Quote Originally Posted by artgecko View Post
I've used all four types of housing.. glass tanks, pvc cages, stand-alone tubs, and racks (closed-sided pvc racks).

I would say that for BPs, the advantages you get are the following:

1. Easier to hold humidity and heat (especially the closed-sided racks, not the "economy line" open sided ones)

2. Cheaper to house snakes in appropriately sized housing... (the CB70 rack I have has tubs equivalent to a 40gl breeder footprint, but I can house 3 with less cost than equipping 3 glass tanks or 3 pvc cages)

3. Easier/ Cheaper to heat - one strip of heat tape hooked up to 1 t-stat probe and channel will work for all 3 snakes, vs. needing 1 probe / channel per glass enclosure or pvc cage

4. Lighter / Easier to clean- This is a big one for me. I'm a short person...5'1" and moving a 40gl breeder to do a complete clean is a huge ordeal for me. It is much easier (and safer) for me to take out tubs and clean..This means they get cleaned more often and cleaned more thuroughly, since I can easily fill and soak them and dump the water than in a glass tank. This is also true of pvc cages, you can scrub / clean them, but can't really fill and soak them.

5. More space-saving- This becomes a bigger deal as you get more snakes, but racks do take up less room allowing you to keep more snakes without having tanks / cages everywhere


The main disadvantages IMO are:
1. Lack of visibility
2. Lack of space for more active species--- Note that I would not keep boas, carpets, or other active / climbing species in a rack past small juvie size.
3. Tub size constraints- You can get a pvc cage made up to just about any size you want, with racks, the size / footprint is determined by the size of the tubs you can get. You can find larger tubs (i.e. vision tubs) but these can be hard to find and expensive. So, finding a rack with an odd footprint (if you want one) can be more difficult. This is not a huge issue with BPs, if you go with the standard rack sizing (CB70 for adults, etc.). But if you are keeping, say, blood pythons and want a larger / taller tub, then you will have to look for a manufacturer to work with that can get the tubs you want and custom build one.
I was mostly considering tubs for my blood and bp, my carpet being more active would better use the space of a tank imo. She's currently in a 20L tank but I have been looking into a custom PVC tank for her. Bps and bloods don't climb like carpets do so I figured the lack of height wouldn't be an issue