Pros vs Cons of having a rack system

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Originally Posted by kitedemon

Humidity is a minor concern at the best of times. Personally I have never had a bad shed and no humidity problems with rack tank enclosure. Even when the room is 30%rh. It only takes understanding of what you are dealing with. There are so much false information about humidity out there it is ridiculous!! Light bulbs suck the water from the air for example... Glass is as close to 100% water proof as you can get.

Racks ate great tools but the cost of heating a whole room can be exceptionally hight depending. Too high in many cases. If you are unwilling unable to do so it may not be the best tool.


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I'm one who uses racks and I don't heat my snake room. It is my own personal opinion that we have been keeping ball pythons too warm.

I give mine a warm spot between 86 and 88 and the ambient temp in the room is about 74 degrees.

In seven years of keeping my critters this way, I've never (knock wood) had an RI in my collection.

To the original question, for me and mine, there are no cons to racks.


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Originally Posted by rabernet

I'm one who uses racks and I don't heat my snake room. It is my own personal opinion that we have been keeping ball pythons too warm.

I give mine a warm spot between 86 and 88 and the ambient temp in the room is about 74 degrees.

In seven years of keeping my critters this way, I've never (knock wood) had an RI in my collection.

To the original question, for me and mine, there are no cons to racks.


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I have never had a heated room and all of my temps are perfect as well.

The only con to rack systems IMO is not having the money to fill every available slot at the moment... I have empty rack slots mocking me every day... :rolleye2:

With out secondary heat my rack sits at 66/88 too cool by far. I must have secondary heat to hold 78-80 ambient and cool side of 77-80. I agree that many keep them too warm but in a cool room racks simply cannot hold enough heat to work properly. I call 68º normal and below this cool. I have never seen a rack with only hot spots hold correct temps in a cool room. The breeders whom use racks in my area all heat the room none I know has a rack in an unregulated room. It is a huge down side, enclosures and tanks both hold heat better and have many more heating options.

Even when I lived in Wisconsin I didn't have a heated room. I just used belly heat for the hot spot and back heat to get the ambient temps. It worked perfectly I never had problems with it, but I can see that type of setup getting expensive if you have a decent number of snakes.

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Originally Posted by Inknsteel

The only con to rack systems IMO is not having the money to fill every available slot at the moment... I have empty rack slots mocking me every day... :rolleye2:

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I know what you mean, my new rack will have 29 slots with no snakes :(

Cons to rack systems:

I think it's so amazing that we are able to keep these amazing and gorgeous animals in our homes... Why anyone would want to put them in something that you can't easily look into doesn't make sense for me. On the same subject, I like keeping an eye on the snakes when they're in their enclosures so I know when they're active / looking for food, when they're going into shed, and when I need to clean up. Just in general, I don't like keeping my snakes in boxes. But that's just me.

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Originally Posted by eel588

Even when I lived in Wisconsin I didn't have a heated room. I just used belly heat for the hot spot and back heat to get the ambient temps. It worked perfectly I never had problems with it, but I can see that type of setup getting expensive if you have a decent number of snakes.

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Back heat is secondary heat. What would happen with out it? It is easier to heat the room as most breeders do, but there are other methods available for secondary heating. Heating the room is often the simplest method I would guess 90% of racks exist in regulated rooms and half the remaining run some sort of secondary heat as you did (and I do).

I feel that the, "racks are better than any other option answer" is unfair. They are NOT perfect it is hard to hold exact temps top to bottom. Secondary heating options are very limited (carbon resister/cable, and room heating, perhaps goldenrods. If there are any other ways to heat a rack I am all ears.) proper cleaning/disinfecting of an open tub design is difficult at best. (disinfectants used according to the manufacturers instructions, not the "I made this way up and it works for me" method, I am speaking of the TESTED PROVEN methods, correct dilutions, contact times, used on clean surfaces)

The OP asked an intelligent question and deserves an honest evaluation of racks. How many have posted with issues of cool sides too cool? Quite a number, and often they race forward to buy a rack thinking it will solve all their problems, only to discover they just exchanged one set of issues for another.

Many people posting here run racks with flexwatt over powered, according to the manufacturer, (at least the older flexwatt) it is only rated to sustained 100ºF no higher. Setting a t-stat to 106 to get 90 to my mind there is too much heat loss to the ambient air temps. The whole rack and room temps need to be rethought. But yet it is so common.

