RBI rack holes?

Hey guys, just bought a 4 drawer sweater box rack from Rich at RBI today at the white plains expo. Ill be setting it up tmrw but seems like a really solid product so far. It was good to finally put a face to the name!
Anyways, i was wondering where and how many holes you guys put in the tubs? I was thinking 4 holes up higher in the back and 4 holes lower down in the front. To draw in cool air, itll heat up and rise, and go out the higher up holes in the back. Is that wrong/stupid lol? Im trying to remember lessons from my physics class!!!
All advice is appreciated!

i just picked up the same rack to day, and going to set mine up tomorrow let me know how it goes? and what your hole placement ends up being? And from what i did a quick look can you only place the thermostat probe on the top shelf?
Tom

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

Hey guys, just bought a 4 drawer sweater box rack from Rich at RBI today at the white plains expo. Ill be setting it up tmrw but seems like a really solid product so far. It was good to finally put a face to the name!
Anyways, i was wondering where and how many holes you guys put in the tubs? I was thinking 4 holes up higher in the back and 4 holes lower down in the front. To draw in cool air, itll heat up and rise, and go out the higher up holes in the back. Is that wrong/stupid lol? Im trying to remember lessons from my physics class!!!
All advice is appreciated!

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Mike, I have the same rack from RBI. I started my holes the same way you did, four high in the back and four low in the front. I think you find out that each tub is going to take a different amount of holes. My top tub has a lot of holes and the bottom one doesn't have nearly as many. I guess what I'm saying it's going to trial and error with them. I put about four holes each time until they got right. I would wait about an hour or two and check the humidity again before I added more if needed.

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Originally Posted by 1nstinct

i just picked up the same rack to day, and going to set mine up tomorrow let me know how it goes? and what your hole placement ends up being? And from what i did a quick look can you only place the thermostat probe on the top shelf?
Tom

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That depends on what side you have against the wall. I have my probe on the middle shelf.

I also place my probe on the middle shelf, mostly because that's where Rich places the hole for the probe. :D

My tubs have 6 holes low on the front of my tubs, and 6 holes high on the rear of the tub.

Depends on substrate... i have 2 rows !! of small holes all around tubs and with large bowls and sanichips substrate i maintain humidity around 60 %

http://i1178.photobucket.com/albums/...422_200102.jpg

http://i1178.photobucket.com/albums/...422_200111.jpg

So this is probably gunna get me yelled at but to be honest i dont measure humidity or have a gauge for it in my tubs. My snakes shed perfectly everytime and ive never had any stuck shed. Ive never admitted this before bc i know its unconventional. The snakes are in a rather small room that i have to share with my brother. Will all that breathing in there it rarely gets below 50% humidity.
I was more asking as far as ambient air temps. For the same reasons the air temps in the room stay pretty high, but i dont want it to get too warm or cold in the tubs for them. Also i was asking bc can snakes suffocate? I open all the tubs at least every other day to check on them so i would assume that refreshes the air in the tub. But if i only put a few holes in i wouldnt want them to run out of air lol.
And im using sani chips for substrate just like you Aes

Also thanks for the responses so far guys i appreciate them! :)

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Originally Posted by 1nstinct

i just picked up the same rack to day, and going to set mine up tomorrow let me know how it goes? and what your hole placement ends up being? And from what i did a quick look can you only place the thermostat probe on the top shelf?
Tom

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I'll drop you a PM tmrw to let you know how it goes for me!
And as slim said theres a hole for the probe haha
Trust me, Rich thinks of EVERYTHING!

I'm Using previous version of rack with 3 inches tape - belly heat(now Rich put 4inch) and sometimes during winter i need to crank up it a little ... I more concerned about humidity .. I have divider in one tub where I keep pair of black house snakes..
Even with that amount of holes when i had them on cypress with 4 OZ plastic cup as water bow.. I had tube steamed.. and as You Know High humidity cold be even worse than low....

Buy yourself Accurite Thermometer with probe and Humidity reading... You can control temp in 2 points of tube and of course humidity as well...
I have one in each tub where I keep my balls.. is like 10$ on-line and sometimes Lowes and Home depot carry them too...

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Originally Posted by Aes_Sidhe

I'm Using previous version of rack with 3 inches tape - belly heat(now Rich put 4inch) and sometimes during winter i need to crank up it a little ... I more concerned about humidity .. I have divider in one tub where I keep pair of black house snakes..
Even with that amount of holes when i had them on cypress with 4 OZ plastic cup as water bow.. I had tube steamed.. and as You Know High humidity cold be even worse than low....

