safe materials?

[greenzebra]

I tried looking in the search but couldn't really find what i'm looking foor and gave up opening threads.

Is there a list of safe materials for leopard geckos when making your own habitat and decor? I'm thinking about making a new habitat for Leopold to give him more room and something that i can take pride in too. I like making things with my hands and I don't want to use anything that is harmful to my little girl.

 

[mudskipper]

I have seen people use latex paint and polyurethane on Styrofoam, but I don't know how safe that really is in high heat.

When I was thinking about making my own decors, I found these non-toxic outdoor paint. http://www.amazon.com/DecoArt-DCP21...8&qid=1345531118&sr=8-2&keywords=decoart+iron They come in many colors.

For glue, aquarium sealant is considered to be non-toxic.

 

[J&K's Lemy]

sculpy or air dry clay
I've used both and
I've had more success with the sculpy clay

with sculpy you can blend different colors of the clay itself together to get a nice marble or tye dye effect depending on what colours you mix

 

[packs_fan]

On the setup we made with DIY hides and back rounds we used insulation styrofoam and purchased grout that just needed water to be added to the mixture. Then last you need to seal the grout with water based sealer. All of this you can find at any local hardware store. Cost you looking at anywhere from 20 to 40 dollars all together.

 

[greenzebra]

thanks for the ideas for decor. does anyone know what kinds of wood to avoid?

 

[Taesolieroy]

As far as wood is concerned - you'll want to avoid most treated woods that haven't been weathered for a while because the chemicals they'll emit in vapor form can be toxic to geckos.

With natural wood - any kind of stick or driftwood is good, you'll just want to boil it prior to kill any unwanted things and sanitize it before putting them in the tank.

Hope that little bit helps! That's all I know about the wood aspect. I'm working on a project myself with foamcore, waterseal grout, and spray varnish (most varnishes are waterproof - but you'll want to air it out for a while (few days to a week) outside before putting it in the tank) along with model railroad turf and moss to get a weathered natural look with acrylic craft paint (the moss texture will help as a shedding/climbing aid for the geckos as it's themed like a celtic ruin) for most of the color job.

 

[forgivenick]

Having toddlers has helped my mindset on husbandry and materials for the geckos. Anything I wouldn't let my children put in their mouth as toddlers won't go in my gecko enclosure. Better safe than sorry in my opinion.

And before someone asks, no, my children don't get bowls of mealworms placed in front of them, though they have tried to put inverts in their mouths on occasion when they were toddlers playing outside.

 

[jemjdragon]

With wood, also do not get or use one that can release its natural oils or has a strong smell (like cedar). Some woods are also poisonous so make sure that before you buy it check with the store is it is safe to use for making cutting boards for food. Since geckos lick things to check their environment, its good to know what you're getting. My fiance took a furnature design class several times so I can get even more information on wood if you want.

I heard you can use melamine board and have seen tutorials on how to build reptile racks with it, but I would also ask the store if they use nontoxic glues to make the boards. Lots of ikea furniture uses melamine board.

Edit: Some woods also have their own natural chemicals that they release. I can ask my fiance to give me a list of woods that are safe for use as cutting boards (I assume if they can be used in food preparation they should be safe for geckos) and can also ask him is he knows which ones do not release, chemicals, fumes, and oils. =]

 

[meg1877]

Stay away from pine and cedar for sure. There is a whole website on how to make diy hides and stuff on lizardlandscapes.com. this is the sight I used to make my hides but I used mod podge to seal the grout. Alot of my posts are on DIY hides if you want to look at them as well.

 

[mbrown29]

I just bought some tiles from Lowes ($0.88 per 6X6 tile). I had to get a guy at Lowes to cut the tile to size since they don't exactly sell the exact sizes I needed to fit a 10 gallon 20"X10" and painted them with Rust-oleum Stone textured paint and coated with a polyurethane. I'm pretty happy with how it came out . That was the first thing I've DIY-ed for the vivarium. I want more ideas! :-D

Here's a link to Lowes: http://www.lowes.com/pd_396035-13397...sales_dollar|1

Original Tiles:
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...eat=directlink

Stone Textured Paint:
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...eat=directlink

First Coat of Paint: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...eat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...eat=directlink

Second/Last Coat of Paint:
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...eat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...eat=directlink