Lets see your homemade racks!

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Originally Posted by ericarditti

these all look so great! I was thinking about breeding in a few years and would be interested in making a rack. but i have a few questions, is there heat tape under each plastic bin? or what type of heater is there, and what about lights? do you not need lights when they are in the rack system?

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Ball pythons do not require any light. In the wild, they spend most of their time in the dark, hiding in holes or termite mounds. Just a tub, a hide or two, a water bowl, and some heat and they're happy!

and what about the heat tape? that works for the tub? wont melt it or the rack? newbie here so im just trying to figure everything out

There are 2 different brands of heat tape. THG and flexwatt. They must be connected to a thermostat to control how hot the heat tape is getting. At the temperatures needed for a BP, the heat tape will not melt the tub or the rack. you can get heat tape at many reptile supplies dealers online, but I've found that Reptile Basics has the best deals.

So I have a question about making racks too, when placing the tape, what can you do so the tub sliding over the tape doesn't wear out the tape?

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Originally Posted by Lesserlove

So I have a question about making racks too, when placing the tape, what can you do so the tub sliding over the tape doesn't wear out the tape?

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You can either recess the heat tape a little and/or use spacers when you put the rack together. I use 2 CDs at each corner of my tubs for a snug fit but not so there is a lot of pressure on the heat tape.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...9206760438.jpg

Here's my homemade rack:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c8...psf784b630.jpg

We used melamine, and that sucker is HEAVY. It isn't moving anywhere now that it is placed. We did put furniture movers under it so we can slide it across the carpet, but that was only so we could get it in that corner.

We drilled a channel in to the shelves to place the thermostat probe. We are using heat tape, and as you can see in the pictures we used window shims over the heat tape to keep the tubs from sliding directly on top of it.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/11/e7y7unev.jpg
Here's mine! Made from melamine with black duct tape for edging. 4/16qt and 5/28qt tubs pretty simple build. Melamine is heavier but I don't really plan on moving it.

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Originally Posted by sorraia

Here's my homemade rack:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c8...psf784b630.jpg

We used melamine, and that sucker is HEAVY. It isn't moving anywhere now that it is placed. We did put furniture movers under it so we can slide it across the carpet, but that was only so we could get it in that corner.

We drilled a channel in to the shelves to place the thermostat probe. We are using heat tape, and as you can see in the pictures we used window shims over the heat tape to keep the tubs from sliding directly on top of it.

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What kind of t-stats are you using?

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Originally Posted by Lesserlove

What kind of t-stats are you using?

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Lol I think the box of the thermostat is sitting on top with the name showing ;)

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