What size racks should I get for my situation?

[bks2100]

I currently have one snake but I'm looking at getting at least 2 more very soon, but maybe 4 more (all females). I have a male already that's still about 100g and I'm looking to get sub 400g females (I might pick up a yearling so maybe like 1k or so if I'm lucky). I'm looking to breed them when the females grow up, but that'll be at least 2 years. I have a pied male and I'm looking for a banana female and then either some het pied females or a pied female with some het pied females. I basically want to breed the male to the banana and then however many pied/het pieds he can handle or are ready. Then I'll take a male banana from the first clutch (luck assuming of course) and mate it to the pied/het pied females for a shot at some banana pieds. So what racks would you all recommend I get now and work towards later on?

I live in FL so there are plenty of repticons near me and it seems like CSerpents is at most of them so I'll probably go with those racks. I was thinking about a 5 tub subadult rack (28qt tubs) and using hids while they're small, then when the girls start getting too big then I'll just go get a 41qt rack so then I'd have a mostly full 41qt rack and then a pretty much empty 28qt rack. I'd probably move the male over too so I can put off buying another thermostat, but then when they start breeding I'll need baby tubs. I love the idea of the v18 tubs working as hatchling tubs and lasting them a long time. So I'd have an empty 5 tub 28qt rack that I could use when those first hatchlings grow up (probably about a year). So once the second year of hatchlings starts I'll have those 5 tubs to move my holdbacks to.

But this seems like a lot of racks to buy for my number of snakes. As of right now I'm only planning on the 3-5 snakes, but who knows if I change my mind in a year and want to get a multi gene male to breed to the banana or some bigger single gene females. So maybe it would be better to just get a v18 rack right now and then worry about other racks when I get to that point. I guess I could just do that and when they grow out of the v18 I can get a v70 rack (I've seen a few people say they do up to like 700g in v18, but I'm not 100% sure if that's right).

[MonkeyShuttle]

IMHO always get the biggest and nicest one you can afford! 2 snakes can turn into 20 real quick. I have been through a few and would have spent less in tbe process if i purchased the nicer ones first. I have a freedom breeder and will always stay at this level of caging. As far as Cserpents, they are a great affordable option but im slightly vain in regards to enclosures and appreciate looks! Also, larger tubs can always be divided in to smaller sections. Good luck with what every you choose!

[Jhill001]

Being able to save on shipping by buying at a reptile show is the way to go. One of the things that really adds to the cost of racks is shipping.

[guanagator]

I have the c serpents 8 tub short rack, like that it will hold 3 of the smaller vision tubs in one shelf for hatchlings or the single v35 short for yearlings. Currently it's got 2 males around 400g and couple females in same size range, once they hit 800g or so I bump them up to v70s. For a collection similar to your size I think one of these plus a 5 or 10 V70 to hold all full size females and larger males would get you by for a few years.

[JoshSloane]

Any 41 qt tub will hold all male and female BPs for the entirety of their life. Many breeders go smaller than this. There is the occasional rarity that gets massive and might need something bigger, but that is very unusual.

[PitOnTheProwl]

Check if you have someone local to you that builds.
I wouldn't start with 41s if the size isn't there yet.
If you are planning to breed then you are going to need 28s at some point.
Grow as you go.