Some plastics aren't suitable for reptiles

Something I've learnt as a newbie that I didn't find out during pretty extensive research... or maybe just common sense that I missed out on... not all household plastics are inert, and some will really upset animals.

I decided to replace the rather manky and cracked bamboo bridge/ramp that helped my small BP get up onto basking table/hot-hide in her tall viv. I found this lid of a cheap black plastic tub. I washed it and sanded down some sharp edges. I installed it in the morning and she immediately started roaming around. By the evening she was rubbing her face on it, and still didn't settle - she trashed her enclosure like she never has before and was jamming her nose in the gap between the sliding glass doors. I opened the doors and she leapt out into my hands.

Sniffing it up close revealed that it smelt a slightly "plasticy". Warming it slightly more with a hair-dryer made a strong chemical smell. There is no marks on it to say exactly what sort of plastic it is, but the bottom line is that my BP really hates it, and I doubt it was healthy. I removed the ramp entirely - she's now big enough to get onto the table without one. She's now settled down and has since eaten so I think she's OK.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...ck_Plastic.jpg

At the very least, plastic items need to be heated and sniffed before put into enclosures... I guess the safest policy would be to only use items intended for animal housing.

A change in their environment will cause this.
None of the surfaces should be getting that hot inside the enclosure if properly regulated....

The black plastic was at 84F surface temperature in the enclosure (I was worried the black colour would make it too hot so I was monitoring it), and was slightly smelly. But pretty much the moment I put the hair-dryer on it, it made the whole room stink.

If it had that much smell at room temperature then yeah it shouldn't have been used.
Don't know if leaving it out in the sun would help gas it out?

That's a good idea - I guess it might have been wrapped up in a shipping container with similar new plastics all the way from the factory.

Very likely, several of the new tubs I've bought for storage lately had a smell, and that was at room temp. The clear or translucent plastics don't seem to be prone to this, the tubs I bought were b!ack. Maybe something in that.