Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,
I built a cage over the past weekend (4'x3'x2') and stained the entire thing, anyways, I want to know how long should I wait before I can put any snakes into it without having ill effects from the stain. Thanks!

The short answer is until you can no longer detect any odor. That could be weeks, months, or years depending on what you used.

Did you put a coating over the stain? You really need that for most any reptile application.
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Current snakes:

0.0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Java locale (green)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Jave local (green)

2.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Seleyar locale (all black)

1.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Celebes locale (Black & Tan)

Oh crap, thats not good and seriously irritating, If I knew stain was that big of a problem I would have left it "naked" Now I'm thinking of taking a chain saw to the whole thing, which sucks cause it cost me a lot of money to make the stupid thing.

Don't take a chainsaw to the cage just yet.

Let me know exactly what product you used and I'll see if I can give you some advice.

Also, what sort of wood did you use?

I don't remember exactly what kind of stain it is, your basic interior stain available at home depot and the wood used is Oak 2X4's.

oh and I didn't put a coating over the stain, what Kind of coating should I use. For the sides I originally wanted to use shower surround. Some one hear used it and said they bought it for like $5 for a 4'x8' section. When I went to home depot and lowes they did not sell sheets of it and the closest thing I could find was over $70 for a sheet.

The hard way to discover that shower board and tile board are two completly differnent things. Tile board is actually a melamine coated hardwood, and costs about $5-$8. Showerboard is actually ratetd for use in wet enviroments and can get a lot more costly. This is why you should alwasy verify the source.
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Jeremy

"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds" July 16, 1945 Robert Oppenheimer

1.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow RTB's
1.1 Hypomelenistic RTB's
0.2 Pastel Hypo RTB's
2.0 Double Het Stripe Albino RTB's
0.1 Suriname RTB
0.1 Anerthrystic RTB
0.0.10 Red Bearded Dragons
1.1 Rhinoceros Iguana's
1.0 Green Iguana
1.0 Ball Python
1.1 Cream Golden Retrieviers
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1.0 Child

Unfortunately basic interior stain does not tell me much as there are a wide variety of stains.

The good news is that if it is just a stain and not a stain/polyurethane mixture (like Polyshades) you should be okay. Even if it's an oil based stain it should not have gone on so thick that it won't offgass eventually.

To be safe, wait until the odor goes away and the apply a clear coat of some sort, but you need to be very careful with this.

What sort of animal is going in the cage? That will help me recommend a coating.

Oak 2x4's? Wow. I bet the cage is getting expensive. I should warn you though that solid oak is going to move a fair amount with seasonal climatic changes. This may be made worse if the temperature and humidity inside of the cage is dramatically different than those outside of the cage.
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Current snakes:

0.0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Java locale (green)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Jave local (green)

2.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Seleyar locale (all black)

1.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Celebes locale (Black & Tan)

it is Minwax interior stain, oil based. The cage will be sectioned off and hold a Columbian red tail, Blood Python and also a Viper boa. Each setion sealed so that I can have varying climates in each section.

Is the whole cage made from oak 2x4's or did you also use plywood or melamine somewhere?

Do you have a picture?
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Current snakes:

0.0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Java locale (green)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Jave local (green)

2.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Seleyar locale (all black)

1.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Celebes locale (Black & Tan)

I don't have a pic up yet, It has 2x4s for a frame and plywood for the sides and back and shelf.

It's kind of hard for me to visualize the cage and make a recommendation. Is the framing on the inside or outside of the cage?

Do you want a solid color or clear coat on the inside?
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Current snakes:

0.0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Java locale (green)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Jave local (green)

2.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Seleyar locale (all black)

1.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Celebes locale (Black & Tan)

Sorry, I'd post pics, but My home computer is down and I can't hook up my camera to this computer to upload pics. But it's a very basic frame box with 1 shelf in the middle. It is on the inside of the plywood. I'm thinking a clear coat would be best on the inside to keep the wood look.

I agree that a clear coat would look best. With the framing on the inside I would avoid the bar top epoxies I sometimes recommend.

I would use scrap linoluem on the floor of the cage and then clear coat the cage walls with water based polyurethane. Diamond makes a decent one that is readily available. I have not use it personally but it seems to get better reviews from woodworkers than the Minwax Polycrylic which I have used.

Since you have solid wood framing I would select the Diamond Floor Finish. Make sure you get their water based product. They also make an oil-based floor product.
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Current snakes:

0.0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Java locale (green)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Jave local (green)

2.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Seleyar locale (all black)

1.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Celebes locale (Black & Tan)

In fact, I'm sure Chris can remember I did the same thing almost when I was about to get in my retics and used a hybrid mix of stain and urethane, which to this day is still offgasing and I'm not kidding. It was about 20 months ago (yup almost 2 years) since that very costly mistake. I can still detect an odor when I stick my head in the 8' long by 2' high by 2' wide units (yup plural too). Consequently, I started all over and used linolium (vinyl - spelling?????) on all walls, ceilings, frames, and floors to come up with a much better cage IMHO. Bro, I'm truly sorry, I really do feel your pain!!

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2.1 RTB (Zander, Ridick, Liliana)
1.1 Burms (Vladamir, Natalia)
0.1 Lavender Albino Retic (Katerina)
1.1 100% Het Tigers (Nicholi & Charlamaine)
2.3 Silver fox rabbits
many, many, many, many rats
"So, just how big a boy are ya???!!"