Racks don't do well in rooms at or below 68º, simple truth, I have never seen a rack with only primary heat hold more than 4-6º over the room temp.

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Originally Posted by kitedemon

Back heat is secondary heat. What would happen with out it? It is easier to heat the room as most breeders do, but there are other methods available for secondary heating. Heating the room is often the simplest method I would guess 90% of racks exist in regulated rooms and half the remaining run some sort of secondary heat as you did (and I do).

I feel that the, "racks are better than any other option answer" is unfair. They are NOT perfect it is hard to hold exact temps top to bottom. Secondary heating options are very limited (carbon resister/cable, and room heating, perhaps goldenrods. If there are any other ways to heat a rack I am all ears.) proper cleaning/disinfecting of an open tub design is difficult at best. (disinfectants used according to the manufacturers instructions, not the "I made this way up and it works for me" method, I am speaking of the TESTED PROVEN methods, correct dilutions, contact times, used on clean surfaces)

The OP asked an intelligent question and deserves an honest evaluation of racks. How many have posted with issues of cool sides too cool? Quite a number, and often they race forward to buy a rack thinking it will solve all their problems, only to discover they just exchanged one set of issues for another.

Many people posting here run racks with flexwatt over powered, according to the manufacturer, (at least the older flexwatt) it is only rated to sustained 100ºF no higher. Setting a t-stat to 106 to get 90 to my mind there is too much heat loss to the ambient air temps. The whole rack and room temps need to be rethought. But yet it is so common.

Racks don't do well in rooms at or below 68º, simple truth, I have never seen a rack with only primary heat hold more than 4-6º over the room temp.

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This winter I will actually be giving the heated dedicated room a try with hot spots of course now that I'm a home owner. I agree that if you have a room to provide it's probably in your best interest to do so. At the same time I don't believe that it is impossible to create optimal environments without it. I'm a huge believer that there are many ways to properly care for any number of species. Ball Pythons are hardy animals and numerous techniques work and work very well. I have yet to find any cons of a rack like the ones you are mentioning. I've never had a cool/hot spot issue, shedding issues, illness, and I've lived in 4 different places and 2 different states one of which the housing temps were below 70F all winter in Wisconsin. I build my own racks and they have all worked as perfect as I'm going to get at this point but I've always used closed designs. Another thing I should mention is that a lot of racks that are pre-built have an open design or only offer belly or back heat. With that type of setup I can see why people would have problems keeping proper temps without a heated room. Those issues are simply avoided by purchasing or making racks that will work well in your situation.

As I stated above and earlier in the thread you can house your animal anyway you want as long as you provide all the necessities. I gave an honest answer in the fact that in my opinion nothing works better than a rack system and I see zero cons. I don't see how anyone could argue that there is a better option of keeping a sterile environment when using tubs over other options. If you only have one to two ball pythons use single tub setups, it's the same thing. I've done those as well when I first started out they also held perfect temps. It takes a day or so of messing around with your thermostat and heat placement. It's why you should never purchase an animal without having a proper enclosure ready to go.

Thank you again for everyone's replies! I'm so glad I asked.

I had not given thought to room temp. I keep the snakes in my room because it's the quietest and the girls friends are not allowed in there. Upstairs tends to run warmer in the summer and cooler in the winter. Right now it works out fine but now I'm wondering about winter temps. I had no idea that you could do belly heat and back heat and I actually may need that if upstairs is too cool.

I am no longer considering building one. I want to make sure the heat tape is done properly especially if we need two kinds of heat. Also rethinking size. I know 41quart for adults but I have a female that is not quite 500 grams and a new baby bee that is 70 grams. I'm guessing I won't need adult tubs for awhile and I want them to feel secure. We have had Kasi the female for almost two months so I am ways away from even giving a thought into someday breeding.

Tank vs Tub. I loved seeing this dicussed! . I'll admit having them in a rack with the sides covered did give me pause but I did not think about them living in a burrow and honestly they are in hides most of the time anyway or I could not have sides on the rack.
I think what is suitable for some snakes would not be good for others. I know Kasi would not be happy in a tank.

Talked to my husband a little this evening. Can anyone chime in about using a heat cable? Does the flexiwatt get damaged over time with it being on the bottom of tub and getting rubbed by sliding the tub? Where do you have your tape for belly heat and if you also use back heat for your tubs?