Rodent racks.......

Several months ago I built a combination mouse / rat rack. The mouse tubs are large Petmate cat pans and the six rat tubs are the jumbo Petmate cat pans. The mouse tubs were for growing out and overflow as my original mouse rack just can't handle the output from my mice. I was only planning on breeding rats on a limited basis, but that idea has flown out the window.

After several months the six rat tubs are just NOT enough so I built a new rat rack.

I worked on this new rack for a little bit each day last week in between cleaning snake, mouse and rat tubs as well as working on two new 28qt snake racks I'm building. I finished this rack today.

First a pic of my original mouse rack. I did not build this, but bought it used...

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/...ack3262011.jpg

Second here is a pic of the combination mouse / rat rack. I have decided to revamp this rack. I will be taking each level off one at a time, replacing the 1/4 inch hardware cloth with 1/2 inch and will be using the large tubs for birthing / grow out for rats. I will still be using the jumbo tubs for breeding rats. Anyway here it is.......

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/...-58-33_936.jpg

And finally pics of the new rat rack...

Front view...
http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/...k102320111.jpg

Side view...
http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/...k102320112.jpg


I used 2x3's rather than 2x2's for two reasons...

1. The 2x2's that were available were complete garbage
2. The 2x3's were cheaper.

I thought about using 2x4's and ripping them into 2x2's, but one 2x4 cost the same as two 2x3's. Using 2x3's gave me a stronger rack.

I used cement mixing tubs from Home Depot. I also installed 2 1/2 inch hard rubber casters to make it easier to move the rack around.

Let me know what you all think.

Larry

Looks good and ripping the 2x4s would just add unnecessary work. I tried it and it's a pain. Looks like it will hold plenty of weight :) I like it. I'm getting ready to expand my rat production and I'm going to start making my racks from all steel.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Amon Ra Reptiles

Looks good and ripping the 2x4s would just add unnecessary work. I tried it and it's a pain. Looks like it will hold plenty of weight :) I like it. I'm getting ready to expand my rat production and I'm going to start making my racks from all steel.

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Sounds complicated. Going to share? :please:

Not as complicated as you might think really. Basically they will be the same design only I will be using 3/4"x3/4"x1/8" thick angle iron for most of the rack and the legs and I'll be using a 14ga steel mesh in place of hardware cloth. It will naturally cost more in materials but they will last essentially forever and of course won't be chewable. Right now we are running 32 tubs but with the steel racks I will go up to 120 tubs. Not counting the cost of the tubs I will be at around 1400.00 worth of steel at current prices. Sounds high but they will basically be very similar to freedom breeders racks and 1400.00 is WAY cheaper than 120 tubs of freedom breeders.