up at your local hardware store.

Ya I know what ya mean. I've just always avoided the offgas situation by doing what you said. The long painstaking method. And I like to sand each coat as I go.