Styrofoam vivarium insert questions

[tims95]

Building a 4'x2'x2' wooden vivarium for female gecko (s) and had some questions about materials
1. What kind of stain will work for the wood that wont harm the animals?
2. What kind of paint for the inserts?
3. Safe to glue sand and moss to the insert?
4. What are good cutting/shaping tools?
5. Caves. I want to make a lot of tunnels and caves, will this be safe? or confuse/stressful possibly?
Any other advice is helpfull

 

[tims95]

Also want to use live plants. And is styrofoam able to hold water that wont be harmful?

 

[shawn101]

Crickets eat styrofoam. Can't use it.

 

[tims95]

Mealworms. Or drylok> paint> glued substrate

 

[orbela]

1. I forgot but there is a chemical in a type of paint. I know oil base paint you can't use.
2. For the styrofoam insert use grout to give a natural look. There are different types of grout/color. Or you could mix it with paint to get the right color.
3. To glue the sand you can use sealant or mix it with grout or I seen use people place the grout then place the sand on top let it dry with remove the loose sand.
4. There is a thin shaping tool or can use any tool that fit slicing at angles.
5. As long as you are able to remove the top for cleaning .

 

[tims95]

Figured out the oil based paint myself, melted the styrofoam, but added a very nice ceiling look! (Stalagtites) and thank you for the advice, will try the grout!