Home made hatchling rack!

So I've been (slowly) working on a new hatchling rack the last few months. It's done now and thought I'd show it off. It's a 20 tub setup with 3" heat tape for belly heat. I setup 4 dimmer switches to control each level separately. The whole setup including heat ended up costing me around $60.

So any comments?

http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/...n/e9c483b0.jpg

Wow that's super cheap! Nice looking rack

Looks like you did a good job.... Congrats.:gj:

Most expensive parts were the heat tape and dimmer switches.

Very nice looking setup and dirt cheap as well!!!! VERY NICE!!!

Nice setup but I recommend investing in a t-stat for safety.

Sent from my MB501 using Tapatalk

How did you treat the wood to protect it from expanding and molding with the humidity?

Regards,

B

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Simple Man

How did you treat the wood to protect it from expanding and molding with the humidity?

Regards,

B

---

thats what i was wondering. thats y i didnt go with it to make my rack and got the heavy a** melamine board which i wont do again that crap is heavy and i pain. next will go with a plastic shelf from walmart.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Simple Man

How did you treat the wood to protect it from expanding and molding with the humidity?

Regards,

B

---

My question as well?? That plywood will start to come apart of not sealed really well.

It all came from previous projects that were treated by my work. Kinda why I decided on the wood. It was pretreated and free since the projects were over. Andi didn't like the t-stat idea on this since each level was 10-20 degree difference and I would need 4 of them to regulate each. I have dimmer swiches to regulate each strip separately to a nice 90 constant.

I'm not trying to bust your balls, but what was it treated with? Most treated wood is super toxic. I can imagine that being especially bad with tiny hatchling snakes with slow metabolisms (cold blooded). That's part of the reason they take forever to heal or get over infections. I can only imagine how easily they would fall victim to toxicity build up.

Regards,

B

First off very nice design, they look very well built and turned out great.

I HIGHLY recommend a thermostat setup. Dimmers(rheostats) are inferior to thermostats no matter how you set it up. With this rheostat setup you will have to be constantly monitoring and adjusting the temperature to keep it stable. If the ambient temperature of the room increases and no one is there to turn down the rheostat what was once a appropriate temperature can climb dangerously high.

If each bin has a identical flexwatt setup there shouldn't be much, if any difference in the heat output to each bin.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Agent73

If each bin has a identical flexwatt setup there shouldn't be much, if any difference in the heat output to each bin.

---

For some reason 2 strips end up heating up the tub to 120, one heats to 95 and one does 105. They were all precut at the store in 4 foot strips. Not sure if my soddering was the issue or the strips them selves. With a t-stat regulating all at once some will either end up way to cold or way to hot. Yes I know that I will have to keep a eye on it at all times, I check on every single snake and animal I have every day anyway. I know if I spend a ton of money I can get a better rack with better conditions, but I thought I would see what I can do. For $60 bucks if it doesn't work out then I didn't lose much. I love building things.

And on the treatment issue, you do have a very good point thank you. I will double check what was used. Would you know off hand what would be safe? It's been around 2-3 years since it was treated.

This is why I put it up on here. I knew I would get different opinions of my project. Not to bust anyone's balls but there are alot of people with very strong opinions and will always say there 2 cents. I'm not an expert and do not think of everything.

As far as I know there isn't any treated wood that I would recommend using on snakes. I will double check with a friend that is a carpenter for you and reply back later. I'm off to a family shindig for awhile but will do my best to post later tonight!

Regards,

B

depending what it was treated with, you might be able to seal it with a couple good coats of polyurethane might make it safe.
I wounder why you have so much of a difference between the flexwatt strips? That would drive me crazy but I would check all of your connections.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by www.uri.edu

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reclassified certain wood-preserving chemicals--creosote, pentachloropophenol and inorganic arsenicals--as restricted use pesticide materials. The designation means they are toxic or poisonous and potentially hazardous to humans and animals. Consequently, the public should be aware of the precautions for using wood treated with these chemicals.

---

This scares me enough that I wouldn't want people or animals around treated wood period. The following portion describes that treated wood shouldn't be used inside at all for the most part.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by www.uri.edu

Pentachlorophenol treated wood should not be used in residential, industrial or commercial building interiors, except in laminated beams or building components that contact the ground and are subject to decay or insect infestation. When used for such purposes, pentachlorophenol treated wood must be covered with two coats of an appropriate sealer such as urethane, shellac, latex epoxy enamel or varnish.

---

You could try using a sealer but I still don't think the cost benefit outweighs the risk. I recently build a subadult/adult XPVC rack for $85 + Flexwatt and I have the parts to make a XPVC 50 x 6qt hatchling rack that ran $100 + Flexwatt. You might want to consider something like that. If not, you should definately seal your entire rack with several coats of the above mentioned sealers.

Regards,

B

*My friend didn't have anything authoratative to add except that he wouldn't use treated wood inside

Good info. Thanks. Can you post pics of your setup?

DIY XPVC Rack

I haven't assembled the hatchling rack yet because I'm at least a year off of breeding. I should have that DIY thread up in a few weeks, a month at the latest.

Regards,

B