Question by Ivy: building a leopard gecko tank, what woods are safe to use with geckos?
my dad is going to build me a leopard gecko tank, its going to have solid wood sides and bottom with a solid glass front with hinges for a door and a screen top. so i’m just wondering what wood is safe to use with leopard geckos?
and my dad is a very good builder, so far he’s biult 4 log beds, and small coat closet with doors at the bottom, and just built me a nice mouse rack, and plenty more things, so the cage will be sturdy and safe. and he has alot of wood and fish tanks are super expensive for the size that i want, he has pine wood right now, its not treated, he cuts it down himself, its been dried, it doesn’t have sap in it or anything, so its not sticky, and no bugs.
i’m pretty sure that if he puts a coat of stain on it, when it heats up, i think the fumes might kill the geckos, but i’m not sure if it makes fumes when hot, so if you can tell me if its okay to use that or not, but we prob won’t use it anyways, it doesn’t need to look all fancy.
will linseed oil do anything, i want it to be waterproof so when i mist them it doesn’t soak up the water. but i don’t want to hurt my geckos. i plan on breeding my geckos as soon as i get a male enigma so that’s whole point of a bigger tank. (i need no education on morphs and breeding geckos
so save your breath, i dont want to nor do i need to hear it, i’ve done all my research and will be buying an incubator)
so please just answer my question, it’d be nice to start building as soon as possible. :)
Best answer:
Answer by Sam
It shouldn’t matter what kind of wood your going to use if the wood won’t be touching the gecko. I wouldn’t put any finishing coatings on the wood just to be on the safe side!! If you were to use wood for the shelter and caves in the tank you’d be better off to use fake wood! It way easier to clean because it won’t splinter and the sink/tub your cleaning it in won’t get a bunch of wood pieces in it! It’s also safer for the gecko!
Hope you can get the tank together and get a happy, healthy gecko! Good Luck! :)
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2 Responses
aspen should be fine. I know pine and cedar are deadly to my blue tonuges. If you use pine I would put glass on the inside on all sides so you can still SEE the wood but not touch it on the inside.. besides wood tends to mold and absorb moisture.
You will want to look into building a “CrossFire Enclosure”. These are very common amongst Bearded Dragon Keepers. I built a double stacked unit this summer/fall with my dad, the top unit was for my bearded dragons, and the bottom unit was for my Cane Toads.
Good woods to use are Birch, Oak, and Maple Plywoods. People also use MDF/Melamine, and Pine. Pine will have to be painted or sealed in order to use it, especially anything inside where the animal will be living.
We used Birch Plywood in 1/2″ thickness. A lot of people recommend using 3/4″, but we went with the 1/2 inch instead and reinforced the edges with some Douglas Fir. This helped cut down on the weight of the unit significantly and it is still just as sturdy.
Because I had a dessert animal in one tank, and a tropical animal in another tank, I wanted to get a sealant that would be able to take the heat and the moisture. I found a product called “Enviro Epoxy”. It is great stuff. It is supposed to be used to decoratively seal concrete floors. It’s environmentally friendly, there is almost no fumes when it is wet, and once it cures there is no smell at all. We did 3-4 coats on the inside of the tanks.
They sell a similar product at Home Depot, but I have not tried that one, so I can’t say weather or not it is good/safe to use.
I know that you said that you don’t want to hear anything about breeding, but you might be interested in this:
Instead of buying an incubator, you could build your own. Lots of people convert old coolers, fish tanks, fridges, stand up freezers, mini bar fridges, etc…
You could also build one out of wood too:
You will need some ply wood and some polystyrene foam (the pink or blue insulating foam from the hardware store would be best, but any kind will do.
Bascially you want to have thick foam, 2″ and have your plywood on either side of the foam. This is how you will build each “side” of the incubator.
You will be able to custom build the incubator with as many shelves that you need.