Hatchling rack questions

[kplunk]

Ok this won't be done for some time just getting knowledge ready just in case.

But I am planning on building a hatchling rack

I guess my main question would be what is recommended as for heating of these lil tubs. back heat or belly heat???

what does everyone else use? a 3" strip at the back for belly heat? or maybe larger like an 11" strip at the back for back heat and have 2 tubs side by side per shelf???

as shelf dimensions go is it better to be taller or is wide better or is there no difference just preference....

Thanks

Chad

[kavmon]

alot of racks use back heat for baby tubs. mine are done with belly heat(herpenclosures). i personally like belly heat it is more efficient and i don't have to turn the stats up as high. either way you can't go wrong.


i wouldn't go more than 3 tubs wide or you may run into sagging problems. unless you use thick material or bracing.


vaughn

[kplunk]

ok I know belly heat is the important thing for balls. But I read somewhere saying back heat for hatchling racks.

Back heat would be alot easier to install

But part of the fun is in the adventure so I guess i'll do the extra bit and make belly heat for them...maybe something thats interchangeable like 2 hatchling tubs or 1 juvey tub...

Thanks

Chad

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Ok this won't be done for some time just getting knowledge ready just in case.

But I am planning on building a hatchling rack

I guess my main question would be what is recommended as for heating of these lil tubs. back heat or belly heat???

what does everyone else use? a 3" strip at the back for belly heat? or maybe larger like an 11" strip at the back for back heat and have 2 tubs side by side per shelf???

as shelf dimensions go is it better to be taller or is wide better or is there no difference just preference....

Thanks

Chad

For the heat, belly heat is more efficient ,it can be done with back heat as well but it would require that the ambient temp in your room is at leastn 75 degrees or higher.

As far as the rack itself you can do a 20 tubs rack by getting a 4X8 Melamine sheet from lowes or home depot (should run around 25-30 dollars).

Your shelf dimension should be 35 x 13.5 allowing you to have 4 rubbermaid shoebox tubs on each shelf

[joepythons]

Here is a hatchling rack that Tim Bailey(muddoc) made for me a few months back.He has the plans to make it on his web site in detail.He used 2 peices of 11" heat tape on the back for heat source.I am able to use 4 12qt tubs on each shelf x 9 with a total of 36 tubs.I did find another use for this same rack i can place 1 41qt tub on each shelf along with 2 12qt hatchling tubs .Here is a pic of the unit.

[kplunk]

Nice rack Joe.

12 Qt I've been reading about people using 4 Qt and 6 Qt tubs for Hatchlings.

That said I'm just a small operation only 3 balls and only 2 of which are attempting to be bred this year. So I don't expect many this year but wouldn't mind building for the future. Since I'm a small operation I'd prefer to only have 2 different types of tubs. You know first hatchling tub then they are either sold or moved to there final home in a 41 Qt tub.

So would the 12 or 4 or 6 be better for that?

how big of a ball can live in a 4 or 6 or 12 Qt tubs?

Thanks

Chad

[kplunk]

Joe on your rack where the shelves attach to the frame there is a strip of wood that goes along the top edge of the shelf?? If that strip was under the shelf I'd understand it being there to give support. But why is it on top? what is their purpose?

[joepythons]

Nice rack Joe.

12 Qt I've been reading about people using 4 Qt and 6 Qt tubs for Hatchlings.

That said I'm just a small operation only 3 balls and only 2 of which are attempting to be bred this year. So I don't expect many this year but wouldn't mind building for the future. Since I'm a small operation I'd prefer to only have 2 different types of tubs. You know first hatchling tub then they are either sold or moved to there final home in a 41 Qt tub.

So would the 12 or 4 or 6 be better for that?

how big of a ball can live in a 4 or 6 or 12 Qt tubs?

Thanks

Chad

Thanks.I am trying to remember how big of a ball python could be before you would need to move him from the 12qt tubs to another size.I am guessing around 800+ grams(just guessing here).Tim told me the correct size and i have forgot as it was a month or so back.I can find out though and when i do i will reply with that info.Now here is a link from his home page that shows the steps for building this rack.I know you said you only have a few ball pythons,if you built a rack like this you would have the room to expand your collection lol. http://www.baileyreptiles.com/babyrack.html

[joepythons]

Joe on your rack where the shelves attach to the frame there is a strip of wood that goes along the top edge of the shelf?? If that strip was under the shelf I'd understand it being there to give support. But why is it on top? what is their purpose?

I think its for support just on top of shelf.I will ask Tim this question also.

[muddoc]

For those that were curious. I don't actually have a rack with tubs this big. I built this for Joe with a design that I came up with for a smaller tub. However, I believe that a 1000 gram ball python could reside in that tub, however, it would need to be moved to a larger tub shortly. As far as the rails being on top of the shelf, the simplest explaination is that if you were to put them on the bottom of the shelf, you would have to make the unit wider, because the top of most tubs is wider than the bottom. If you look close at the picture, you can see that the tops of the tubs hit the side uprights. Hope that explains it a little better.