Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm making some homemade decorations for my cages. I want to make a couple hides that look like rocks, some water dishes and such.

My first project will either be a little hide, like the size of a coconut hide, or a water dish for in a dart frog vivarium.

I'm trying out several different methods of making fake rocks, and what's really appealing to me right now are homemade clays. I'm going to try making some Victorian Salt Clay tonight. (you can find out how at http://www.pioneerthinking.com/victorianclay.html) I'm preparing my first batch of that right now.

So, after everything's made, I need to seal it. The couple people I had talked to suggested just getting polyurethane. I have some Minwax Fast-Drying clear satin Polyurethane to seal a wooden cage lid, and I was wondering if I could use that on my water dish & hide boxes.
Will that work OK, or should I get something else? Whatever I get, I need it to be cheap. I'm flat broke, and am making homemade decorations because I'm tired of boring cages, but don't have the money to buy decorations.

thanks for the help,
Ronnie Nocera

I have some Minwax Fast-Drying clear satin Polyurethane to seal a wooden cage lid, and I was wondering if I could use that on my water dish & hide boxes.

Minwax poly is cheap and offers a good amount of protection but it is not very safe. The stuff can offgass for years (no kidding) and is not considered safe to use on the inside of drawers or cabinets. It is okay for things like doors or cabinet exteriors that are exposed to the interior of a room.

I would not use the stuff for anything associated with a frog cage. There are some cases where I might use it in a reptile cage but I would be very careful about how it is applied. The cheapness of the stuff comes at a cost - it can be very finicky to apply. A poster here applied some to a cage well over a year ago and it still smells of solvent fumes.

I'm not sure what to recommend. The people who recommended polyurethane to you probably meant a water based product. That's quite different from the solvent based polyurethane you have left over. But WB poly can be expensive and is not exactly the best choice for your application.

I would probably use the Envirotex Lite Epoxy available at most craft stores. There are numerous epoxies that are very simlar. They are sold as a bar top epoxy or decoupage epoxy. Also expensive but they can be bought in small quantity. It's pretty useful stuff so it might be worth buying a gallon. It's a lot cheaper overall that way.
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Current snakes:

0.0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Java locale (green)

2.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Seleyar locale (all black)

Thanks for the help.
I had e-mailed Minwax a few days ago, and just got a response.

here's the reply I got-
"Currently Minwax does not manufacture a clear finish that is FDA approved. We do not perform animal testing and cannot test for ingestion. Most Minwax clear coatings are fully cured in 14-30 days. Once cured, the film is considered inert and is no longer releasing toxins or chemicals.

NOTE: FDA approval is important in terms of whether a product film is safe for incidental ingestion. If you will be cutting on the table or countertop, we do not recommend using the Minwax clear finishes. Here again, we do not test for ingestion and do not want to introduce film particles into the food during preparation.

I suggest contacting Behlen at 866-785-7781 (www.hbehlen.com). Behlen manufacture coatings that are safe for infant furniture, high chairs, recreational objects (games, puzzles, children's toys) salad bowls, wooden utensils, chopping/butcher blocks, and food preparation surfaces."

So, I guess I'm checking out Behlen. I can't find a price on their products.
Other than that, I'm looking for the Envirotex stuff as well. We don't have any craft stores within an hour of were I live, so I'd have to order that online.

thanks again for the help!