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It occurred to me today as I walked through the warehouse at work that I have a nearly endless supply of free small pieces of eggcrate foam. It ought to be good at retaining humidity as well as insulating the enclosure somewhat against heat loss.

Has anyone tried this? Is there a good reason not to try it? Are there any precautions that should be taken (aside from washing it first)?

I don't know if its safe to be used or not, but I have found that that type of foam gets moldy fairly easily when it gets wet. So it would most likely get moldy really fast in a warm tank if it got any water in it. I hope someone else can answer your post with more accurate info.
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1.0 ball python (vakker)
0.1 dogs
2.1 cockatiels
1.1 chinchillas
Coming soon... 1.1 corn snakes
0.1 axanthic ball python

Molds easily, huh? That would be a problem. Of course, if it took it a week or so to mold, that wouldn't matter because I'd be replacing it. Thanks for your input.

>>I don't know if its safe to be used or not, but I have found that that type of foam gets moldy fairly easily when it gets wet. So it would most likely get moldy really fast in a warm tank if it got any water in it. I hope someone else can answer your post with more accurate info.
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I believe it does but I'm not sure. You could put it in a rubbermaid with a lamp to test it out and to see if it molds quickly if it will mold in those conditions. Then you'll know if that part is safe. I can't really see anything else wrong with it. I mean they won't be able to ingest it easily.
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1.0 ball python (vakker)
0.1 dogs
2.1 cockatiels
1.1 chinchillas
Coming soon... 1.1 corn snakes
0.1 axanthic ball python

That's what I'm thinking ... run a test (w/o a snake) if no one knows of any reason why the foam itself is necessarily bad, such as putting off fumes or something.

>>I believe it does but I'm not sure. You could put it in a rubbermaid with a lamp to test it out and to see if it molds quickly if it will mold in those conditions. Then you'll know if that part is safe. I can't really see anything else wrong with it. I mean they won't be able to ingest it easily.
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>>1.0 ball python (vakker)
>>0.1 dogs
>>2.1 cockatiels
>>1.1 chinchillas
>>Coming soon... 1.1 corn snakes
>> 0.1 axanthic ball python

I wouldn't think it would mould easily since there is alot of airflow though foam. If kept damp all the time then probably will mould pretty quickly. However I would be more concerned about release of toxic fumes from the heat of the lamps or UTH. Foam has a pretty low melting point if I remember correctly and may not do well in a tank with a heat light and or under tank heater. Maybe with your experiment, put in a mouse to see if it survives any possible toxic fumes etc. Or a canary, miners used to use birds to detect high levels of Carbon monoxide and other 'bad air' in mines.

Yeah, that is a possibility, using a mouse, except that I'd have to actually buy one live for a change. I guess no one has really tried this before? It seems like there ought to be information on the internet somewhere that I could find about fumes from foam and at what temperature they'd be released.

>>I wouldn't think it would mould easily since there is alot of airflow though foam. If kept damp all the time then probably will mould pretty quickly. However I would be more concerned about release of toxic fumes from the heat of the lamps or UTH. Foam has a pretty low melting point if I remember correctly and may not do well in a tank with a heat light and or under tank heater. Maybe with your experiment, put in a mouse to see if it survives any possible toxic fumes etc. Or a canary, miners used to use birds to detect high levels of Carbon monoxide and other 'bad air' in mines.