Paint for wooden cages

I've used the search function here, and went ahead with painting my cage that I'm building, but I'm still a little uneasy, especially when it comes time to put some more expensive animals in the cage.

I'm just curious as to whether anybody knows of any adverse affects of housing snakes in painted cages.

Its a wooden cage that I made, I used Kilz primer/sealer and some black latex paint. I'll show pics when its fully completed.

I've done this to, but I used rustolium's (sp) black paint with out a primer.

I painted it outside and let it dry all the way before bringing it in, am hoping that the temps wont get high enough to release any toxic fumes...other then what comes off normally.

Ok, its not done yet, but I forgot I took these pictures the other day when I was working on it. Forgive the quality, it was taken with my camera phone.

Before paint:
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../9/8/cage1.jpg

After paint:
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../9/8/cage2.jpg

As you can it is painted on the inside as well.

Go to a boating store and get marine enamel. Make sure you let it air for a couple days until there is no smell.

Sorry, my reading skills suck. Didn't see that it was painted already. Assuming it has aired out, you should be fine as long as it is sealed. Make sure you keep an eye when you add heat to make sure it isnt putting off any chemical smell.

That's pretty sharp looking! I have good luck using a water based wood sealer on a homemade rack. I think it was Helmsman or something like that, but I did alot of reading on it and the big thing was water based and allowing enough time to air and cure.

Alright, thats pretty much what I was reading as well, although I just don't want any problems. Its been drying for about a week now. I need to paint just a few smaller things on it, and I think I will let it sit for about another week before any animals go in there. I'll post some more pics when its done.

New question about paint. You can see those nice big holes in the back, they are for some air vents I'm planning to install tomorrow. Problem is my cage is black and they are white. Now I guess I don't really care if they have to be white, but I've prefer if I could paint them black. I was thinking of getting some kind of spray paint to paint them, since what I'm using for the wood might not work so great on these vents.

Hi,


Can u get metal grills? the silver colour would look quite sharp in there I think. I saw some metal ones a couple of years back that were adjustable as well giving you total control over humidity etc.


dr del

metal would be a bad idea if the snake decided to start rubbing against it :eek: i'd stick with plastic.

Ah true I hadn't considered that :eek: , how about this;


Build little mesh panels of your own and put them in the inside - don't use tights they may start getting funny ideas and I don't think I could cope with a ball python in fishnets.

This depends on you being able to find black plastic mesh of course but speakers tend to be fronted with the stuff and you should be able to make a nice looking frame out of your scrap wood all painted up. This means you can put the original white ones on the outside back of the tank where they will still do their job but won't be visable.

Might be more trouble than its worth but I thought I'd throw it out there.


dr del

Yea, I had actually already thought about that, but the trouble would be making it look nice. I already bought these metal vents. Hmmm..

How about beading or picture frame?

Ok I can't draw and the only prog on this comp is micro$haft paint but does this explain what I mean?


https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...fholehider.JPG




dr del

Hmm... this is much more involved then two screws =) I can see if they have the same size of vents, just plastic.

I did warn you any idea coming from my direction might be more trouble than it's worth :P



dr del

heh. I just don't want to have to paint anything else lol. I just want it to dry. I could make a picture frame type deal, but then I'd have to paint it. Lets just all hope they have plastic vents that are the same size.