looking into building or buying a rack

[sneakysnake611]

hey all,

new here. been in the hobby for about 10 years. ive had many red tail boas and ball pythons, when I first got into the hobby back then. life happened and I had to find new homes for them. now I am back in the game. I have however always kept my first ball pythons
"sneaky snake" he is 11 years old. he is a normal from Bob Clark. I got him from the NARBC in Arlington, tx in 2007.

I am wanting to get back into having a few more snakes and am looking at building a rack or buying one. ive got the tools and handyman skills. its more of do I have the time and patience to build one.

my BP has been in a 30Lx12Wx18H glass cage since ive had him 10 years ago, eats great never had any problems with him nor has he been sick. extremely tame. I am wanting a rack system for probably 3 or 4 snakes.

but ive got a few questions

how much gap is between the tubs and the top of the next shelf when you build it? I'm wanting to go lidless

is it possible for them to slide the tub and escape?

id also like for the cage to be convertible or at least be able to house a small snake that can grow into the rack system. I'm not sure if a divider is best or what to do.

I'm wanting to aquire a pied and a banana in the near future. I don't have any plans on breeding, just collecting.

[JHPythons]

You could try something like what i did, and buy a plastic shelving unit from home depot and cut all the vertical pipes according to the height of the tubs. I set mine up so the first two shelves house 6 quart tubs, the bottom two shelves hold 28-41 quart tubs....the height is one inch taller between the two. the problem with the home depot rack is you have to insulate the shelves with some sort of reflective shielding to hold in the heat... without it the heat goes everywhere but the tub.

The snakes will not escape or slide the tub...nuff said. I put holes on the side of the tubs for ventilation...some slide lose and others are a little tighter but it all works fine.

I plan on building an all adult rack with melamine and some basic siding to simply hold the shelves. tons of DIY videos on youtube.

You can just buy one made from PVC and they are nice but cost double or even triple the cost. but they come with everything you need. animalplastics.com sells one i almost bought.

Hope some of this helps...im still learning as I go. I think there are some picks of mine under my profile to see what it looked like before i realized i would need to insulate it.

[sneakysnake611]

hey, thank you for your reply.

I am going to use sterlite most likely as they are easy to obtain and cheap.

I do have concerns as I was looking into installing maybe a 41q or two, if I install them longways then the heat tape will be covering more area in the tub than if I installed the 41 deep. and also the sides of the 41 sterilite seem kinda flimsy that a big female could push and flex it with it running sideways towards the front. and also almost eliminating a hot and cool end... thoughts?

...brainstorming...

[AKA Dave]

When I build my racks I set them up for lidless Sterilite tubs, just like what you are planning. I designed them with a gap at the top 3/32 of an inch. Plenty of ventilation and I don't have excessive humidity issues. Never has an escape either. I've housed snakes as large as 2200g in them and never had any issue with them pushing their tubs out.

Dave

[sneakysnake611]

You had them set up longways?

How did you run the heat tape?

Do sterilite change their tub sizes often?

Have you ever had to replace a tub?

[SerGregor]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtPgK8jj9PU

This is a pretty good one. You can get the Azek at most home improvement places. Just have to call around.

[AKA Dave]

You had them set up longways?

How did you run the heat tape?

Do sterilite change their tub sizes often?

Have you ever had to replace a tub?

Your answers in the order the questions were asked.


Sometimes. Usually they go into the rack the long way, but I have some 28qts the slot in sideways so I can slot two 16qt tubs above it. Same footprint.

Depends. Sometimes I run back heat. Others I run a long strip and weave it though from shelf to shelf for belly heat. Each works fine in my experience. I have both and clients have both as well.

Not the I'm aware of. I have seen differences between tubs depending on where you get them. For example, the Walmart 28qt is not the same as the Target/Home Depot 28qt.

Nope.

Dave

[cchardwick]

Personally I'd go for an ARS rack system, the rack that the pros use. You'd probably put a bit more into an ARS rack system but when you sell it you'll get way more than a home made rack system. Plus you'll have access to different kinds of tubs - grey, clear, transparent, no cup holder, with cup holder, etc. You can go with an ARS-7010 and just buy the levels you want. They run $100 per level, big enough for the biggest ball pythons. I like the versatility of the rack system too, I have a modified ARS rack system with several rows of ARS-7030 and several rows of ARS-8018, they actually stack right on top of each other. And I have the wheel base too so I can easily move it around the room. The ARS-7030 system is actually cheaper per tub, it's $200 per level ($200 per level with three tubs instead of $100 with one tub). If I were you I'd get two levels of ARS-7030 with a wheel base. You can always add on later.

With an ARS rack system you'll never have to worry about proper ventilation or snakes sliding out the tubs. I keep even the smallest snakes in ARS-7030 tubs with no problems at all and they can grow up into adults in the same tub, I just can't keep as many small snakes since the big tubs take up so much room. I don't have dividers or hides and my baby ball pythons do great and eat frozen thawed twice a week.

Here's a few photos, ARS-7010 on top, ARS-7030, and my snake room and rack in the back that holds 20 snakes.

[sneakysnake611]

I dont plan to have a ton of snakes i may plan on breeding down the road. But as of now im getting back into collecting. I just picked up the materials to build either a 3 or 4 tall 28q/12q rack. What size heat tape should i run? 3 or 4 inch?