Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am getting tired of my horrible looking aquarium and want to make a nice wooden enclosure. My first question is, what thickness ply do you suggest, the weight doesn't matter that much, but I don't want to move it with a forklift. Secondly, is there a sealer made so that I can still see the grain or my stain on the wood, but doesn't have to be redone every year or two. And finally, how would you suggest heating it, it will all be wooden except the front. Oh, and, where would you put ventilation. By the way, this is for a corn snake.

>>What thickness ply do you suggest, the weight doesn't matter that much, but I don't want to move it with a forklift.

In my mind there are two basic ways to go. You can build a "regular" cage from 1/2" ply. Not quite as easy to attach together with nails or screws, but not impossible either.

The other choice is to use 3/4" ply but go with a "floorless" cage. Instead of a wooden floor you simply staple Sintra or another plastic directly to the bottom of the wooden floor. There are several advantages to this. I can go into them in more detail if you like.

You can also combine the above two choices (a floorless cage from 1/2" ply) but more care does need to be taken.

Some people just aren't comfortable with floorless cages. Do whichever you feel most comfortable with.

>>Secondly, is there a sealer made so that I can still see the grain or my stain on the wood, but doesn't have to be redone every year or two.

With a plastic floor you could probably get away with a high quality water-based polyurethane for the cage walls. Unfortunately, some of the more durable water-based polys are not available in small quantity and also tend to be very expensive.

Oil based poly will last a long time, especially with a plastic floor, but they can offgas for months and often give an amber color to the wood. Not the best with light wood/stain combos.

Envirotex Lite is a very durable bar top epoxy and is available in small kits. But it is expensive and a bit overkill for a cornsnake. But no nasty solvents and it does look nice.

Those are the three general DIY solutions. Personally, I don't like the amber look of oil-based poly and don't feel it's protection is all that great for the hassle and lengthy offgas time. But it is very inexpensive.

Waterborne polys can look great on lighter woods but most of the readily available products just aren't that great. The good stuff is expensive and typically only available by the gallon.

Envirotex is great stuff but very expensive and can fog up if not applied correctly.

>>And finally, how would you suggest heating it, it will all be wooden except the front.

Radiant heat panel from Pro Products.

>>Oh, and, where would you put ventilation.

Probably up near the front so it would be somewhat hidden by the upper or lower lip of the cage.

I think I want the whole thing to be wood, including the floor. So, what precautions should I use when working with 1/2 inch plywood? Thanks for your help by the way.

I wanted to miter the sides of the cage so that the only edges of ply that are visible from the back and when the front door is open. I will try to explain this better. The top, bottom, left, and right will be made into a box by mitering the edges with a table saw (as apose to butt joints). then the back will slide in flush, not just butt up against. Will this design (assuming you understood) be possible with the 1/2 inch plywood? And where does the heatpad go?

>>And where does the heatpad go?

With a RHP you would not need one. If you really want to use "belly heat", then cut a rectangle out of the floor, making sure to stay away from the sides, and laminate a piece of plastic over the cutout. The heat pad would be taped underneath.

>>I wanted to miter the sides of the cage so that the only edges of ply that are visible from the back and when the front door is open. I will try to explain this better. The top, bottom, left, and right will be made into a box by mitering the edges with a table saw (as apose to butt joints). then the back will slide in flush, not just butt up against. Will this design (assuming you understood) be possible with the 1/2 inch plywood?

I understand. The cuts can be difficult to make perfect, especially with average or low quality plywood. These are considered to be difficult cuts, and skilled woodworkers often need to touch up the edges with a router.

An easier solution is to hide the front edges with a real wood face frame. The top or side exposed edges can be covered with real wood corner angle that matches the face frame. Or you can use edge banding.

Wood workers have a lot of tricks to hide plywood edges. Mitered cuts is considered to be among the more difficult. Very hard to get the laminate to line up nice and smooth.

I meant to ask where the RHP goes? And about the top/side edges, could you elaborate or link to a place that describes how to do the real wood corners or the edge banding? And finally, would I just use long thin screws with 1/2 inch wood or is there something more specific? Thank you so much for the quick replies and all of your help.

>>I meant to ask where the RHP goes?

On the ceiling the cage. They are designed to direct the heat downwards. Semi-arboreal snakes like Cornsnakes really seem to appreciate RHP's.

>>And about the top/side edges, could you elaborate or link to a place that describes how to do the real wood corners or the edge banding?

The Caging section on FineGTPs.com shows how to attach a real wood face frame to a carcass. I don't believe it shows edge banding.

