Building Tegu Enclosure, need opinions for interior

[nevohraalnavnoj]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to the forums, so I'd like to say thank you in advance for any help you can give. I have been talking to Bobby on the phone about an Arg Chacaon Extreme, but I decided to adopt a normal Argentine female from a friend that really needed a caring home. Chacaon Extreme next year!

I am working on an enclosure for her. Since my living room is black, I decided to paint her enclosure black. Per the recommendations of several people I used a latex based black paint for porches and floors.

Only problem: If I take my fingernail to this black paint it shows a scuff mark quite easily. Since the Tegu's fingernails are 10x mine, she will have it scuffed in no time.

As a solution, I was thinking about doing a vinyl tile on the interior, or even a ceramic tile if I could find one thin enough (but I worry about the weight).

The enclosure is 4Lx2Hx2D. So doing tiles on the interior, without the top, would be 24 square feet (8 bottom + 4 side +4 side + 8 back). So I'm really leaning towards the vinyl for the weight issue.

1) Are there any health concerns with vinyl tile?
2) Are there any health concerns with self-adhesive vinyl tile?
3) If 1) or 2) won't work and I have to go ceramic, what adhesive do you recommend?
4) Or should I try a clear coat over the black paint and skip the tile? MinWax PolyAcrylic?
5) Or should I just leave it black and let her scratch it up to her heart's content?

Thank you for any input! This is really a great forum and I look forward to hearing your experiences.

-JonV

 

[GOT_TEGUS]

nevohraalnavnoj welcome to tegu talk. Bobbys extremes are the Best. Great to hear your adopting a GU.

heres some good info on building cages from RehabRalphy.

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[nevohraalnavnoj]

Got_Tegus,

Thank you for the response. I see that he used an acrylic latex paint, and I used an exterior latex for porches and floors. Maybe this is why I am having so much scuffing.

I am still wondering about the vinyl tiles though, anyone have any experience?

JonV

 

[DaveDragon]

I used sheet vinyl flooring that was on sale. I primed all the wood with Kilz and painted with exterior latex paint.

Here's my enclosures. The only change is I added plexi-glas on the inside to hold in the humidity.

http://www.tegutalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=345

 

[nevohraalnavnoj]

DaveDragon,

I see you used the vinyl flooring about half way up...this is an interesting idea. Did you use self adhesive type or a different type? I was worried that with the high tegu humidity, the flooring adhesive would come undone easily? Thanks!

JonV

 

[DaveDragon]

DaveDragon,

I see you used the vinyl flooring about half way up...this is an interesting idea. Did you use self adhesive type or a different type? I was worried that with the high tegu humidity, the flooring adhesive would come undone easily? Thanks!

JonV

I used vinyl flooring adhesive. It took 4 days to glue to sheet vinyl down in steps because of the design of my enclosures. That stuff isn't going anywhere!!

 

[nevohraalnavnoj]

I used vinyl flooring adhesive. It took 4 days to glue to sheet vinyl down in steps because of the design of my enclosures. That stuff isn't going anywhere!!

Thanks for the information, DaveDragon. I'll look into doing this!

JonV

 

[MIKE-ZILLA]

I use vinyl flooring for the bottom of snake cages,so it should work fine for tegus,but i dont use any adhesives so im not sure about that.

 

[nevohraalnavnoj]

I did some shopping at Lowe's and another store today. They recommend double sided tape for all sheet vinyl. Do you think this will hold in high humidity? I could also add a couple staples to fasten it?

Thanks for any input,

JonV

 

[DaveDragon]

I'd go to a different Lowe's!! What a bunch of hacks!

If you don't run the vinyl up the sides of the enclosure (above the level of your mulch), water will get under it and rot the wood. You could use staples but that would provide a place for water to seep through. The cheaper sheet vinyl is only a thin layer of vinyl with a heavy paper backing. The paper will soak up any water, get mushy and mold. You need to fully seal any edges to keep the water out. I think ours would hold water.

 

[nevohraalnavnoj]

DaveDragon,

Thanks for the help thus far. I checked Lowes and Menards (basically another version of Lowes).

I spoke with 3 people at the different locations, and it seems industry standard is this double sided tape. It's commercial grade, not like Scotch tape or anything. For whatever reason they don't recommend adhesive but they said one could use it if you wanted. The vinyl I'm looking at is very good quality, thick plastic all the way through, no paper backing. It's supposedly warrantied for 15 years, although I don't think that's versus Tegu's.

So my idea is to do do the sides and bottom with double sided tape on the perimeter of each vinyl panel. Put a few staples at the very top for extra securement. Then, use a silicon sealer to seal the whole thing: sides, top, and bottom.

The enclosure itself has layers of paint on it, so it is already sealed against moisture. This would be a seal at the vinyl level and then another underneath it with the existing layers of paint.

What do you think?

JonV

 

[DaveDragon]

It sounds easier than adhesive. I glued the paper backing to the wood. I'd guess the glue wouldn't stick as well to the vinyl.

Our Tegu's haven't been able to make any scratches in the cheap vinyl I have, your's should last forever!

 

[nevohraalnavnoj]

That's one thing they said about that adhesive. It's designed to prevent horizontal movement, but not really from peeling the vinyl up and away from the surface it's bonded to. In that respect, some tape and a few staples might be the way to go.

I just bought the vinyl, it has a little bit of a rubber smell to it. Should I let it sit in the enclosure and bake for a week or so to get rid of this smell? Or is it a non-issue?

Thanks Dave!

 

[DaveDragon]

My enclosures are built in 2 sections. I build the bottom first so the vinyl has probably 2 weeks before anything lives in it.