Plastics - PVC - Acrylic

[ErikBush97]

It's often said that Plastic enclosures, PVC enclosures, Acrylic Enclosures, Etc release poisonous fumes when heating, and thus are in safe to use. Animals like BCI's, Ball Pythons, so on have hot spots of about 90 degrees, correct? Human skin is generally around 91-95°, with variation from person to person, indoor - outdoor whether, etc, etc.. But wouldn't that mean that merely touching your reptiles enclosure would let out dangerous fumes? It seems a bit unlikely to me, and I hear this mostly from people defending glass enclosures. I'd love to hear thoughts, opinions, and hopefully hear from some people who are educated on the matter.

[formica]

HCL (which reacts with Water in the air to become Hydrochloric Acid) and Chlorine are both released from PVC when heated to high tempretures, other chemicals are also released when burnt - most PVCX datasheets say that it must not be used in direct sunlight, tempretures over 65C/149F will cause the plastic to melt, at which point chemicals are released in larger amounts.

It is true that Chlorine is released from PVC thruout its life time, in very small amounts, i've been researching this allot recently, and it would appear, that for the brands I have choosen, the amount of chlorine released over its life time, when kept under 65C, it significantly less than is released from a single spray of bleach based kitchen cleaner - I suggest you look up the data for yourself, as each brand is diffrent, and UK - US brands are also diffrent


There are other issues around PVC, including Solvents, Plasticizers (eg Phthalates), Cadmium, Lead, Mercury or any other heavy metals, this can be extremly dangerous, they are most dangerous during manufactur of the plastic itself, and during inceration or recylcing - however - there are plenty of brands which do not contain any of these chemicals, you just need to do your research, and speak with the manufacturer


For saftey, I personally would not recomend using PVC/PVCX in any enclosure which requires Ceramic, Incadescent or Halogen heating/basking/lighting - use only Heat Mats, Radient Panels and LED lights etc, and ensure that nothing goes above 45C/113F, which is either inside the enclosure or in contact with the plastic. and no basking tempretures available above 40C/104F


do your own research however, none of this information is given with any guarantee that the product you choose will not be dangerous for your intended use



Other plastics, including Polypropolene, Polyethelene, HDPE, all have diffrent tempretures at which they are stable, all have diffrent additives and diffrent chemicals used in the manufacture process - none of them are as safe/enviromentally friendly as glass for eg, in terms of tempreture and chemicals, however when used appropriatly they offer significant benefits, and when used safley there is no reason to fear their use for reptile enclosures