The melamine is particle board(MDF) with the white covering ,and it comes that way. I don't use the pins in front of the tubs. It really depends on how many ball pythons you have, but I just heated the ball python tubs, and not the corn tubs( it is warm enough). It all depends on how many snakes you have of each species. I am down to one corn now, and my ball too, with more balls on the way, so I wont need to separate heat anymore as the corn will be in my moms class room. I am also buying all commercial racks in a few months so I can get rid of my wooden one!