Building A Snake Rack

[Bds1124]

Hi, just to start out I'm pretty new to the forums. I want to get into breeding ball pythons, and in doing so I have decided to build my own rack instead of purchasing one that is already prebuilt. I used to have king snakes, corn snakes, ball pythons, bearded dragons, and crested geckos so I am not too new to caring for reptiles. However, I have never really successfully breed any of my snakes and have only taken a few unsuccessful shots at breeding my beardies when I had them. With all that being said, I have a few questions about building my snake rack and getting good BPs for breeding. I've decided on getting this rack along with a thermometer and thermostate, and using heat tape the heat the rack. I also planned on enclosing the rack with particle board or something similar to it. I am also wondering if I should pick up a female first, since they take longer to reach the desired weight to breed, or get a male, or just go ahead and get both at the same time. Any suggestions or information would definitely be a huge help! Thanks!

[I-KandyReptiles]

I don't know much, but if you want to breed soon, you can find proven breeding females.

I just bought a female normal. 2000+g

Breeder rescued her.

If you want a hatchling, and to raise her up, I'd buy her first. Girls usually aren't big enough to breed the first couple a years.

Girls should be about 1500g before breeding.

/this is from what I've creeped around on here

[The Serpent Merchant]

Partical board should not be used in racks. It is filled with toxic chemicals and does not deal with humidity well.

PVC sheets or melamine would be much better.

Getting a female first is a good idea.

[Mike41793]

I would reccommend a better t-stat than that to run your rack.

Also yes buying females first is a better idea. Id get like 3 females and raise them up for 3 years to breeding size. Then find yourself a nice 2gene male to breed to the 3 of them. You could get the male when the females are 2 years old bc usually a male takes like a year to mature.

[Bds1124]

I would reccommend a better t-stat than that to run your rack.

Also yes buying females first is a better idea. Id get like 3 females and raise them up for 3 years to breeding size. Then find yourself a nice 2gene male to breed to the 3 of them. You could get the male when the females are 2 years old bc usually a male takes like a year to mature.

What thermostat would you recommend?

[The Serpent Merchant]

The hydrofarm will be ok, but proportional thermostats like the Herpstat are much better.

http://spyderrobotics.com/