Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am planning to build some rather larges habitats (60"lx36"deepx72"high). The first one will be for dart frogs, so it has to be water resistant. I have never build cages before. After reading dozens of posts I'm more confused than ever. I have several ideas and would appreciate comments.
1. fiberglass using a wood box as a mold(I've never used it before)
2. make it out of wood. Glue pond liner (pvc) to the interior walls with silicone to seal the joints.
3. wood with a waterproofing material (ex. Cabot's Waterproofing)painted on the interios walls.
Pvc, acrylic, etc. seems to be to expensive for my income (I'm retired and have a tough and stingy wife {just kidding dear})
I am not handy with tools but I'm a quick study and can learn by ojt.
Thanks
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Sometimes I think that war is G-d's way of teaching us geography.
-Paul Rodriguez

Well, I'd probably say making one out of wood and then coating it with a waterproof sealer would be the easiest for you. Just make sure that you let the cage completely air out after applying the waterproof coating (several weeks or several months, depending on how long the coating takes to cure and completely offgas). If the cage smells chemically to you, it is still releasing fumes that would be unhealthy for a reptile or amphibian. A coating would probably be more resilient than pond liner, in my opinion... but if you're dealing with frogs, they don't have claws and so probably wouldn't mess up pond liner plastic that much.

Fiberglass is not easy to work with. Might make an interesting cage, but if you've never worked with it before, you'd probably wind up with a lot of messy waste before you get it the way you'd want it.
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Lauren Madar - OphidiaGems.com
1.0 Ball Python, 1.1 Hog Island Boas, 1.1 Hypo BCI, 1.1 Surinam BCC, 0.1 Green Tree Python

That is the nature of this stuff... The more you read the more confused you get. Be patient and understand there is no ideal way to do any of this stuff. There are always tradeoffs between cost, ease of application, long term durability, etc.

1. fiberglass using a wood box as a mold(I've never used it before)

For more reasons that I care to list, I do not recommend this. It is a huge amount of work and extremely messy.

2. make it out of wood. Glue pond liner (pvc) to the interior walls with silicone to seal the joints.

Silicone will not stick to pond liner so it is nearly impossible to make the seams water tight. I have heard many stories of people who have tried this and failed.

3. wood with a waterproofing material (ex. Cabot's Waterproofing)painted on the interios walls.

This is probably what I would suggest, albeit avoid the Cabot's. Since it sounds like there are budget concerns, I would recommend Drylok masonry based waterproofer (latex based). It comes in white, gray and blue and can be tinted. It is not recommended for use on wood but evidently people are having good luck doing so. There are bonding agents which improve adhesion.

Pvc, acrylic, etc. seems to be to expensive...

But there is also vinyl film, which is self adhesive and comes in large rolls. But it is also very glossy. I could send you a small sample.
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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)

Chris,
Why not Cabot's Waterproofing? I sent them an email for information on the product and they said it consists of water and silicone. If you know different, please tell me!

Thanks
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Sometimes I think that war is G-d's way of teaching us geography.
-Paul Rodriguez

Why not Cabot's Waterproofing? I sent them an email for information on the product and they said it consists of water and silicone. If you know different, please tell me!

What you need for dart frogs is a true surface film of some sort to completely block out water. This is not the way Cabot's works, although I'll be interested to hear what the company has to say.

As I understand it, Cabot's does more to fill the voids on naturally porous materials like some woods and masonry. Unfortunately, it will also prevent the adhesion of other materials which you would need to truely make the wood water tight.
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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)

Thank you, Chris and liquidleaf. You've given me something to think about. Whatever I use I will post the results for eveyone's benefit.
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Sometimes I think that war is G-d's way of teaching us geography.
-Paul Rodriguez

Since budget is a concern, you should consider modifying the dimensions slightly. You can still make large cages but try to use sizes that take better advantage of commonly available sheet materials.
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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)