First time DIYer

I am thinking about building a custom reptile enclosure for my bearded dragon. She is quickly outgrowing her 40B and for the cost of online cages not to mention the wait time to get one I could easily purchase materials and do this myself.

I am planning to build one similar to what Boamaster puts out with a screen top and front opening door using .22" acrylic. However instead of melamine I will be using 1/2" Birch furniture grade plywood. I know I will need to paint the interior with something to make it moisture resistant and am wondering if Flex seal would be a good choice? My understanding is it is basically liquid rubber.

Anyone have any plans or past experiences with cage building? I am thinking about something in the dimensions of 45"Lx24"Wx22"H

It's a good idea to build your own so you can customize it. The birch sounds really nice. I'd probably just put a few coats of polyurethane over the wood and let it be. I'd also build it nice and tall so you can build in some climbing branches and still have plenty of room for lighting. If you put the lights on the outside it will make more room but you could make it a bit taller and mount them inside as well.

Im definitely going to put the lights on the outside...she does like to climb so I need my heat lamps out of the tank. I will have a 36" HOT5 UV inside but those don't really get hot enough to burn her.

Would the Flex Seal be a negative for her health? I am mainly looking into something black to show off her coloration more. I also have a lot of brown items such as the many grapewood logs I have acquired for her.

I am kind of apprehensive about building something as I never have before. I don't want it to look bad...but I am just not finding anything which will fit my space or budget. I would like to keep this between $300-400 and most cage builders want a crazy amount or the tops arent screened.

I will admit the Boamaster cages are about perfect for my needs but he has been non resposive to emails and I have heard horror stories of people waiting forever to get anything. I figure with this I may be better off trying to build my own.

I can also purchase all materials I need including a saw for the low end of my budget.

I haven't used flex seal but from what I'm reading it looks like it's pretty similar to polyurethane which isn't harmful when it's dry. I would just make sure it doesn't peel or flake because if it is eaten it could be problematic. The T5 will be fine inside the tank. It should sit about 12'' above the main basking site for best results.

Thanks! She only eats from bowls put I will keep a watch out.

Is there a special type of Polyurethane I should use if I opt to go that route?

I just finished a build, and I used no VOC interior latex paint. Seems good. VOC is volatile organic compounds.

Polyurethane is okay, but it does have toxins. You will need to let it dry for weeks if you use it on the interior.

I got my paint really cheap too. I just went to Home Depot and got those little sample sizes, and I actually got them for 50 cents each because they were "used". Even at full price it's only about $3.00 per container.

I have a 16 square foot viv and it was plenty to paint it. I used no VOC latex primer on the inside first. 1 quart.