Question about a DIY tank

Well right now our little girl is in a ten gallon tank until I finish building her home. But before I do something stupid I decided to pop a few questions up here.

I was able to get a large amount of plexy and wood at a pretty good price so space is not going to be an issue. My question is about stain. I would like to stain the exterior wood, and wanted to know how long I should let it cure before putting her in it. I have heard that some types of stain will offgas for about 48 hours after we can no longer smell it. Does this sound about right to you guys? There will not be any exposed wood (lease in regards to the build) on the interior other than the top. And I was not planning on staining the inside of the top.

Thanks much.

There is a whole forum talking about this and also Clay Davenport has a great website that helps with it. http://www.arbreptiles.com/index.html (on the right side there is a bunch of cage building info)

I am planning on building a 3x2 and will be staining all pieces on all sides. I will probably let cure for 3-5 days depending on temperature and do 2-3 coats of stain. After staining I will polyurthane seal with same cure time and do probably 3 coats of that.

Its a long time to wait but think about it in proportion to how much time your snake is going to spend in it. if it takes 3 or 4 weeks to build the cage and the snake is in it for 2 years. Thats 104weeks usage to 4 weeks building. not half bad in my opinion. Besides if your going to be building a cage you probably want it to last more than 2 years.

I guess my advice is be patient and let it cure for a long time. Maybe double whatever the bottle says.

Thank you very much.

Like I said, she is in a decently sized tank now, so we have time. I just wanted to get it done right. I have built a lot of things during my short time on this little rock, but this is the first tank for a snake. :)

hey thanks for asking this question ... I was wondering the same thing the otherr day and forgot to post.

I would try doing a dry run (no animals) with a UTH and supplemental heating sources (if you use any) and see if the heat causes any odors to show up. Let it cure after building until no odors are detected, then run the UTH for a day or two. If it doesn't cause any more odors to seep out you should be good to go.