Is plywood OK to build an enclosure with?

Just wanted to check if it would be a bad idea to use normal plywood from Lowes/Home Depot to build an enclosure with.

Care sheet http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...s%29-Caresheet says not to use pine or cedar for substrate. Not sure what plywood is made out of really.

No i would not. Unless you take the time to seal everything really well. But that could be a PITA and expose your snake to chemicals if you dont do it correctly. Plywood is just chips of wood held together with glue so it molds and decomposes very easily.

What would a good material be? I'm looking to do it cheap, but safe. Also I was referring to plywood, which is sheets of glued together wood. Not to be confused with particle board which is the chips and stuff all glued together. Point taken though.

Plywood is still chips or shreds of wood glued together into layers. Particle board is small pieces or particles of wood glued together, just not in sheets. Particle board is heavier and more dense. Melamine is alot like particle board except is has the plastic sheets or coating on the sides. And then theres plastic strips you can use to cover the edges. Melamine would be better to use since it has that coating. And then I would cover the base/floor with vinal tiles or something. And then coat the seams with aquarium sealant and coat the whole inside with epoxy or something. Im not sure what type of epoxy would be best to use though.

So does the melamine contain toxic chemicals? Is sealing the sides just an appearance thing, or do we really want to seal up all traces of what's inside the plasitc coating?

i built my enclosure out of plywood and used laminate wood board to cover the plywood for easy cleaning but i saw that it couldn't keep humidity good.

i no longer use it anymore i built a snake rack which personaly i think is better.

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Originally Posted by VooDooDoc

So does the melamine contain toxic chemicals? Is sealing the sides just an appearance thing, or do we really want to seal up all traces of what's inside the plasitc coating?

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No melamine is fine bc people use it for racks. I misspoke in my last post, i apologize. If you build it out of melamine i would just seal all the seams with aquarium sealant and you should be all set. What do you plan to keep in it?

Check around for plastics manufacturers in your area, and you just may find one that has expanded PVC board available. This is an ideal material for making a reptile enclosure, IMO. It's not dramatically expensive, either.
You can cut and work it just like wood.

Also, I would seal a mealmine cage very, very well, because although it is used for racks, it is NOT risk-free. Most melamine board is a particle board covered with melamine, and the particle board is often held together with a glue containing formaldehyde. Formaldehyde-free melamine is avaiable, but more expensive, and is very hard to find.

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

No melamine is fine bc people use it for racks. I misspoke in my last post, i apologize. If you build it out of melamine i would just seal all the seams with aquarium sealant and you should be all set. What do you plan to keep in it?

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Melamine (the particle board substrate) is actually quite toxic. It has formaldehyde and urea glues used in MDF and particle boards. Most plywood is glued with similar phenolic resin glues that once catyalized have less out gassing also the glue joint is very small only the very slight edge where particle board the joint is the full exposed width.

The shop I used to work in particle board and MDF required a use of a respirator to work with it.

I would expect plywood to be far less toxic than particle boards especially looking at the MSDS sheets for various products. Any bare wood needs to be sealed in any case. I would not use cedar ply but the fir (douglas or spruce usually) is fine and pine is fine if it is kiln dried (all ply is) but if asked I would really use either plastic or birch ply it is 1000 times easier to work with (flatter and less voids fill spots ect...) and seriously stronger.

melamine is used usually because it is cheap.

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Originally Posted by kitedemon

Melamine (the particle board substrate) is actually quite toxic. It has formaldehyde and urea glues used in MDF and particle boards. Most plywood is glued with similar phenolic resin glues that once catyalized have less out gassing also the glue joint is very small only the very slight edge where particle board the joint is the full exposed width.

The shop I used to work in particle board and MDF required a use of a respirator to work with it.

I would expect plywood to be far less toxic than particle boards especially looking at the MSDS sheets for various products. Any bare wood needs to be sealed in any case. I would not use cedar ply but the fir (douglas or spruce usually) is fine and pine is fine if it is kiln dried (all ply is) but if asked I would really use either plastic or birch ply it is 1000 times easier to work with (flatter and less voids fill spots ect...) and seriously stronger.

melamine is used usually because it is cheap.

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Im not questioning you, thanks for the info actually i ha no idea, but then how do tons of people use melamine racks successfully?