Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Rack Material - Particle Board or Melamine...?

Which would you use...?

I am building a 4' x 4' x 2' rack to house colubrids(mostly Cals & Hondos). I only need (2) 4x8 sheets with the plans I drew up, and the Particle board is a bit cheaper than the melamine. Which should I use...? Is there a difference between the quality of the 2 materials...? If I can save a bit of cash on particle board, I will, but it's not a huge price diference either way.

Moisture shouldn't be a big problem as they are not species that require humid conditions.
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1SW
3.3 California Kings
1.0 Bearded Dragon
?.? Who knows...

Typically when I hear "rack system" I think of a lidless rack systems built around plastic boxes.

But you mention a Bearded Dragon which is not a suitable species for a rack system so I'm not sure if I know what you mean.

Regardless, I do not recommend plain particle board for any cage. Primarily because you'd have to spend a lot of money on either a laminated, epoxy, or paint surface to make this material easy to clean due to the excessive surface area. This surface area gives more places for bacteria to grow, etc.

Even if you worry not worried about the surface area you'd still have to put some sort of top coat on particle board and that might make up the price difference alone, not to mention your time and effort.

Perhaps you really mean MDF board which would have a much smoother surface, but would still have to be coated.

So given the choice you gave I'd go with melamine coated particle board. I'm not a huge fan of melamine, but I have and would build a cage or rack out of it. I would never use plain particle board for any project. I might use MDF, but only for limited applications. It is not the best at accepting nails, screws, etc.

Lastly, it's not only humidity you need to worry about. You also need to worry about the times your animals crawl through or spill their water bowl and get water everywhere. With plain particle board or MDF one occurance of that and your cage could be damaged pretty bad.

The rack is for the 6 California Kings only right now and later, Hondos. The way I designed it, it'll hold 12 rubbermaid tubs 22" X 16" X 9". Here is a pic of another poster's rack, that I based my design on. It holds only the larger size rubbermaid, no shoeboxes.

Again, this isn't my picture, I saw and saved it on my hard-drive a couple weeks ago, and the builder of it escapes my name(sorry to the owner).

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1SW
3.3 California Kings
1.0 Bearded Dragon
?.? Who knows...

That looks like MDF (medium density fiberboard) which is a type of particle board, but is not what is referred to as particle board. I could see where there would be some confusion.

With a wide rack MDF will be more likely than melamine to flex/bow over time. However, spacers could be added that would take care of this. I'd recommend spacers for any wide rack regardless.

The MDF surface is very smooth but not suitable for animal contact, IMO.

You could cover it with cheap contact paper used to line drawers with and probably come out cheaper than melamine. I add this material to even my melamine racks as it increases the longevity of the shelves.

The bare MDF surface will not hold up to the slight humidity produced by water bowls so you should really consider protecting it. The contact paper is cheap, easy to apply, and easily replaced.

Lastly, MDF does offgas more than melamine coated particle board if that concerns you. Obviously melamine racks have been used longer than MDF racks with no apparent effects on the species you keep.

I'm sure MDF is okay to use in this regard, but it is considered more hazardous to work with than particle board.

Not something I would worry about, but I thought I would mention it.