first time rack build

I have kept reptiles since I was a kid and now my kids are getting in to it. We have a few snakes and many lizards. My oldest son is extremely interested in breeding ball pythons, so we have decided to take it to the next level. I have given up my cozy little home office room and have started converting it into our climate controlled snake room. Room temp is set, a couple of snakes have been moved in, now I'm trying my hand at building some racks.

After looking at as many DIY racks as I could find online, this is what I came up with. I used ideas from a few different sources, and I didn't know exactly what I was doing. I kind of figured it out as I went along. I think it turned out pretty good.

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/4223/pic019o.jpg

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/6822/pic020b.jpg

This is the 28 quart rack. I still need to order the flexwatt and wire it up. That's going to have to wait until next week when I have time. The 41 quart and the 15 quart racks are next on the list of projects and will hopefully go a little quicker now that I have an idea of what I'm doing.

Great Job!

looks excellant! simple and clean.

Nice lookin rack! :gj:

Looks good :gj:

Looks very nice. What have you got in it, cash-wise?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shadera

Looks very nice. What have you got in it, cash-wise?

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About $100 dollars so far, not including the tubs and the heat.

It took one full sheet of 4'x8'x3/4" melamine board (~$35), three 25' rolls of iron on melamine edge tape($5 a piece), three 1"x3"x8' s ($6.50 each) and five 1"x2"x8' s ($4.20 each). I also had to get a box of 1 1/4" screws which brought the total up a few bucks.

I opted for the premium lumber because all of the standard lumber was twisted and warped. I could have saved a couple of bucks per board if the standard wasn't such crap.

I also bought a full sheet of hardboard to cut for the backs of all the racks I plan on building, and some dowel and pipe brackets to lock the tubs in with. That stuff was all pretty inexpensive and only brought the total up about $5 per rack .

The 28 quart Sterilite tubs were $5 each. I have 7 of them. It is going to take about 14' of 4" flexwatt @ $2.50/ft.

So, when everything is finished, the total for the complete rack with tubs and heat will be about $170. Would have been about $150 without the premo lumber.