This link might give you and idea on edge banding:

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=howTo&p=Build/veneerEdging.html

And if you look at the picture of this cage I built, you can see how I used some trim and corner rosettes to cover the exposed edges. Glass track covered the edges on the upper and lower lips.

For the very top of the cage I used edge banding. Just used an iron to apply it and a razor blade to trim it down.

>>And finally, would I just use long thin screws with 1/2 inch wood or is there something more specific?

Last carcass I built from 1/2" ply was assembled with some 1.25" wood screws I had lying around. I believe they were fairly thin. Make sure you use a counter sink bit to pre-drill.

You'll also have to cover the screw holes. I either use stainable wood putty or wrap the corners with wood corner angle. I don't have any pictures of that, sorry. But the corner angle will cover both the cut edges and the screw holes.
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Current snakes:

1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

2.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

4.3 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

After looking at those cages made of MDF and Contact paper, I am starting to prefer that look over that of the grain. Maybe a coat of black paint on the outside, and I think it will look nice.

I like that design. Heavy, but cheap and practical.

However, I would make sure to use vinyl film used in the sign industry over the contact paper. Vinyl film is cheaper, easier to apply, and much more durable.

Finding it in smaller quantity may take some searching.

Do you know of a company that sells the vinyl film, and shows the colors available. My searches have turned up nothing.

I did extensive research on this stuff and ended up buying it from Beacon Graphics.

The website is down, but here is the link. I'm pretty sure I purchased the FDC 4200.

http://www.beacongraphics.com/calendered-vinyl.php

As I may have already mentioned, the more extensive stuff offers no performance advantage over basic calendared vinyl film rated for 5 to 6 years of outdoor use. I only picked the FDC because of the great deal I got at the time.

I know of one other herper who was able to get a small amount from a local sign/graphics shop. I'll e-mail him and ask how much he paid per square foot.

I paid 26 cents per square foot because I got so much and did not have to pay shipping. The color I got was Tan in semi-gloss. I suppose I could sell you a small amount if you can't find any locally.

Thank you for your very helpful replies. When I do order the film I will get it from the site you linked to, it is back up.

For the UTH, you could take a 12x12 floor tile from Lowes and make a cutout in the plywood for that. The sealer I used seals offgassing from the plywood and contains nothing toxic. it is called AFM Safecoat Polyureseal BP. I got mine from needs.com
Here are some pics from the completed project. It is 42"long by 24"deep and 27"high with the tunnel to the den.

The sealer I used seals offgassing from the plywood and contains nothing toxic. it is called AFM Safecoat Polyureseal BP.

I just googled AFM Safecoat Polyureseal BP and found that it has the same amount of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) as other popular waterborne varnishes. Don't get too caught up in the marketing of environmental friendly products as it's partly a matter of semantics and paying for a certain test to have a certain designation.

Now with that said, AMF safecoat sounds like an excellent waterborne product, and it may even be marginally safter than other waterborne products. But to say it contains nothing toxic is misleading.

The company has "not toxic" printed right on the label. My brother said the same thing about the environmentally friendly stuff. He thinks the water based polys would work just as well at sealing in offgassing and once cured, would be harmless. I didn't want to take a chance. I was disappointed to see the VOC content was even higher than a normal water-based product my brother had in his shop. Oh well, I have over half of the gallon left and I will use part of that when I build my Leopard Gecko's enclosure.

>>The company has "not toxic" printed right on the label. My brother said the same thing about the environmentally friendly stuff.

Yeah, it's sort of a pain to figure out which companies are paying for a certain classification and which are equally safe without the classification. Sure we can arbitrarily say it's "non-toxic", but I doubt the CEO of the company would drink it out of the can. I also doubt any woodworker would spray in on cabinets 8 hours per day without wearing a respirator.

>>I was disappointed to see the VOC content was even higher than a normal water-based product my brother had in his shop.

Don't read too much into this. Chances are your brother uses a spray product which possibly means it's formulated differently for use in spray equipment. That could make it have less solvent per volume. However, it may also mean that more solvents will end up being used once the appropriate thickness is built up. Some finishes just have a lower amount of solids so it takes more coats to build it up.

Think of it this way. If I took your product and added an equal amount of water and sold it, I would have reduced the VOC's by 50%. But then it would take twice as much to coat the material which would mean the same amount of solvents would be used up anyways.

>>Oh well, I have over half of the gallon left and I will use part of that when I build my Leopard Gecko's enclosure.

Regardless, it does sounds like a nice waterborne product and perfect for a Leopard Gecko cage.

Also, if you find that it breaks down in your other cage(s), it's a great substate to pour a bar top epoxy over. Those are completely solvent free. Not that I'd drink it out the jar either, LOL.

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Current snakes:

1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

2.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

4.3 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)