Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering what type of stain I could use to paint my cage. The problem is that the wood is sealed with polyurethane and I was wondering if there would be any conflict with it. The poly is oil-based.

With a fair amount of work your cage can be stained. You need to do one of a couple of things.
1: Use a finish remover, and scrape the poly off. Then afterwards, sand the s**t out of it. While this should allow you to use any stain you want, you will probably get an uneven finish unless you completely, thoroughly, and evenly sand the wood.
2: You can sand the finish down ( poly sands nicely ), and then use a solid body stain, such as Cabot's, or even Home Depot's Behr brand. This limits you to your choice of final finishes, as this is more like a paint rather than a stain.
Either way, to do it right, and give you a furniture quality finish, you are in for a lot of careful work, with attention paid to detail.
Because with the poly on the wood already, the grain is essentially sealed.
Bob