Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I think this turned out pretty good, for me. I am a hack of a carpenter for the most part. The rack uses 41 qt. tubs. The rack is in two pieces for easier hauling around etc. I am not quite done, I still need to seal it real well and add a back. I think I will just use more .125" hardboard on the back and drill holes toward the top if necessary for even heating.

Nothing pretty, but should do the job for some adult colubrids.

For the electric, I just use dimmers. I just dim two outlets per rack, and then I can plug/unplug any shelf I wish to use. I covered each shelf with .125" hardboard so the tubs never rub on the heat tape.

All together, I was under $100.00, which was what I wanted.

Later

Matty

Looks good, you blocked out the sides for support and closure, looks real strong. I'll keep it in mind if I ever build another rack.

Thanks for sharing.
http://www.webspawner.com/users/rbichler/index.html
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RBICHLER

yes, it's solid as a rock, and will get more rigid when I put a back on it. The tradeoff is that it's pretty heavy.

now I get to build one for the medium sized snakes and a good sized hatchling rack.

Later

In my early experience using pine boards, I found that they had a tendency to warp when heated unevenly. Melamine shelves may have been a better choice for that reason. Perhaps pine boards that are thoroughly dried are OK. Keep us posted on how those racks work out for you.

i have made made several racks (out of melamine) with this basic design.i used 3" heat tape the length of the shelf so i could use the sterilite 27 and 12 qt. boxes in the same opening,this gives a lot of options for different size snakes in the same rack.
looks like you did an excellent job,i'm also curious about warpage keep us posted.have fun!