Racks and Thermostats

Hello all!

I'm making plans to switch my BPs into a rack as I am looking to acquire a Butter, a Mojo, and a Pin within the next couple of years and having a rack will be much more economical. ;) I am fond of the look of RhinoRaxx but I know some people have had some issues with the Boaphile, especially lately. I myself am WELL aware of his customer service issues, but have to admit that if the quality of his racks and cages is anything like the quality of his animals, it would be worth the wait. I also like that they are pre-assembled.

I am also looking at Reptile Basics, and really like their prices and wait time a lot better, but the look of the racks ...not as much. Plus, Boaphile makes 5 shelf racks, which would accommodate the new additions I'm looking into, while I only saw a 4 shelf rack for mid-sized and a 3 shelf for larger snakes on RB.

Thoughts and opinions would be appreciated. :)

Also, would it be better to purchase a rack for adults and then insert smaller tubs for younger snakes? Or just fill the adult size tub with all kinds of goodies to make them more secure?

Final question....do you only need one thermostat per rack? What kind should I get for a 5 shelf rack? And how does probe placement work? I believe you tape the probe to the flexwatt, but how does that monitor the temps with regard to the other shelves? And how does temp differ between levels/how does the thermostat compensate for that? Or how should I?

I realize there are a lot of questions in this post. Any input would be appreciated. I'm just trying to wrap my head around setting the whole thing up. I won't actually be ordering a rack system or buying the animals until probably two years from now. I need to graduate from college and start making some money first. ;) Plus, I need the customs for my boas first. Those girls are growing like crazy! :P I'm hoping to order the customs for them at the end of the year, so that I have them by sometime next year and can start saving for the new BPs. :gj:

Again, thanks for any input! :D

Before ya go any further your gonna find that the majority of people on here are gonna tellbyea aninal plastics for racks and herpstat for thermostat. Now with that said. Any plastic rack your gonna find out there is going to be fine. Proportional or non proportional thermostats will both work. Personally i use freedom breeders and helix and have for years. Thats my preference. Bow for a single plastic rack anything from rhino raxx, vision,aninal plastics etc will work just fine

Reptile basics/ helix

Ve-200 and im buying a reptile basics w/in the next month. Right now theyre in a homeade melamine rack.

Just my 2c....I ordered a Rhinoraxx on 3/16 and just received a FedEx tracking e-mail on 4/12, scheduled to be here on 4-17. Now if it does get here on Tuesday then I got an awesome shipping time.

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

Ve-200 and im buying a reptile basics w/in the next month. Right now theyre in a homeade melamine rack.

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Someone pointed out to me that the herpstats are better than the VE series. I'm getting a x2 thermostat and was going to get the VE-300x2, but was pointed towards the Herpstat and while the VE is much better looking, when comparing them head to head the Herpstat was better Check into it before deciding.

I have two Animal Plastics racks and love them both. Solid construction and quality units and the price is more than reasonable. I have a Helix on the quarantine rack and a Herpstat II on my collection; my choice and any future thermostats would be Herpstats. Helix works fine and is a quality unit but for the features, I prefer the Herpstats.

As to probe placement: yes, most recommendations would be to tape it to the Flexwatt and ensure as tight a seal so it reads accurately. On my 9 slot rack, I have a temperature variation of +/- 2 degrees F or so variation from the bottommost rack slot to the top (say 86 at the top rack and 83 on the bottom generally speaking); that's well within reason to me and my snakes do fine in that environment with the thermostat probe taped in the middle slot of the rack. Hope that helps and good luck with expanding your collection!

Been using RBI IRIS Sweaterbox racks since I made the switch from cages. I've never had a complaint about them.

I've used both Herpstat and VE proportional thermostats and both work great.

I put my baby BPs straight in to the 32 qt tubs and just use extra hides to fill in the space.

all my racks are home built, might step up to some plastic racks in the future but for now they are all work great.
VE200s here, One running 3 1/2 racks(31 28qt tubs total), and another one running my bator;)

In my experience the biggest expense of a rack is the cost of heating the space. If this is not an issue the rack brand is not really important. If the room is cooler an enclosed rack would be better and in a very cool room a well insulated heavy rack. In all fairness racks don't do well in cool spaces I would suggest on heating a humidifying the space and get an open rack that allows lots of ventilation.