Hey everyone, so I have been looking into building some cages, one for my red blood when she gets bigger and one for my beardy, and I jsut ant decide what materials to use. I have heard both will warp really bad and all that sort of stuff and I just really want to build a cage that will last. Since I need to keep the humidity in for the blood I was thinking that a melamine cage that was silicone sealed in all the creases would be the best way to go since I have been considering using cypress mulch as my substrate for her. I figured I would just do the same thing for the beardies cage (minus the cypress of course) and just put a vent on either side to keep the humidity down. I assume plywood would be cheaper than the melamine, but what would I use to seal the inside? drylock or something like that?What are your opinions on this matter? Is there a better construction material than either of these that a poor college student can afford? Thanks for your time and for reading my block of text!
Melamine vs Plywood
- Thread starter Wretched5705
- Start date
yah i figured with melamine :/ im not tooooo worried about weight though, just more worried about keeping in humidity now. Im thinking of doing an open down door on the front for the blood, but not sure how much ventilation I should allow for to keep humidity high
Melamine will be heavier and more expensive, plus easier to get a water resistant seal. Plywood will be cheaper and lighter, but a little more difficult to waterproof.
You can use drylock (tinted to whatever color or just plain white), or you can use a polyurethane as a waterproofer. The polyurethane will need to be redone more often to maintain a water resistant surface though.
I am in the process of building an iguana enclosure (4x2x2) and I went with 3/4" birch AC plywood and am sealing with polyurethane, but I don't need it to hold high humidity.
You can use drylock (tinted to whatever color or just plain white), or you can use a polyurethane as a waterproofer. The polyurethane will need to be redone more often to maintain a water resistant surface though.
I am in the process of building an iguana enclosure (4x2x2) and I went with 3/4" birch AC plywood and am sealing with polyurethane, but I don't need it to hold high humidity.
Wretched5705;4524788; said:
Yeah, if you go to any hardware store and look in the vent/ductwork area's, the heat registers (that cover the floor/wall vent openings) come in a large variety of sizes.
You'll have to find some way to secure it to the enclosure, but the adjustable ones make great vents, and you can control heat and humidity by opening or closing them.
