Paint & Varnish

[Yann]

Hi guys, gals and snake addicts...

What varnish or paint would you use inside your enclosures...?
Thought about painting homemade bits and bobs for our MD and varnish over...
Heard that lead based stuff isn't good.. Just wondering if there is a particular paint/brand I should be looking at...

Thanks a lot.
Yann.

[Chimera]

Water based paints are your best bet, the fumes will clear quicker and more completely.

Most water based lacquers are fine however if you want to paint the inside of your enclosure white or another colour then the best I've found is Dulux Aquanamel. I've used that on the inside of a couple of my enclosures and found that if you do a quick sand job and put on 2 coats, almost anything will wipe off with a damp paper towel.

One thing to keep in mind when sealing all parts of the inside of an enclosure is that rough parts are harder to clean but can be required for the snake to start it's shed. Generally I'd say anything that can't be removed from the enclosure should be sealed to a point where it is easy to clean, whereas anything removable can be soaked and scrubbed for cleaning and should be left rough

[Pythons Rule]

I've just finished painting my next cage for my Capie and I used a white water base plaint British Paint I found it dries ver quick in a matter of 15 minutes and its one of the cheeper brands its just as good as dulux wash and wear the reason its cheeper is because it is a Bunnings made product. you should only need about 500mls - 1 ltr to do your job it goes very far.

cheers jody

[asis]

I used Bondall marine grade varnish on my most recent enclosure/s. Its oil based though and takes a while to dry (recomends 24 hrs between coats) smell hangs around for a week too. Many of the water based varnishes are for interior use only, ie not made to be wet etc

[cement]

I use polyurethane, Cabots CFP. Its for floors. But then I'm a builder and have this left over.
But it is the ultimate hard wearing clear gloss finish. Just give yourself time to air the job out well before the snake goes in. Couple of weeks and your fine.

[asis]

I used satin, a bit less glare than full gloss

[Yann]

Thank you very much every one for your posts...

Should I use the same kind of paint/varnish for the accesories inside the tank...?
My wife made the hide and a few more bits and bobs out of papier-mache...
Or would basic acrylic paint do the job...?

[Pythons Rule]

yes most defenitly make sure its not oil based though

[slim6y]

Why can't you use linseed oil (and turps mixture) as a varnish?

Firstly it's low toxicity when the turps evaporates off and secondly leaves a beautiful finish.

I personally haven't used it, but can't see why you wouldn't be able to. I'm all happy to be proved wrong if someone has reason to believe so!

[gosforddreaming]

what ever paint you use for the inside make sure its washable and scrubable , then you should have no dramas, and i like to let it sit unused for a week or two just so the paint goes off...

[Chimera]

Originally Posted by gosforddreaming

what ever paint you use for the inside make sure its washable and scrubable , then you should have no dramas, and i like to let it sit unused for a week or two just so the paint goes off...

Generally a good idea to give it a good scrub once it has sat to remove any final residues (but this is obvious)