Rack or More Enclosures

Hey Everyone! Love this group so far. My daughter and I dove head first into this hobby and are really enjoying our time together and of course....our ball pythons!

We currently have an Animal Plastics 36x19x12 enclosure for our Juvenile Banana BP. We just purchased a smaller NBP that is currently in a glass enclosure, but getting close to needing something bigger.


Question...

Is it worth it to just get a 3-5 slot rack vs purchasing more enclosures? My biggest concern is temp. Our house is usually around 68-70 degrees in the winter and 74 in the summer and dry all the time....Idaho. We've discussed the fact that the snakes aren't "on display" as much and are ok with that. Leaning towards a rack system, but wondering if I can add more heat tape to create more "ambient" heat to have a cool side around 80 and 90 for the hot spot.

I’d go with a rack, it’ll help hold humidity much better than tanks anyways. As for ambient heat I can’t speak to much on that because I have an oil heater heating my snake room, however I’ve heard of people adding heat tape to the cool end to help with that if you don’t have the luxury of having your reptiles in their own separate room


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

To add, racks help conserve space and helps keep the BPs happier IMO. I think a bunch of tanks scattered around the house is both ugly and a pain to clean when you have to many. Been there done that


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I keep my bps in a rack and they are in my room ambient temp stays anywhere between 70 and 75 I keep hot spot of 90 and iv never had any problems with feeding or shedding they just stay on hot spot a little more should be fine but I'd definitely go with racks. Cause usually once you get one or two ur prolly gonna get more and if get into breeding definitely wanna go with racks.

I think a stack of matching AP cages is much better looking than a rack. I also think that radiant heat panels are better for providing a decent temp gradient than heat tape. My reptile room can get down to 65F, and the RHPs do fine.

PVC enclosures and tubs each hold humidity the same, given equal ventilation. Polyethylene and PVC are equally impervious to water.

I prefer cages. I like giving the snake as much room as reasonably possible and giving them the ability to have a better light cycle and window to the world. Do they need it? No. It makes me feel better doing it though. I also enjoy being able to go in and check on them without having to pull out tubs.

All that said I do have a rack but I have always used it for young snakes until they need a larger cage. Right now my young Kings and Mad Hoggy are in it waiting on their cages to be delivered.

My rack is from Animal Plastic and is the eco model meaning the sides and back are mostly open. I went with this to give them more light and I didn't have to worry about keeping heat as it is in my heated snake room.

For me racks have a place but they are not my choice for long term keeping. My snakes are pets though and I certainly understand a breeder using racks and I would too if I was one.

Right now the AP enclosure has both radiant and belly heat. Cool side of the cage is 75. Probe on the warm side says 81, but I think it's more. Should I have more than a 100W thermostat on the 3" heat tape? It seems like the heat tape isn't doing enough, but it is set to 90.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by montagma

Right now the AP enclosure has both radiant and belly heat. Cool side of the cage is 75. Probe on the warm side says 81, but I think it's more. Should I have more than a 100W thermostat on the 3" heat tape? It seems like the heat tape isn't doing enough, but it is set to 90.

---

Heat tape is not meant to heat the air. It is to create a hotspot for the snake to lay on. It does very little for the air. To get that dialed in you really need a IR temp gun so you know just what temps the floor is reaching.