3 Bay Enclosure construction material

[OldestMagician]

I'm just looking for some advice on a build. I'm in the early planning stages of a 3 bay enclosure for my snakes which I'll be starting in March (when I move) and I'm trying to decide on what I should build it out of.

I like the idea of solid pine for aesthetic reasons and for durability, but I'm aware it'll be much more expensive than building it out of MDF. I'm hoping someone can give me some rough idea of what price I'm looking out if I build out of solid pine, and where I'm best off sourcing the timber from.

Here's the design I have scribbled down at the moment. Obviously measurements will change depending on widths of timber etc.

 

[Djbowker]

I just built three three bay enclosures.
They're 1.8 x 900 x 600 x 16mm.
The black melamine cost $125 per enclosure, from bunnings.

 

[Djbowker]

 

[OldestMagician]

That's a good price. It looks great too. The only problem with melamine is that I'm going to have to move it within a year after building it and will undoubtedly chip it.
Plus I like the idea of a stained enclosure. So I've got to weigh up the price difference between MDF + plywood or solid pine.

 

[bdav70]

Stained enclosures look amazing I sprung for a small 2-footer for that fact. Reasonable price jump I'd imagine for that scale


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[Kelton22]

Not to jump in and be a downer on the while thing....

But isn't pine toxic for reptiles? I thought it contained a lot of naturally occurring pesticides.

 

[OldestMagician]

From what I've read pine shavings are dangerous because they have such a huge surface area. Plus I'll be sealing any bare wood on the inside