So finally after years of waiting I am finally going to be able to start getting back into ball pythons. I have my own place and slowly getting my savings account built up so I am starting to get the essentials needed since I really don't want to be using my makeshift rack anymore. One of the major ways I am going to cut my costs is by breeding my own rats. I will be buying the construction supplies within the next couple weeks for my rat rack, but I am stuck on how I should go about watering them. I know people have automatic watering systems and swear by them, but I am not sure what I would even need to build such a system and searches on here and other sites aren't really getting me pictures or answers I want. I have also heard horror stories of drinking valves getting stuck and flooding the tubs. I live on the second story and I don't really need a flood ruining my floors, let alone leaking through to my elderly neighbor below me.

So my question is this, should I just stick to water bottles? I mean it's only going to be a 6 tub rack and I don't really think it's going to be to awful hard for me to fill the water bottles when they need to be since I will only be keeping a modest collection of snakes for now.


Any pics of your watering systems or links to some helpful threads/plans would be great.

Opinions would also be great as to if I should just stick to water bottles or would the automated watering system work a lot better?


Lastly, I can only find 1/2" hardware cloth and I have heard people having issues with this mainly with food getting stuck in it. Will I be okay or should I try finding some 1/3" some wheres?

Any opinions would be awesome.


Thanks,
Kevin