Building a rack question

[ARBallMorphs]

hey everyone,

I got 2 racks at home that i build myself and they are functioning great.

Now i need to make a new rack with bigger tubs, i have watched some youtube clips on making your own rack and some racks have open sides while the racks i made are only open in the front.

This made me wonder is it no problem for your ball pythons the sides are open too? i was thinking that they may feel less secure?

I am asking this as making them with the open sides seems alot easier, faster and cheaper to do.

so any advice and idea's on the matter are welcome

[hungba]

I am asking this as making them with the open sides seems alot easier, faster and cheaper to do.

That's wht I built all mine with open sides. If you want more insulation or security you can always add a sheet of lightweight material like styrofoam or cork to the sides later.

[Tsanford]

My first melamine rack was completely enclosed on all sides but the front, my second and third racks were all xpvc with open sides.

The only difference I have found would be heating, and humidity depending on if its open or closed air / tub design. The enclosed design holds heat better. But if you have an oil filled heater in your snake room then no issues there.

[ARBallMorphs]

Hey thanks to you both, The rack will be a closed air design so humidity shouldn't be a problem, i do not really have enough snakes to heath the whole room i guess only got 9 at the moment, but it never gets cooler then 72 F in the room so i guess that combined with the heath mats would be enough, wont it?

[kitedemon]

You only need a couple of degrees ambient to be ok. 74ºF is ok for ambients. so it should be fine even on the odd occasion below that is fine but it becomes an issue if it is for extended periods.

I would advise to use the best material possible. The amount of time and effort you put in has to be worth something. I personally would avoid melamine, it is cheap, not water resistant, hydroscopic (absorbs water vapour), has potential off gassing issues, is not overly strong, is overly heavy. The only positive is it is cheap. Almost any material IMO is superior.

[C2tcardin]

You can close the sides for about $32 a rack. I have built 2 racks and closed the sides and back with 1/4 inch birch plywood sheets for $10 each from Lowes. On one I painted them green and on the other black. The nice thing about this design is 4 to maybe 6 screws are needed for each side and can be removed quickly to get more access to the rack, such as moving the temp probe etc.

[Daigga]

Mine are an open design, but I heat my room to around mid 80s for an ambient temp in addition to the 90 hotspot. I don't have any issues keeping humidity up (I have a few holes drilled in all my tubs) and for the most part my snakes eat pretty constantly. I've been having some issues in the last month, but I'm thinking those are more about not having live feeders on hand, my male being off food for breeding season, and my big female getting ready to lay over not feeling secure

[ARBallMorphs]

Ok great, thanks for the input! I build the other 2 racks with that melamine and i have no problems with them so far but if i wont use melamine then what should i use? I have no idea how to work with pvc (i am not really your average do it self building things) and i do not have some awesome shed with 100's of tools and stuff.

[kitedemon]

Plywood works, it is far stronger pound for pound, has far less off gassing issues, higher water resistance.

PVCx is easy to work with it maybe cut or shaped with typical wood working tools (with GOOD ventilation) just at slower speeds. It doesn't sand well however, files or rasps are better. It can easily be fastened with mechanical fastenings (screws) gluing it is more difficult but not impossible. I would actually use rabbits and screws so it can be disassembled if needed.

Metal tubing could be used as well. There are no limits melamine on particle board (like what is used in cheap cabinets) is a poor material, if you are a wood worker you already know this.

[ARBallMorphs]

Ok thanks a lot!