Is styrofoam safe?

[bonesmama]

I'm in the process of setting up a new enclosure for my avic, and haven't been able to find any corkbark. The terrarium came with a styrofoam wall that matches a waterfall I got, and it will look great once I have it all together, but I was concerned about using the styrofoam.

 

[wicked]

Did you get the exo-terra? I have the 12"x12"x18" exo terra tank for my pink toe. I wondered about the formed styrofoam back too but used it anyway. No problems so far and on the plus side the crickets use it to climb to the top and my pink toe pounces on them once they get there.

What kind of waterfall did you find? I still haven't found one for my tank.

 

[Code Monkey]

Styrofoam is inert and unless you do something like heat it up or pour acid on it to make it release toxic gasses it will be fine. In nature, termites and carpenter ants love the stuff for forming galleries in.

 

[bonesmama]

Thanks- I figured it was okay, but I'd rather be safe than sorry! I got the same tank as you, Wicked- they're so cool! I bought a small exo-terra waterfall, it was the smallest I could find. I ordered it from www.exoticlizards.com. With the shipping AND pump, it was only $1 -something more than the local petstores want for just the waterfall! I'm waiting for some plants to establish themselves before I move her in,though.
Have you posted a pic of your setup?

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

Styrofoam is inert and unless you do something like heat it up or pour acid on it to make it release toxic gasses it will be fine. In nature, termites and carpenter ants love the stuff for forming galleries in.

Now, that's interesting. A long time ago, (70's) I read a fiction book, that described this behaviour in honey bees. At the time I blew it off as a plot device, but now I'm thinking there must have been something to it.

I'm guessing that the results would be durable. I assume that the ants and termites process the styrofoam in the same way they do wood or cellulose, whichever the case may be? I'm not altogether sure how that is done, but I assume it is thru chewing the material and mixing it with their saliva or something like that.

 

[Code Monkey]

I'm guessing that the results would be durable. I assume that the ants and termites process the styrofoam in the same way they do wood or cellulose, whichever the case may be? I'm not altogether sure how that is done, but I assume it is thru chewing the material and mixing it with their saliva or something like that.

Nothing so sophisticated. Carpenter ants don't eat wood or styrofoam, they simply excavate their homes in it. Termites in this case are doing the same.

Modern construction slaps Tyvec or similar foam board on the outside of a house frame and then puts some sort of veneer up over it. If, as most builders do, they carry the foam board into the soil it makes a great way for the termites to enter.

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

Ah, so they don't make their homes out of styrofoam, but IN styrofoam.
Oh well, it's still an interesting fact. It's just not, as you said, as sophisticated. Thanks for the clarification!

 

[wicked]

Help pinktoe ID


Hope this works, my first attempt at trying to insert a link. I won't hold my breath.
If the link shows up it 'should' take you to the thread I posted my setup in.

 

[PinkLady]

Our exo terra tank came with the styro at the back too...we were told to take it out incase our T got stuck behind it due to the type of T we housed in it but if we left it in it would not harm the T...we decided to take it out....the T that would put in the tank is named Bytch..need I say anymore..lol Those tanks are my fav by far.

 

[Thoth]

If you want to increase the durability of your styrofoam pieces so they'd last, you can get fiberglass resin epoxy from any hardware store and put one or two thin coats on the piece of styrofoam. (Its a two part resin similiar in principle to what bonesmama uses to make cool exuvium displays). It'll dry quite hard. If you're of a creative/artistic bend you can use this method to make various forms from styrofoam and coat with the resin.

In addition to what Code Monkey said avoid having it come in contact with acetone, alcohol, or any other organic solvent. It'll dissolve the styroform into pile of goop. (Though a fun past time in the lab was to break the styrofoam into the individual balls and drop them into a tube of acetone and what them dissolve, eventually we'd end up with a tube of putty-like polystyrene which dried into a hard translucent plastic.)