DIY Vivs

Hey I'm new here. Just have a couple questions cause I'm going to,start my vivs at the end of the month. 1. Is 31.5x18x16 (80x45x40)big enough without having to up grade later? 2. What's the best material to use im looking at melamine but I've seen others with different materials, want to safe some money? 3. How do you make the rock backgrounds? Thanks for any help Paul

Sorry about the pic I was just messing around didn't know what I was doing.

Wait... you are apologizing for posting a cute picture of a corn snake?

If I were going to build a viv, I would not use melamine. I built a rack out of it once, and it is heavy, expensive, and hard to work with. I have another homemade rack made out of plywood that I then coated with I-don't-remember-for-sure-what sealant, and I like that one much better. You could also paint the plywood before sealing it if you don't want the wood look.

If you google something like "DIY rock background" you'll find a wide variety of how-tos.

Lol that's one of my girls just need to go pick her up.

Isn't ply wood hard to clean though?

I definitely second the plywood and sealant route. It's not hard to clean if you put enough coats of sealant on it. Becomes just as easy to clean as any other surface really. Probably easier than melamine actually. Once it's properly painted and sealed, it becomes a simple task of spray wipe rinse dry.

As for the backgrounds, they're usually made out of styrofoam then hit with a paint or grout and finally covered with multiple coats of sealant. I *believe* (don't quote me on this) that just about any polyurethane sealant is good, just as long as you make sure to cure proper time so there's no more fumes. I haven't dabbled much in the DIY yet so i might be getting my info mixed up from my memory.

Oh yeah, the other advantage of plywood is it's a lot more conductive of heat than melamine is. This means, as long as your sheets are excessively thick, you can actually use most UTH outside instead of trying to set them up inside. It takes a little longer for the wood to heat up compared to glass aquarium style vivs, but it usually will.

Daffy typos and lack of an edit option (one of these days i swear i'm gonna donate!), that sentence should read "... as long as your sheets aren't excessively thick ..."

What are some reptile safe sealants? Been looking haven't found much

you can use mod podge. I've used it before and it's completely safe. It looks like school glue and dries clear.

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What about varnishes to seal the plywood