Melamine Racks

I took steel rods and put 2 of them under each shelf for the reason i thought they would sag and i have never had any sag in any of my shelfs - Hope this made some sence im half asleep and im trying to type but everything is a blurrrr :)

I have a very long melamine rack that is several years old that my friend made. It uses 1X's across the sides, back, and front for support. Their is no sag in it at all. Just give everything the proper support it needs and you are golden.

I have 13 snakes in one melamine rack that I made myself (and wow that was quite a learning experience) and am wanting to start replacing it with pro built racks.

It is just too heavy a d unwieldy. I'll be using it for awhile and it gets the job done but I can't wait til my RBI racks come in (got a sweater box rack and a side by side 12qt from him).

I can still use my melamine to hold lots of hatchlings or a couple of my biggest girls.

Anyone mind posting that handy guide on weight to tub size? I remember seeing it a lot before but I can't find it now and forget what the general rules are. Like when should I move a snake out of the 12qt tub?

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Originally Posted by takagari

I have moved to custom made pvcx racks. just need to learn to meld the plastic

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Ive been looking for sheets of pvcx in baltimore. How much do you pay per sheet?

Here is a sight I hope it helps http://www.sdplastics.com/pvcx.html

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Originally Posted by mikels

Here is a sight I hope it helps http://www.sdplastics.com/pvcx.html

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So what do you do exactly with these sheets. Cut them w/ a table saw like I would the mdf? Or are you somehow molding them into shape?

Does anyone actually know of a case where someone had adverse effects? I read in VPI's ball python book that a zoo lost some snakes from fumes in a particle board cage but it wasn't melamine and it wasn't sealed. It was also the actual cage apparently so the animal's waste probably contributed to the gassing off. Brandon, you mentioned you have a rack from 1993 so I assume you've had some animals that have been in melamine racks for a long time (10+ years)? Not saying there isn't a risk but I have yet to find hard evidence of a melamine rack actually causing a health problem with the animals. Some cages are built from it which would be a higher risk than a rack and I haven't heard any problems from those either.

I am going to build a malamine rack but before I do to save me from reading 5 pages worth of posts please tell me yes its okay too or no its not so I don't waste time or money please.

thanks,

lance

Hi,

I was reading about some of the comments on Dan Sutherland...I really think we owe certain breeders a bit of thanks for the hard work they have done over the years. It has been a tough year for everyone. I just wanted to add some thoughts that some of you might have had as well.

When I got into breeding ball pythons about 3 years ago, I got on the internet and started to educate myself about anything I could find on the hobby. It did not take long to find out who the kings of breeding and selling where. I remember how excited I was and was thinking how everyone must share the same excitement, especially the big breeders.

So I wrote all the big breeders with so many questions about how to get started and what snake to get first? How many snakes do I need for a good start and just about any thing most of us wanted to know when we started.

So about 2 weeks later I would get these limp replies....

"Great to have you getting into the breeding of balls. Good Luck."

"Hi sorry it took me two weeks to get back to you. Buying a ball python is really what you want."

"We have been really busy breeding out our high dollar snakes, and what was your question?"

When I was looking for a clown I wrote 3 of the big breeders if they had one or where expecting any? About a month later one of them wrote me back saying they had one and that would have been great if had not already bought one 3 weeks earlier. I did reply letting them know that with no response from them.

So I realized just as fast that these guys did not want to waste 2 seconds of their time on me unless I was going to write a major check. So I than wrote the smaller breeders and they could not have not been better about answering my questions and sharing my enthusiasm. And every snake I bought came from a reputable small breeder. Personally, if I went to a show I would not waste two seconds of my time trying to talk to the big boys. They are just not interested in talking about your spider and albino ball python. If anyone thinks this is a slam on the big breeders it is not...It is just the reality of what we have to deal with.

Regards,
Bill

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jessandyballs

Hi,

I was reading about some of the comments on Dan Sutherland...I really think we owe certain breeders a bit of thanks for the hard work they have done over the years. It has been a tough year for everyone. I just wanted to add some thoughts that some of you might have had as well.

When I got into breeding ball pythons about 3 years ago, I got on the internet and started to educate myself about anything I could find on the hobby. It did not take long to find out who the kings of breeding and selling where. I remember how excited I was and was thinking how everyone must share the same excitement, especially the big breeders.

So I wrote all the big breeders with so many questions about how to get started and what snake to get first? How many snakes do I need for a good start and just about any thing most of us wanted to know when we started.

So about 2 weeks later I would get these limp replies....

"Great to have you getting into the breeding of balls. Good Luck."

"Hi sorry it took me two weeks to get back to you. Buying a ball python is really what you want."

"We have been really busy breeding out our high dollar snakes, and what was your question?"

When I was looking for a clown I wrote 3 of the big breeders if they had one or where expecting any? About a month later one of them wrote me back saying they had one and that would have been great if had not already bought one 3 weeks earlier. I did reply letting them know that with no response from them.

So I realized just as fast that these guys did not want to waste 2 seconds of their time on me unless I was going to write a major check. So I than wrote the smaller breeders and they could not have not been better about answering my questions and sharing my enthusiasm. And every snake I bought came from a reputable small breeder. Personally, if I went to a show I would not waste two seconds of my time trying to talk to the big boys. They are just not interested in talking about your spider and albino ball python. If anyone thinks this is a slam on the big breeders it is not...It is just the reality of what we have to deal with.

Regards,
Bill

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Sorry but I'm going to have to disagree with this generalization. I can think of three instances where I got quite a bit of help from big breeders. One was Greg Graziani when I had a question on the genetics of pewters, sterlings, silver streaks etc. He not only called me back but spent about 20 minutes or more making sure I completely understood what they were. Mind you, this was without it even being a sales inquiry. Another was VPI. Dave gave me some tricks on how to switch over to f/t that worked on three snakes after every other trick failed and I've also talked to Tracy on the phone on occassion as well. Not sure where Alan Bosch falls in as far as "big breeders" but this guy bent over backwards for me when I bought my pied and Hurricane Ike hit just prior to shipping and I was unable to take possession for 3 weeks due to Fedex having major shipping problems. Also, if it was not for the work of Ralph Davis and Brian Barczyk (sorry Brian, I probably just butchered your last name) what would have happened to HR669? They were the ones that were out there campaigning like their lives depended on it. Going back to VPI, Dave and Tracy have done tons of work trying to educate people on snakes. I'm sure there are big breeders out there that are not interested in helping the small hobbiest but making a generalization like this is not fair.