Rack Question

I was wondering if it was cheaper to make your rack or buy one from somewhere?

All depends on the materials you use, where you buy it from, etc. we chose to make our own. We do have open sided racks, which I know not many "pros" don't prefer them but I love em :) I think the snakes appreciate the constant air flow.

You can build a rack yourself cheaper than you could ever buy a professionally made rack, but you will have to reduce the quality to do so.

You can build a rack that is about the same quality as a professionally made on for about the same amount as a professionally made rack.

But I think that $ for $ you get the most from a professionally made rack. (this is especially true if you aren't particularly handy)

Animal Plastics, Reptile Basics, And ARS all make exceptional racks. In many different sizes and styles.

I think it totally depends on how much you can get the raw material for. I look into this when i was purchasing my rack, cost of raw material where i live isn't cheap and for me i only save less than 100$ for my 4 tub rack if i go diy, and the end result would not be the same quality as the professional one not to mention it will be using a much inferior material and be 10 times heavier.

You also have to factor in opportunity cost, I'm self employed currently so my time = money. I'm not a very handy person and making the rack myself would probably took me the whole day maybe even 2, that in itself it worth more than the $100 i may have save.

of course if your someone that take pride in making things yourself, nothing is more satifying than building and using your own equipment

Could I make one out of Melamine?

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Originally Posted by ALLDAYSOONER

Could I make one out of Melamine?

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Yes, I made 2 racks from melamine. Keep in mind they are heavy and if water gets in the seams it will swell and be ruined. Check the diy caging forum here for ideas. This is pretty much how I built mine > http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...-Built-My-Rack!

yes its the most common material use by diyer to built rack. But the cons to using melamine is that is SUPER heavy and it tends to wrap over time

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Originally Posted by The Serpent Merchant

You can build a rack yourself cheaper than you could ever buy a professionally made rack, but you will have to reduce the quality to do so.

You can build a rack that is about the same quality as a professionally made on for about the same amount as a professionally made rack.

But I think that $ for $ you get the most from a professionally made rack. (this is especially true if you aren't particularly handy)

Animal Plastics, Reptile Basics, And ARS all make exceptional racks. In many different sizes and styles.

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I disagree sort of. If you want an ARS or Freedom breeder style rack than yes you probly can't build that quality. But for XPVC and melamine, there is no reason apart from if you weren't handy, that you can't build just as nice as one from the pros. In a few weeks I will be posting a DIY XPVC rack that should be just as awesome as professional ones. It will be my own design tho.