Buy yourself Accurite Thermometer with probe and Humidity reading... You can control temp in 2 points of tube and of course humidity as well...
I have one in each tub where I keep my balls.. is like 10$ on-line and sometimes Lowes and Home depot carry them too...

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Ok good to know, thanks!
And i do have 1 but i just have it sitting on top of the rack to get the ambient temps in the room and the humidity level of the room (thats how i know what it stays at like what i said above^). I have a temp gun to read the tubs temps too. I havent encountered a problem with doing it this way yet, so i respect your advice, but i think im gunna continue doing it the way i have it setup now. :)

Snakes can suffocate, but the tubs are not air tight against the top of the rack slots, so I wouldn't worry too much about that.

I just find that without air holes my humidity get up around 88% with a small water bowl. With air holes it stays right at 60%, give or take a little for ambient room humidity.

Also, RetiredJedi and I did an informal experiment, and both found that our top tubs hold a little more humidity than the lower 3. Not sure why that happens, but it is of note.

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Originally Posted by Slim

Snakes can suffocate, but the tubs are not air tight against the top of the rack slots, so I wouldn't worry too much about that.

I just find that without air holes my humidity get up around 88% with a small water bowl. With air holes it stays right at 60%, give or take a little for ambient room humidity.

Also, RetiredJedi and I did an informal experiment, and both found that our top tubs hold a little more humidity than the lower 3. Not sure why that happens, but it is of note.

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Do you guys have yours sitting on the ground? And is it hardwood or carpeted? Just curious...

Mine sits on a low coffee table that I converted over to keep the rack off the floor. I have used them right on the ground, and it was carpet. No real issues with it except it was really low to the ground for pulling out the bottom tub.

Hang on a sec...taking some pics...be up in a bit.

Here's my RBI Rack on the coffee table I picked up at Target for $20.

http://i364.photobucket.com/albums/o...965/Rack_1.jpg

Here's how I set up each tub.

http://i364.photobucket.com/albums/o...965/Rack_2.jpg

Also, I realize I lied earlier. I only have five holes in each end of my tubs...not sure why I thought I had six.

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Originally Posted by Slim

Mine sits on a low coffee table that I converted over to keep the rack off the floor. I have used them right on the ground, and it was carpet. No real issues with it except it was really low to the ground for pulling out the bottom tub.

Hang on a sec...taking some pics...be up in a bit.

Here's my RBI Rack on the coffee table I picked up at Target for $20.

http://i364.photobucket.com/albums/o...965/Rack_1.jpg

Here's how I set up each tub.

http://i364.photobucket.com/albums/o...965/Rack_2.jpg

Also, I realize I lied earlier. I only have five holes in each end of my tubs...not sure why I thought I had six.

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Cool, thanks!
I think ill start with like 5 in the front and 3 in the back. The sani chips will spill out of the holes so i cant put the holes in the tub too low. Ill go halfway down the side of the tub probably. And then at the top in the back ill put 3.
Also after getting this rack we now have the same rack, tstat, temp gun, and hides hahaha. Creepy observation, sorry :D

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

Also after getting this rack we now have the same rack, tstat, temp gun, and hides hahaha. Creepy observation, sorry :D

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I was thinking the same thing...chalk it up to great minds thinking alike!

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Originally Posted by Slim

I was thinking the same thing...chalk it up to great minds thinking alike!

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Once i get mine setup tmrw ill post pics so you can ohhh and ahhh lol!
And ill get pics of all 4 snakes for everyone too!

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

Do you guys have yours sitting on the ground? And is it hardwood or carpeted? Just curious...

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Just to chime in Mike, I keep mine on a carpeted floor. One thing I noticed also is the direction of my ceiling fan makes a difference. I know that in the winter the fan is supposed to spin so it blows upwards and in the summer it blows down. This is really kinda wierd to me but as long as my fan spins in winter mode (blowing upwards) my temps and humidty are perfect. If I change the direction of the fan everything changes in the tubs. It took me a few days to realize what was going on. I didn't add any more holes or change rack location or anything else. I started getting PO'd then I remembered that I changed the fan direction. Once I changed it back everything went back to normal.:confused:

One thing I have noticed like others I am sure, its a bit of trial and error. I always put fewer holes and then set up the tubs and wait to see condensation. If there is condensation then I add more holes. Same thing tho, low in the front, high in the rear for air flow...

