If you are glueing edge to surface then you'll need to use Roo Glue or another melamine glue. Then also use screws. Confirmat screws or their various clones are the best but various wood screws will also work.



I made melamine racks with drywall screws about 15 years ago and they are still holding snakes.



If you do cut dados then regular glue is fine. I'm not a huge fan of dados for racks due to the tight tolerances but it can be done and it does add strength if done properly. The big issue with dados in any sort of particle board product is making them too deep and having them weaken the panel.



A lot of cabinet builders who use dados in melamine now only mill then slightly deeper than the thickness of the melamine layer. The dados are not there to add strength but to aid in alignment during glueup and to allow the glue bond to be between particle board and more particle board rather than melamine to particle board.



One other thought. If you really want a paint grade rack then you could use MDF. I strongly dislike working with the stuff but it is flat and consistent, albeit quite heavy. And it does paint up very well.



You can join it with the same choices for melamine but the melamine glue is not required.
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Currently keeping a small collection of various Gonyosoma. Both G. janseni and G. oxycephala.

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