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New Cage idea (hopefully in the right place)

C

CDAreptiles

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I am once again in need of cages, but dont want to go out and purchase custom made plastic or malamine cages. I really enjoy making things myself and have always preferred to build my own cages.

I have always had problems with my cages getting water damaged or heavily stained due to feces and urine. I have tried to use melamine as a cage building material, but continue having the same problems. No matter how well i seal the edges urine or feces still find a way into the corners.

I have recently read up on methods to completely seal wood (I want to make some nice furniture quality cages). The best methods of sealing I have seen are either lacqueur or polyeurothane, however I have not found any information on whether these products can be used with Reptiles. Has anyone used these methods for sealing wood? If so what were the results? How well did it hold up? Do the cages still get stained? Easy to clean?

Also any other ideas on ways to make cages that dont get water damaged os stained would be great.

Thanks!!!
 
I used MinWax stain & Polyeurothane on the lidless wooden racks my husband built for me several years ago. I left them outside for a week before I used them. The snakes were only exposed to the wood from the top, so I can't comment on any staining from waste.
 
Thanks for the reply!

Since posting the thread i have come across the information that polyurethane does not pose any danger to reptiles as long as properly applied and allowed a proper drying time (at least 3 days). Although this has not been scientifically proven many breeders have had success with this cage building method.
 
Neither lacquer or polyurethane will stick to melamine and both tend to offgass when in enclosed areas such as drawers or cabinets. As such they are not recommended for the insides of any structure that will hold clothes, dishes, etc. Now I do believe that they can be safely used if applied correctly but this is not easy to do, especially for oil-based polyurethane. In general I discourage people from using them.

Here are a few tips for melamine cages:

1) Don't use the cheaper, lower quality melamine found at Home Depot and other DIY stores. The full sheets are almost always just covered with a thin melamine foil that is not very durable. Go to cabinet supply stores and use their higher quality melamine. Sometimes Hope Depot and other stores will seel pre-cut melamine shelves with edge-banding. With very few exceptions these tend to be MUCH higher quality melamine. You'll pay a bit more but save time on cutting and get a more durable product.

2) Even high quality melamine is inexpensive. Build your cages in a way that the expensive parts (vents, heaters, door hinges/sliders, glass) can easily be moved to a new cage when and old one starts to break down. For new cages all you'll need is new melamine.

3) Find a millworks place with a CNC router or CNC panel saw. They can cut panels for you that are perfectly square and sized for about $12 to $15 per sheet. I'll you need to do is pick up your panels and assemble them and transfer cage hardware over from old cages. I don't want to encourage people to make disposable cages that will take up landfill space but if you can transfer cage hardware this is a cheap way to go.

4) Make the parts of your cages that get the most abuse the easier to replace. Years ago I used to build melamine cages without floors. I would just use silicone and staples to attach sections of tile board directly to the bottom of the floor. When it broke down I just popped off the old floor and removed the silicone with a razor blade. Then I attached a new one. The worst case scenario in case of a bad water spill was that I had to take my saw and remove 1/8" from the perimeter of the cage. And this only happened once, if I remember correctly.

5) Cover the inside of your cages with self-adhesive Contact Paper or other shelf/cabinet liner. Do this before applying silicone. Again, this can easily be replaced by peeling off the old CP. Since the silicone is applied to the CP and not the melamine it's not as much work scrape off the silicone.

Here are some tips for plywood cages:

1) All of the above that applies to melamine.

2) Pay a bit extra to seal the parts of your plywood cage that will take the most abuse, assuming you don't want to build a replaceable floor. Use bartop epoxy to seal the floor and first several inches of the cage sides. In most cases the rest of the cage can just be sealed with a waterborne polyurethane since it's only the floor and first few inches of the cage that take abuse.

3) Line the floor and first few inches of the cage with either vinyl flooring or some sort of sheet plastic. This also works for melamine cages.
 
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