Question about Vinyl

I was wondering if this will work. Im making a cage for my savannah monitor and i wanted to put dirt in the bottom and was thinking that vinyl flooring would be a good way to water/dirtproof the wooden bottom of my tank. I was planning to use some vinyl, the type that comes in a roll to cover the bottom of my cage and about 6 inches up the sides and seal with silicone. I have read a couple posts that vinyl can be harmful by releasing vapors. Just wanted to get any input from everyone about this. Thanks!

Well, an easy test would be to smell the vinyl you are planning to buy. Might seem weird, but if you can smell a chemically odor coming off of the vinyl, it is releasing something, and you might have to let it air out for a while (or let the cage you install it sit empty for a while) before putting an animal in it. This holds true for coatings like polyurethane and epoxy as well. If you can smell it, you definitely don't want your reptile living right on top of it.

As a general rule though, I don't know how long vinyl might still release gases. Are you thinking of using sheet vinyl, or vinyl peel-stick tiles? The adhesive used for sheet vinyl might be the cause of vapors as well. I do know of people who use vinyl stick-tiles though. Vinyl sheet might work well - as long as it doesn't release smells after airing out though (lots of materials have residual odors from manufacturing).

I've heard of people using showerboard plastic and/or tileboard for cage floors, this might serve the same purpose, and all you'd have to do would be to silicone it to the floor and silicone the edges.

Sorry I don't have more specific answers - it probably depends a lot on the brand of vinyl flooring. The nose "knows"!