Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Making tropical viv for PDF’s out of an old wooden dresser. Would like to know of something to waterproof the inside with that can standup to high humidity yet is still safe. Any help would be greatly appreciated…

Your best bet is to use a high-build epoxy pool coating. It is expensive, but the best product for the job. This what is used to make wooden reef and chiclid tanks.

You can also just cut plexiglass to fit the inside dimensions of your dresser and seal it with silicone.

As was mentioned before, a marine grade epoxy paint is the ideal, but is relatively expensive. I used a two part epoxy that can be found in your Lowe's to seal my water area in a wooden terrarium I built. It cost about $20 for a pint, and is a tub and tile paint. Because it is not high build, you might want to use fiberglass resin underneath of it, as I did.

If you are not going to have water standing on the surface, though, another good coating is spar varnish--both Helmsman and Minwax brands have worked well for me. The top area of my terrarium is coated with this, and it has stood up to the humidity quite well for the past 2 years.

With all of these products, though, a long curing time is needed to ensure that all offgassing has completed before moving frogs in there. I spent a month letting my terrarium cure before even setting it up, then I built it and let plants grow in for about 3 months. It has been up and running with several tincs for quite some time now, with no problems.

Best of luck,

Homer
-----
Homer W. Faucett III, esq.
Purveyor of Trivialities and Fine Nonsense

If you are lookinf for a less expensive option, I would highly reccomend making an insert out of verigated plastic. you can find it anywhere (i.e. Homedepot) and it costs $10 for enough to make a 50 gallon insert. it comes in a few colours, like green, black and clear. Just make sure you seal it with silicone that dose not conatin mold inhibitors.
-----
0.1.0. Leo
1.1.0. WTF
0.1.0. Irish Setter
2.2.0. Holland Lop Bunnies
1.1.0. House Cats
Too Many Fish!

What is variegated plastic, and how do you use it? Are you using it like a pond liner (BTW, a pond liner is another alternative--just secure it with liquid nails or silicone)?

The two part epoxy paint I mentioned could definitely be used to paint a 50 gallon enclosure with 3 coats (after all, it's made to paint a bathtub).
-----
Homer W. Faucett III, esq.
Purveyor of Trivialities and Fine Nonsense

Verigated plastic is basically the plastic version of cardboard, same structure. I used it with silicone to make a liner (yes, just like a pond liner) and it saved me at least $100, right now i'm in the process of doing a 40 gallon enclosure for my leopard gecko, i will try to post up some pics latter, but i will post some not so current pics of my whites enclosure. the white in the background is the plastic, that has since been covered up. it was custom made to fit in to an old canning cupboard, and we mad up a new door to fit snugly to the plastic. its great because the plastic has a bit of "give" to it so we can make sure no crickets can escape!

-----
0.1.0. Leo
1.1.0. WTF
0.1.0. Irish Setter
2.2.0. Holland Lop Bunnies
1.1.0. House Cats
Too Many Fish!

Devious Frogger, I belive you mean corragated palstic.

lol, Oops , sorry! but they do mean...almost the same thing!

Corrugated: with ridges and troughs; folded into parallel ridges and troughs

Variegated: with patches of different colors or textures; marked with or containing patches of different colors or textures
-----
0.1.0. Leo
1.1.0. WTF
0.1.0. Irish Setter
2.2.0. Holland Lop Bunnies
1.1.0. House Cats
Too Many Fish!

Does it hold water, or is it just to protect against humidity? It seems to me that one piece of pond liner might be a better choice if you want it to be waterproof, since there are no seems in the pond liner.

However, that is a seriously creative approach. Thanks for the idea. Do you have a pic of the whole thing (canning cabinet and all) to show off the entire project?

P.S.--JHupp, thanks for the clarification . . . my initial thought of variegated plastic was some piece of plastic that looked tie dye'd. lol
-----
Homer W. Faucett III, esq.
Purveyor of Trivialities and Fine Nonsense

Yes, it is sealed and hold water very well, but it also hold humidity great! heres a pic of it with the door open (you can see where the water has gotten inside the corrigated channels at the bottom, these should be sealed because there is no way to get the water out!)

-----
0.1.0. Leo
1.1.0. WTF
0.1.0. Irish Setter
2.2.0. Holland Lop Bunnies
1.1.0. House Cats
Too Many Fish!

And another with the door closed. P.S. I meant HOLDS in the above post, lol my grammer isnt that bad!

-----
0.1.0. Leo
1.1.0. WTF
0.1.0. Irish Setter
2.2.0. Holland Lop Bunnies
1.1.0. House Cats
Too Many Fish!