Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know that these questions are more approprite for another forum (and I've posted in the Cage forum) but I'd really like as much input as possible:
I just finished an enclosure for my Aesculapian Rat Snake but before putting him in I need to be sure I'm not putting him in a toxic environment. Here are my questions:
1) I used some expanding foam (Great Stuff) to create a substrate dish and spray painted it with black "wrinkle finish" paint.
2) I used Aquarium silicone to seal much of the enclosure and some of it seems to want to peel and flake a bit.
3) I used acrylic paint to paint a climbing structure in the cage.
4) I windexed and dryed thoroughly the glass and acrylic several days ago.
--- Are any of these potentially dangerous after having sat for more than 24 hours to dry???

ALSO, I used a human heat mat with the cloth cover stapled under the melamine bottom of the enclosure. It gets plenty of air circulation and keeps a space on the floor at the perfect temp when continually on the low setting... Should this pose a problem?

LASTLY, I'm considering spraying some of the items with spray laquer/varnish... Is this safe? Thanks.
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Amor et Lux,
Ron

"The gods tolerate the human race for no other reason than our talent for [bleep]. It's the only thing about us that doesn't bore them to tears" Tom Robbins "Villa Incognito"

what is your cage made out of? If it is melamine...which is generally 3/4 pressboard....i dont know why the caulk wouldn't stick. It should have adhered securely to it. The only thing I can think of is that it was dirty..there was sawdust or something on it. no lacquer finish will stick to melamine. if it's not that more of a regular wood i'd use a glaze coat (2 part epoxy coating) on the floor...its equal to about 60 coats of varnish....used a lot in bars. then i'd use a product minwax makes called clear shield and its only sold at home depot. this is a polyurethane thats blended with a sparr varnish and very durable for outside applications...and in snake cages. but again this wont work on a melamine surface.
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-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Caligula)... coming soon

i dont think you will have a problem.....the silicone....i agree should have adhered...crtoon had an awesome reply....

you should be fine as long as you air out the enclosure

keith
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I'm not sure I want popular opinion on my side -- I've noticed those with the most opinions often have the fewest facts.