The best racks? Homemade or over priced wallet killers?

Here's a small rack that I just got done building. It will hold 8 15qt. tubs.
I still have some finishing work to do like put some edge banding on the top of the two sides and put those white screw covers on the screw heads that are recessed, and maybe a back. I cut the melamine my self with a circular saw. I added a kick plate on the bottom for looks and I kept a gap on the top to allow for the cords to fit through. I left around 3/16" gap between tubs and shelf. I still have to add the Flexwatt Heat Tape and more tubs.Came out pretty nice I think!
What do you think?
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s...rt-of-rack.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s...th63/rack1.jpg

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s...om-of-rack.jpg

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s...op-of-rack.jpg

Wallet killers is deffinetly wrong. Go to repti-racks.com. I got a 6 slot sub adult snake rack for 209 heated and shipped. You cant beat it. And the customer service is amazing. The actual product is great too. I love my rack and i dont regret paying for it at all. Id rather spend the extra 50-75 bucks on the professionally made, safe, and long lasting product compared to a average melamine rack that can sag with humidity, weigh 3 times more, and last alot less time.

Contact Steve at repti-racks. You wont be disapointed.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by redstormlax12

Wallet killers is deffinetly wrong. Go to repti-racks.com. I got a 6 slot sub adult snake rack for 209 heated and shipped. You cant beat it. And the customer service is amazing. The actual product is great too. I love my rack and i dont regret paying for it at all. Id rather spend the extra 50-75 bucks on the professionally made, safe, and long lasting product compared to a average melamine rack that can sag with humidity, weigh 3 times more, and last alot less time.

Contact Steve at repti-racks. You wont be disapointed.

---

That is a good deal! :gj: But I had the melamine just sitting in the basement, it basically cost me $5.00 so far for the screws.

We have made all of our racks except for one which we purchased used. Ours are made from melamine. I can say the first 2 racks we made where okay the last 2 where better. Homemade racks can look nice as long as you take your time with them. All our racks are on nice castors so they can be moved easily and that helps. The only professionally made racks I would use are heavy duty freedom breeder style ones. I love the way they look but I dont have the room or money for one so that is why we make ours.

I am a solid animal plastics customer.... I love my economy racks... I have a rack that holds 6 32 qt tubs with heat shipped for less than 300 dont remember exact amount, am fixing to sell that rack to my brother in law, and upgrade to a 10 shelf rack that is 440 shipped.... pricing is good, heat tape is recessed into rack, very solid nice units, and they have always been quite helpful.

I have a melamine rack and lidded tubs on heat tape.
Both ways work, tubs on heat tape is as simple as it gets and works very well for ball pythons.

I actually prefer my tubs versus my rack as you can see the breeding going on from 5 feet away, no disturbing their "comfy time".
Feeding live I can watch from 5 feet away out of sight of the snake, sometimes standing right up on them disturbs the process and then they don't eat :(

I'll upgrade as I go along, but starting with just basic tubs and heat tape and a thermostat is not a bad thing.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 2kdime

Home made racks to me are ugly, and I like to have nice stuff. I don't want to buy the best thermostats and nicest examples of an animal I can to put them in a cheap home made rack.

---

I don't know why, but the above statement just kind of rubbed me the wrong way. I have built all of my adult snake racks over the years. I originally built my own, as I was more interested in spending my money on nice animals, versus caging that I could build and supply the same environment for my snake. I also bought the highest quality thermostats, so that my heat would be the most reliable.

I do understand your argument though, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

IMO, the best racks are the overpriced wallet killers, but I also have made my own. They both work fine, but I do like my RBI racks better. At one point, I owned an adjustable breeder rack, which is just like the original freedom breeder rack. I hated it. The open-air system was terrible at holding heat and humidity. The newer freedom breeder systems have supposable fixed this issue though. If you do end up building your own, I highly suggest using melamine sheets. Although they are very heavy, they hold heat and humidity very well.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by saber2th

Here's a small rack that I just got done building. It will hold 8 15qt. tubs.
I still have some finishing work to do like put some edge banding on the top of the two sides and put those white screw covers on the screw heads that are recessed, and maybe a back. I cut the melamine my self with a circular saw. I added a kick plate on the bottom for looks and I kept a gap on the top to allow for the cords to fit through. I left around 3/16" gap between tubs and shelf. I still have to add the Flexwatt Heat Tape and more tubs.Came out pretty nice I think!
What do you think?

---

Looks good.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jjmitchell

I am a solid animal plastics customer.... I love my economy racks... I have a rack that holds 6 32 qt tubs with heat shipped for less than 300 dont remember exact amount, am fixing to sell that rack to my brother in law, and upgrade to a 10 shelf rack that is 440 shipped.... pricing is good, heat tape is recessed into rack, very solid nice units, and they have always been quite helpful.

---

im interested in purchasing from animal plastics and wanted to know if you wouldn't mind posting some pics of your racks from animal plastics. a few questions i have are....

are all three sides (back, and both side panels) of the rack exposed; or are they covered, how is the heat tape/flexwatt applied, things of that nature. because on their site all they have are pics of stock merchandise, so i wanted to see what the product looks like while being put to use. thanks in advance