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Originally Posted by RetiredJedi

Just to chime in Mike, I keep mine on a carpeted floor. One thing I noticed also is the direction of my ceiling fan makes a difference. I know that in the winter the fan is supposed to spin so it blows upwards and in the summer it blows down. This is really kinda wierd to me but as long as my fan spins in winter mode (blowing upwards) my temps and humidty are perfect. If I change the direction of the fan everything changes in the tubs. It took me a few days to realize what was going on. I didn't add any more holes or change rack location or anything else. I started getting PO'd then I remembered that I changed the fan direction. Once I changed it back everything went back to normal.:confused:

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Thats very odd. I feel like this trial and error process that Zombie said is gunna get me PO'd lmao
Definetly gunna start with fewer holes then add more!

I don't have any holes in mine. There's enough of a gap between the top of the tub and the shelf above it to provide proper airflow.

My AP racks have holes along the top because the tubs stick.

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Originally Posted by MasonC2K

I don't have any holes in mine. There's enough of a gap between the top of the tub and the shelf above it to provide proper airflow.

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I really think this is variable based on factors outside the rack. If I didn't run any holes in my tubs, my humidity would be around 85% all the time.

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Originally Posted by Slim

I really think this is variable based on factors outside the rack. If I didn't run any holes in my tubs, my humidity would be around 85% all the time.

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Yea but Im glad he said that because ill start them out with no holes then. I didnt inspect it too hard so i didnt notice if there was a big enough space or not.

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Originally Posted by Slim

I really think this is variable based on factors outside the rack. If I didn't run any holes in my tubs, my humidity would be around 85% all the time.

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I'm in that same boat. If I don't have enough holes I start getting a lot of condensation in the tubs even with small water bowls...

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Ok, now I'm confused (no hard task). My rack that'll be here tomorrow (shoulda been earlier but had mixup) and I'm not sure what to do. I've got both 32 qt sideways tubs and 15 qt tubs that'll have newsaper in em. Now I see everything from no holes and add as needed to put as many as possible and add water to get humidity levels right. :confused::confused:

help is needed and appreciated

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Originally Posted by Brion99

Ok, now I'm confused (no hard task). My rack that'll be here tomorrow (shoulda been earlier but had mixup) and I'm not sure what to do. I've got both 32 qt sideways tubs and 15 qt tubs that'll have newsaper in em. Now I see everything from no holes and add as needed to put as many as possible and add water to get humidity levels right. :confused::confused:

help is needed and appreciated

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You gotta play around with it to get it right. You live in FL so the relative humidity should be higher than other places. I would start out with no holes and if that isnt working and humidity is too high then add a few at a time.:)

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

You gotta play around with it to get it right. You live in FL so the relative humidity should be higher than other places. I would start out with no holes and if that isnt working and humidity is too high then add a few at a time.:)

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Yeah, but then I'm worried they're not getting enough ventilation....BP's health is my first concern.

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Originally Posted by Brion99

Yeah, but then I'm worried they're not getting enough ventilation....BP's health is my first concern.

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Theres a space in between the tub and the top of the rack. So thats why i said you have to play around with it.

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Originally Posted by Brion99

Yeah, but then I'm worried they're not getting enough ventilation....BP's health is my first concern.

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Brion99, if you're holding out for the assembled masses here to come to a single recommendation, you are certainly going to be frustrated.

I stand by my experience which has taught me that if you have enough holes to maintain 50-60% in your tubs, you will have sufficient ventilation to maintain proper health in your ball pythons. I’ve been doing it that way for 4+ years using RBI racks and I’ve never had a health issue with my snakes.

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Originally Posted by Slim

Brion99, if you're holding out for the assembled masses here to come to a single recommendation, you are certainly going to be frustrated.

I stand by my experience which has taught me that if you have enough holes to maintain 50-60% in your tubs, you will have sufficient ventilation to maintain proper health in your ball pythons. I’ve been doing it that way for 4+ years using RBI racks and I’ve never had a health issue with my snakes.

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Good point...I do tend to overthink and worry way too much about things. If you have been fine for that long, and I respect your opinion, I'll just start at 0 and go from there until I hit around the high 50"s and trust the manufacturer to provide enough ventilation to keep everyone healthy.

I just got my Rbi rack today.. The top tub I put holes in, the second one I didn't. Humidity was 50-60% in both.. My room humidity is anywhere from 50-70% depending on weather. Just experiment.

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