Your Building a Cage?

[fflamingmoe]

Anyone that's planning to build a cage and need help with your project feel free to PM me with your questions.
I've been a professional in building and building supply's for over 16 years
and have been building custum caging for 10 years.
If you need help building a cage that needs to be water proof and you don't want to use paint and other toxic materials i'm your man to ask.
Having trouble looking for non toxic wood?
Well that's ok because i can tell you how you can work with toxic wood with no problems.
Need a cage with a pool system that is low in cost and doesn't need filtering and you can drain it yourself without even going in the cage to do it?
PM me with your questions.

[ddaniel2931]

can u please put some picture of your work

[fflamingmoe]

Well i'm going to try.
I had lots of pictures of my work that have i have missplaced but i want to try and do a step by step with pictures.
I rather do blueprints though because then people can see exactly how to build it.

[pyythonboa]

blueprints yeah il be waiting for those

[Geckogal]

I got a couple of questions, is led free varnish toxic for the reptiles and wat woods are toxic?

[fflamingmoe]

Yes it would be toxic, anything with varnish is, if it gets wet or is heated gives off toxins.

Toxic woods,
Cedar,White Pine, Red pine,Aspin,Balsam,Birch,
There are over 60 types of wood.

[shaunyboy]

just a thought but would varnish thats used to vrnish say a childs crib not be safe ?
cheers shaun

[fflamingmoe]

I've seen them recall it and do babies get teeth?
I would use linoleum or Vinyl on the inside and you can get it by the roll anysize.
Or you can roll on thin layers of liqud cement with a roller then use window laytex cualking for the edges.
You can use pond liner and cover each piece of plywood and then assemble each piece at a time making sure the wall edges sit on top of the cage floor so there is no gaps or bad cuts.Then use a laytex caulking to seal it.
So even if it has safe on the can read the fine print because it just might say for external use only.And remember that a babies crib has lots of air sirculation because it's not a closed system.And UV lighting that heats any varnish is toxic.That can be said with plastic plants as well so.

[illcyat420]

Yes it would be toxic, anything with varnish is, if it gets wet or is heated gives off toxins.

Toxic woods,
Cedar,White Pine, Red pine,Aspin,Balsam,Birch,
There are over 60 types of wood.
Are standard 2x4's toxic for framing in the enclosure if a sealant is used?

[fflamingmoe]

Well what i do is keep the frame on the outside of my cages so that all the walls ar flat.But thats just me though:crazy2:
And i would use 1x1's because it is lighter just make sure you pre-Drill your holes so the wood don't split.
If the walls are built with the frame on the outside then you can use linoleum on the inside.This way here you don't got to worrie about anything toxic or waiting for it to dry.
And if you really want to get fancy you can use siding because your strapping is already there witch is your frame lol.But thats only if you want him or her to have a real looking house.
This way there is no frame on the inside that will rot over time and it smells cleaner too.:yes:
Or you can use pink foam exterior Insulation then you can do custom backgrounds by shaping the foam then using liquid cement with 3 or 4 coats with a brush.
But would like to do is roll the liquid cement on smooth like you would see on a basement floor this why it has no bumps and you can wipe clean easy.
Not only that but you can roll it over your wood then apply your heat tape then roll over that and you have fire proofing as well and the cement is a good heat retainer hehe.
But that is more advanced when going over heat tape because you got to be careful that you build it up right because you don't want your animals to get hurt or burned if done incorectly.
Just look at this beautiful inclosure with liquid cement,isn't it wonderfull guys;)
YouTube - Asian Water Monitor Exhibit at The Serpentarium in Lodi, California (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg8pR_LWT5Y)

[fflamingmoe]

It's ok to use toxic wood as long as you cover it well.
In all my years of building cages i have only used Varnish on the outside of Animal caging.To my standards it's just not safe enough.:no:

[Geckogal]

Nother question? Is Wood covered with Melamine bad for the animals? And What exactly is Linoleum? In my country everything has diffirent names and googleing a pic doesnt really help, is it the stuff u buy by carpet places?

[fflamingmoe]

Linoleum is a floor covering you can apply for kitckens and bathrooms.
You can fined it at a Home-depo or Rona.Or a place that does flooring.
And if your just building a cage for snakes you can use vinyl flooring as well.And you can get it in any size right off the roll and cut it and glue it into place.:yes:
melamine board is heavy and can bubble up if water gets under it.
Vinyl and Linoleum doesn't do this and it's light.
melamine board can also crack over time if water gets under it or it can become brittle and starts to lift up.
And melamine board is safe to use but again it is toxic yes.
It can lead to renal failure if swallowed veterinary scientists determined that it was a big part in animal deaths in 2007 and it was introduced into pet food as well.
But i don't think your snake is able to eat the hard surface.
And we don't use that much lighting for snakes for the brake down of melamine.
And for peaple that smoke i intake formaldehyde every day.

[Geckogal]

Nobody really knew wat Linoleum was by the places i asked but i found vinyl :)
Its actually just to cover the inside of a chipboard cage, i finished the job now but it made alot of bubbles, looks bad but gonna have to do couple of months until i buy a bigger cage for my Monitor, How do you put the vinyl on without it making bubbles and what glue do you use?

[infernalis]

For the monitor, I would use an aluminum sheet. Monitors have sharp claws and can peel up the vinyl easily.

[Geckogal]

Its just for a couple of weeks so i can build him or buy him his very own adult sized cage, atleast he got lots more space now and a big waterbowl, if he does manage to tear the vinyl he be doing me a favour :) this vinyl stuff really dont look so bad afterall. I would like to get better at applying it. But like you said not for animals with sharp nails and massive fore arms.