Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What type of plywood beside oak stains well. My specialty lumber yard does not have oak plywood. Will a waterbased stained covered with a polycrylic be ok for a snake cage?

Thanks,

Jay

Birch, maple, pine and fir veneered plywoods are all known for being difficult to stain, especially when waterborne stains are used. Fortunately they all look pretty good under a waterborne clear coat. If you want to provide a small amount of color to any of those a lot of woodworkers will put on a seal coat of very light (blond) de-waxed shellac before the waterborne clearcoat.

A lot of the light veneers mentioned above yellow slightly anyways so the blonde shellac is a good way to even out this effect. I tend to like natural (i.e. not stained) woods but do feel that the first three mentioned above yellow too much and do look better with just a bit of color. Fir oxidises the most of any of them but I like the way it ages to a cherry-orange hue and like it under a clear coat. Unfortunately most fir veneered plywood is construction grade.

If there is a particular color you have in mind, there are conditioners that help these plywoods take stain better and there are also aniline dyes.

There are other plywoods that stain poorly but I only mentioned the ones that are readily available. If your supplier does not have oak they probably won't have some of the other less common plywoods.

Whether waterborne stain and polyacrylic will be okay for your snake cage depends on a lot of factors. I don't think they are ideal for high humidity species. Also, waterborne stains and sealers are not very resistant to common household cleaners and disinfectants.
-----
Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephala (Javan, mixed colors)

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback

Chris gave you great info.

I've tried waterborne stain. The paint store mixed it for me - it was a nice blue-ish color. It did splotch somewhat on regular old Home Depot pine plywood, but still looked pretty good.

Waterborne poly does not hold up well to repeated cleanings the type you will likely be doing in a reptile cage. That is on the cage floor and seams. It is fine for the cage sides and ceiling.

A great way to get better protection but still use waterborne poly in the rest of the cage is to cover the floor with plastic. You can use inexpensive tileboard and just expect to replace it now and again. Or you can use FRP or PVC foam sheet. The PVC can be purchased online or through a sign shop depending on how much you need. I like the PVC because you can use the 0.1" thick material and simply cut it to fit (score it many times then snap it) with a utility knife and a straight edge.

You'll have to seal the edges. Silicon is great for this. If you have to replace the floor cover at some point, scraping the silicon off is doable. A razor blade works well enough. You'll be putting fresh silicon on top of the old residue.

The cage floor and seams are the parts that take 99% of the abuse. If you go with the idea that you can replace the floor (floor cover) from time to time, what you use as the finish for the rest of the cage becomes less important. I like plain old paint myself for the interior.
-----
Mark