Animal Plastics, Economy Rack questions!

Hey Guys!

So I figured I might as well get a 4/8 rack.

I found Animal Plastics and looks like most everyone loves their quality of work.

I just had a couple questions:

I am using zilla temperature controllers for each of my tubs, will one of them work for the entire rack? Would it matter where I put the temperature probe?

Also, my room temperature can get as low as 55 degrees, would it be smart to ask them to have a 2nd row of heat tape in the front area and have the cool side heated to 80 degrees for the cool spot?

How well does humidity keep in the Economy racks?

Thanks!

IMO, I wouldn't use an economy rack in a cool room. There's nothing to insulate those tubs. Actually, I'm not so sure I'd use a fully enclosed rack in a room that cool, either. Your animals may have a hot spot to lie directly on, but that heat tape isn't going to be able to warm the air in them enough to make *that* much of a difference. Have you thought about adding a heater to the room to bump those temps up?

AP economy racks have a slot in the shelves for your probe. I put the probe right in the middle of the rack. I'm not sure if your controller will work, as I have no experience with it. Maybe someone else will have.

AP racks keep humidity just fine.

Anyone ever think about using some sort of plastic board to cover the voids? This would fully enclose the rack? You could even put some sort of insulation between the voids and board to help the ambient heat even more?

Even if you enclosed the rack with something, I still wouldn't keep it in a room that gets that cold. My Boaphile rack is fully enclosed and I would not trust it to hold good temps with ambient temps outside the rack any lower than 65 and that is pushing it. I try to keep the temp outside the racks at least 70 in the winter and that will keep my cool side in the tubs at 74.

Edit: Also, humidity in racks is not a problem. You will usually start with the humidity to high and drill holes to bring it down to where it needs to be.

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Originally Posted by oskyle1567

Anyone ever think about using some sort of plastic board to cover the voids? This would fully enclose the rack? You could even put some sort of insulation between the voids and board to help the ambient heat even more?

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or you could just buy one of their fully enclosed racks. By the time you buy the materials needed to enclose a economy rack you would have paid pretty much the same amount as a fully enclosed rack of the same size from AP.

Would it work? Yes it would (under reasonable temperatures: 55 is way too low. I don't think any type of rack will work in temperatures that low), but not worth it in my opinion.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bfirecat

Hey Guys!

So I figured I might as well get a 4/8 rack.

I found Animal Plastics and looks like most everyone loves their quality of work.

I just had a couple questions:

I am using zilla temperature controllers for each of my tubs, will one of them work for the entire rack? Would it matter where I put the temperature probe?

Also, my room temperature can get as low as 55 degrees, would it be smart to ask them to have a 2nd row of heat tape in the front area and have the cool side heated to 80 degrees for the cool spot?

How well does humidity keep in the Economy racks?

Thanks!

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A economy rack isn't going to work for you, and just trying to add a second strip of flexwatt isn't going to do enough to fix your issue. Flexwatt does not greatly change the air temperature in the tubs. even if you can get part of the tub floor to 90 degrees, and the rest to 80 degrees the air temperature in the tubs is going to be too cold. If you are really wanting a rack, you will need to heat the room that it is in with something like an oil filled heater to at least 75 degrees.

Your best bet would be to get a PVC cage (I prefer the Animal Plastics T8 and heat the cage with a Radiant Heat Panel)

Here is a thread I wrote on PVC cages:http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...With-Pictures!

If my snake room went down to 55 for part of the year, I'd seriously consider switching to corn snakes.

Sorry, I was typing too quickly. Coolest it usually gets is 65 degrees, usually around 70ish.

65 is much more reasonable, but still very cold. I still think that the economy rack isn;t going to cut it with out heating at least part of the room 10 degrees or so. A enclosed rack from Animal Plastics or a PVC cage stack would still be much better options.

I have a rack in a cool room mine doesn't get as cool as your is. My advise is don't use a rack. Yes a second flexwatt will help but it is likely you will need upper and lower controllers too as the heat loss is so great. That is four for the rack and then you would need to control the ambient air temps mine in the mid 60s I have been able to use directed airflow to lift the air temp to the high 70s but if you think it is edu think again. It took me 6 months of altering the air flow to manage it. (no snakes all that time). Racks work best in 80 rooms when you get away from this it causes issues. Properly ventilated it will sit to the room humidity anyway so humidity is the same as the room anyway. That can by solved with a humidifier.


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