Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm building a wood terrarium, and before I assemble the plywood panels, I want to glue a sheet of textured formica, linoleum or laminate to the floor. Obviously, it will provide protection to the wood from water, waste material, etc. The terrarium will house a corn snake... It would be great if the flooring would resemble slate in color and texture. A smooth texture probably wouldn't be good even with Aspen bedding, and the snake would slip and slide a bit!

What would be my best choice as far as materials, and where would be a good place to get the panel, and even have it cut to my exact specifications. Any links would be most helpful.

Thanks!

Dan

One workable material is the expanded PVC used by many cage mfgrs. For the cage bottom, you can use the 1/8 inch thick material over wood. This is not only easy to glue on with contact cement, but is also fairly easy to cut with a straight-edge and a utility knife (carefully first make a few scores, then gradually apply more pressure until you cut through.)

One construction idea is to laminate the panel onto the wood floor piece first before cage assy, then trim the panel. This way, you can use any panel that exceeds the size of the floor, rather than getting it cut to an exact size.

Another idea is to not have a wood floor, maybe just a frame of 1x2's for example. Cover that with 1/4" or 3/8" PVCx. Seal the edges where the plastic butts up to the cage with silicon, epoxy putty or waterproof wood filler.

You can order this PVC material through many plastics suppliers, and some will cut it for you. Search the web for "expanded PVC" or "PVC board" to find suppliers. I find it regularly at sign shops, and they usually have scrap pieces to sell, sometimes large pieces.
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Mark

Hope this reply is not too late.

I would start with a countertop manufacturer who might have Formica, Wilsonart or some sort of other high pressure laminate scrap. From previous experience I have found that getting free scraps is not that difficult, especially if color does not matter.

Both Formica and Wilsonart make slightly textured laminates now. Expensive if you can't get a free cutoff or cheap damaged piece.

Another option is to seal the floor with some sort of scrap material and the put self-adhesive floor tiles with the slate look over that. I don't believe the floor tiles are moisture resistant enough on their own due to all of the seams.

What you put underneath the tiles could be just about anything. Scrap expanded PVC, self adhesive shelf liner, vinyl film from a sign shop, etc.
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Javan, mixed colors)

0.0.4 Rhynchophis boulengeri

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.1 Lampropeltis triangulum multistriata

0.0.1 Rhamphiophis rubropunctatus

0.0.2 Morelia viridis (Aru & Merauke locale types)

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback