fire safe homemade rack??

[brittani72]

So I have been thinking a lot lately about making my own rack and here is my question. Can I....
* make a rack out of cheap wood (as in the cheap particle board bookshelves they sell at walmart) then

* treat the wood with a fire retardant like this http://www.flamestop.com/html/product_guide.html then

*put heat tape on it (belly heat set up) and hook it up to a nice thermostat??

Would this be fire safe?? Would the heat tape work on a fire retardant treated material?? Any other concerns to consider??

[HighVoltageRoyals]

Hmmmm....I'm not sure of the toxicity of fire retardant but I would imagine that the safest thing you could possibly do is get melamine (I hear that melamine is pretty fire resistant). I personally wouldn't expose my snakes to DIY treated wood because I'm not a risk taker like that. I might just be crazy though and it could be completely harmless because I don't know too much about what type of product you are going to use to treat the wood.

On a side note: nothing is going to be 100% fire safe; you're always going to have the potential of fire when dealing with the amount of electrical aspects that goes into BPs. But also, in the pursuit of avoiding a pitfall (fire), don't unexpectedly jump into another (poisoning via toxins).

[brittani72]

Hmmmm....I'm not sure of the toxicity of fire retardant but I would imagine that the safest thing you could possibly do is get melamine (I hear that melamine is pretty fire resistant). I personally wouldn't expose my snakes to DIY treated wood because I'm not a risk taker like that. I might just be crazy though and it could be completely harmless because I don't know too much about what type of product you are going to use to treat the wood.

On a side note: nothing is going to be 100% fire safe; you're always going to have the potential of fire when dealing with the amount of electrical aspects that goes into BPs. But also, in the pursuit of avoiding a pitfall (fire), don't unexpectedly jump into another (poisoning via toxins).

yes, i did worry about using a product that is not normally used with snakes so i researched it a bit and came across this in their faq's and since im not using it inside their enclosure i feel comfortable using it.

Are there Bromides or Formaldehyde in any of Flame Stop’s products?

No, since Flame Stop fire retardant and firestop products were invented we have never manufactured a toxic product. While Formaldehyde might be considered non toxic at very low levels, it remains a known Carcinogen and will not be used by Flame Stop. Fire Retardants that contain toxic chemicals give the industry a bad name.

the link to the above paragraph can be found here http://www.flamestop.com/html/faq.html

[HighVoltageRoyals]

yes, i did worry about using a product that is not normally used with snakes so i researched it a bit and came across this in their faq's and since im not using it inside their enclosure i feel comfortable using it.

Are there Bromides or Formaldehyde in any of Flame Stop’s products?

No, since Flame Stop fire retardant and firestop products were invented we have never manufactured a toxic product. While Formaldehyde might be considered non toxic at very low levels, it remains a known Carcinogen and will not be used by Flame Stop. Fire Retardants that contain toxic chemicals give the industry a bad name.

the link to the above paragraph can be found here http://www.flamestop.com/html/faq.html

Very good researching! I'm impressed.

One other question to ask though: Would humidity affect the treatment in a way that would expose your snakes to the possibility of coming into contact with the flame retardant (in it's pre-treated state)?

If no to the above, then by all means, this seems like a safe bet and would serve as a good precaution to fire damage.

[AmysAnimals]

I don't know about all that but I asked my dad who works with wood about the fire resistance of melamine and he said the only real way it can catch fire is if it's set to fire, in other words it has to be exposed to flame. It's pretty heat resistant other wise. You should try using melamine. =)

[brittani72]

Very good researching! I'm impressed.

One other question to ask though: Would humidity affect the treatment in a way that would expose your snakes to the possibility of coming into contact with the flame retardant (in it's pre-treated state)?

If no to the above, then by all means, this seems like a safe bet and would serve as a good precaution to fire damage.

THAT is a good question.....Maybe I will shoot them a line and see what they say... There is some more information here but it's a little over my head maybe someone else can read it and will be able to answer this question for me??

http://www.flamestop.com/Flame-Stop-II.pdf

[AGoldReptiles]

Just order a rack from Animal Plastics

[brittani72]

Just order a rack from Animal Plastics

lol i would if i had that kind of money but i'd prefer to use what money i do have on the snakes, not the setup. i am trying to do this for purely financial reasons.

[brittani72]

heres the only melamine thing i could find without buying a professional rack (and for this price i mind as well) http://www.walmart.com/ip/Whitney-Br...Maple/16530156

[HighVoltageRoyals]

heres the only melamine thing i could find without buying a professional rack (and for this price i mind as well) http://www.walmart.com/ip/Whitney-Br...Maple/16530156

Building it yourself would be significantly cheaper (about $150-$200 depending and that's overestimating). Pieces of melamine wood can be found at your local Home Depot or Lowes.

All of the "expensive" stuff that comes with racks is usually the heat and the thermostat which wouldn't be included on the rack you get from Walmart anyway.