Building viv, need help with the wood!

[apndi]

Hi everyone,

My dad is helping me build a viv that is 48" L x 20" H x 24" W. We're making it out of wood. Now, one thing to know...my dad doesn't know anything about beardies, and I don't know anything about hardware, building, etc. We went to Home Depot today to buy some building supplies; he selected some sanded plywood and got it cut. On the drive home I was doing some research on building vivs to get some ideas and apparently plywood is made out of multiple different types of wood? I have no clue about any of this wood/hardware stuff, like I said. But apparently plywood can contain pine and cedar? Isn't pine and cedar bad for beardies? If so, is there any way I can paint and seal the wood to make it safe or is the wood useless now? My dad is now extremely angry that he paid for this plywood and got it cut only for it to be potentially useless, but like I said, I had absolutely no clue and thought the plywood would be fine. I had tried to mention melamine to him because I knew a lot of people use that for their vivs, but he said he had never heard of melamine and kind of blew it off. Please help!

**EDIT: I managed to find the wood we bought on Home Depot's website. According to their website, it is hardwood plywood, which is what we want right? I am about to leave to get some water-based polyurethane to seal it; is there anything else I should apply to the wood to make it safe? How long should the sealant sit for before it's safe? Thanks!

 

[apndi]

I've decided that as long as the wood is sealed (which I would've done regardless of wood type) and left to sit for a bit, it should be fine. I decided to paint the wood white (inside and outside) as I like the clean look. I painted it white with a white primer (zero VOCs, and I'm too lazy to actually buy white paint lol) and I'm currently in the process of sealing it with water-based polyacrylic. However, I'm kind of worrying if I'll eventually get bored of the plain white on the inside walls, but I have no clue how I would attach a background to the wood and how I would keep him from ruining it (he likes the paint the walls ). I also want to create a basking shelf with the leftover wood and attach it to the wall in one of the back corners, but how would I attach it to the background without destroying it? I'm guessing a background is out of the question, oh well. How can I attach the basking shelf to the wall in a way that's safe for my beardie; can I just use silicone? Will the silicone hold up to basking temps? Thanks for any input.