Bamboo flooring

[tupinambisfamiliaris]

I'm finishing up an enclosure for my growing baby blue. It's all but done. I have a bulit-in hide under the floor and black tile covering most of it. I'm down to what I want to cover the walls with on the inside. I've used some high-grade materials so far, so I want something both safe and attractive. Most of the cage is made of oak or poplar (real heavy). I stained the outside and coated it with polyurethane.

I need to cover the inside posts and back wall with something. They are the only pine components. I can either just coat it with water-based seal, tile it like the floor, or use bamboo flooring which is beautiful. Any reason not to use the flooring? Do I still need to seal the pine if I cover it in a safer material? Is there anything unsafe about floor-grade bamboo? Please help. I want to finish this thing tomorrow. Thanks.

Any reason to worry about oak or poplar as with pine? I'd assumed not, just asking.

 

[Pikey]

bamboo would be real nice, but yes still seal the pine and any other wood in side the cage (ever the bamboo)

bamboo doest rot as fast as the rest of the wood will, but it does swell up
(and can push apart ur cage at the seams)

 

[tupinambisfamiliaris]

Hey Pikey. I totally ripped of your underfloor hide concept from The Tegu.com. I liked your cage a lot.

 

[tupinambisfamiliaris]

Also, the bamboo is coated by the manufacturer. It's very smooth.

 

[Pikey]

ok then it's "Pre" sealed

i was thinking wow this guy had the same idea (did you do heating under the tile in the hide too?)

PS i cant wait to see your cage
& i'll be posting pics on the 4x2x4 cage w/ storage soon here & on the tegu

 

[tupinambisfamiliaris]

4x2x4? Your cage looked a heck of a lot bigger than that. I thought it was an 8x4. Mine's a 6x2x3. I know a guy who builds houses and I had him do most of the framing and such. I'm not using the heated floor. I'm using a Mega Ray 160 plus I have 2 more sockets for floods if needed. I want to see how hot it gets before I load it up with heating devices. I already have a space heater in my lizard room that keeps the ambient at a pretty steady 75-80F. I also put the vents on the sides instead of the back.

I lucked into the bamboo. I went to Lowe's with my builder buddy and there was a stack of loose flooring in the aisle. The stuff was marked at 77 bucks a box. It was at least 2 boxes of loose bamboo just sitting there. My friend sees the manager and sneakily tells him that we'll give him 30 bucks for the stack. I laughed thinking the manager would tell him to get bent. I was wrong. He went and got a cart, loaded it up for us, and we walked out with 150 bucks worth of high grade flooring for 30 and change. An absolute steal.

 

[Pikey]

o it is 8x4 (thats the trios cage)
i'm finishing on for my li'l one thats 4x2x4
(sorry didn't meen to confuse you)

hell of a deal on the bamboo

the acrylic sheets would have cost me about $60... i got them both for $6 (cuz they were in the scrap stack at lowes)