Safe to use as a hide?

[kiiarah]

The other day at work I noticed some cardboard sitting by the trash that looked perfect for a snake hide. These are the end caps that they use to hold large printer cartridges in place in the packaging. I trimmed them so only the moulded part was left. They even had the shape for the entrance already built in. So my question is would these be a safe material for a hide. My only concern had been that since they are some kind of reconstituted and dried cardboard they are softer and "dustier" than normal cardboard. I am not sure how sensitive ball pythons are to airborne dust and particulates so I thought I would run the idea by everyone here. I realize these would have to be temporary since they couldn't be sanitized, but I thought it may be a good test hide. The ones he has now are half logs, so they seem really exposed. He uses the ones he has now and seems happy enough, but I thought maybe the added security of more of a cave style hide might be good for him. I was hoping to throw these in his tank at some point and see if he seems to prefer them. If he likes them I may invest in some cleanable hides with only one entrance.


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[Velrys]

Maybe?

The cardboard itself I think is fine, though the unfinished nature of the surface would lead me to be concern with dust that can give your snake some problems.

But...

As long as they stay dry, don't have anything nasty on them from whatever they were packaging, don't have any nasty release from the molding process, don't have anything nasty from sitting on the floor, don't have anything nasty from the rest of the trash, don't release any dust, don't fall apart, and then actually stay upright long enough to function as a hide. You should be all set?

But I would probably avoid them.

[kiiarah]

All valid points. I probably should have been more specific, they weren't in the trash, just sitting in the packaging they came with in the back office about to be thrown out, so I don't think there would be anything nasty in them from that. Someone suggested sealing them with lacquer or a layer of grout to make them more durable and cleanable. It sounded like a decent suggestion, any experience with materials that are safe to use to make hides?

[Velrys]

I don't really know about lacquers, their toxins, and how they react to cardboard.

I would play around with the hides a bit before getting too into it. They look pretty light and tall, I would think a snake would flip that over in no time. But if you like the shapes you could use plaster to make molds and beef them up.

[Lady mkrj58]

Personally I wouldn't use those they would be a ticking Bomb of germs ready to blow up. Their is a web site Reptilebasics.com that has alot of the Proper products and good pricing.

Sent from my SGH-T999