Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all,

I am designing a cage for Bearded Dragons.

Can pine plywood be used to build cages for reptiles?

Thanks,
Steve

I've had my boas in pine plywood boxs for years. No problems. The only thing I've heard is not to use Cedar, possibly toxic.

Yes .. cedar is toxic to reptiles.
In fact .. cedar is toxic to a lot of animals. About the only good pet use for cedar is inside the padding of those dog beds.
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Pete
1.0 Solomon Island / PTS Skink
0.1 Boa Constrictor
1.0 Patternless Green Burm
0.1 Pueblan Milksnake - Apricot phase
0.2 Honduran Milksnake - Tangerine phase
1.0 Ball Python
0.1 Rainbow Boa
1.0 Cornsnake - Blood
1.1 Leopard Gecko's
1.1 Fat Tail Gecko's

Pine as a solid wood is fine. It's when you try to use pine shavings that the oils and dust can harm your reptiles. Pine shavings are constantly letting off fragrance and crumbling to dust- but sheets of wood don't "crumble" this way. So don't use pine shavings but as a construction material pine is great.

As mentioned above, cedar should be avoided because it has much stronger oils in it - even in a solid wood state, it still releases a lot of oil and fumes (which is why cedar chests keep critters away from whatever is inside)....
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Lauren Madar
www.ophidiagems.com
1.1 Hog Island Boas
1.1 Hypo BCI
0.1 Sorong-type GTP
1.0 Normal Ball Python
1.1 Surinam BCC