Reptile & Amphibian Forums

for adult Brazilian Rainbow Boa's?

I have quite a few already in cages and am thinking of adding a rack to house even more. Starting a Hypomelanistic outcrossing project and will be hanging on to and raising up quite a few to get all the various crosses I want.

They get 6 feet in length and about 5 - 10 lbs as adults.
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Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB)
4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
2.1 Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 Het for Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)
1.0 BCI albino het stripe
1.0 BCI salmon hypo
0.1 BCI ghost

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

sterilite makes a 66qt. model with wheels,floor space is appox. 37"x18".the tub is about 1/8" off the floor and 11" flexwatt fits between the wheels,the inside has wheel wells and is not very smooth making clean up a bit more difficult,i've not had any experience with other large tubs.

BTW how are the gaps on the boaphile hatchlings racks? would you consider them escape proof for corn hatchlings? have fun!

Be careful with 1/4" PVCx racks without shelf center supports when housing tiny snakes. Maybe Boaphile has ultra-tight tolerances, but any sag in a shelf can create an extra 1/8" of gap in some boxes. For Boa constrictors, no problem. Contact Boaphile to be sure. Or, use deli cups until the snakes get a little larger.

What I described above is the original PVCx Boaphile rack. I see that he is only making Rhino Raxx now. These are thicker and more rigid (HDPE instead of PVCx) so that tight tolerances will hold. Better than his older racks. I have one of his older racks and have had a few escapes. Sorry for the confusion.

I looked closely at my boaphile hatchling racks last night. Very tight tolerances betwen the tubs and rack, IMO should be fine for baby corns. The gaps were 1/16" or less. Never had new baby corns, what size gap can they squeeze through?

Each tub is surrounded by shelves and vertical members so they don't move around and looks like no opportunity to sag.

Here's a pic of three units stacked for a total of 90 tubs:

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Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB)
4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
2.1 Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 Het for Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)
1.0 BCI albino het stripe
1.0 BCI salmon hypo
0.1 BCI ghost

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

dave thanks for the pix and info,i'm sure 1/16" would be escape proof.i'm trying to deceide between building hatchling racks or buying.have fun!

CB-70
CB-110

For shallow tubs

CB-80
VE-175

For taller tubs

Reptile Tubs

I use the Sterilite 41qt tub but that wouldn't be good for adults.

Hope that helps.

Jeremy
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"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds" July 16, 1945 Robert Oppenheimer

1.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow RTB's -Coming Soon-
0.1 Albino RTB -Coming Soon-
1.1 Hypomelenistic RTB's
0.2 Pastel Hypo RTB's -Coming Soon-
2.0 Double Het Stripe Albino RTB's
0.1 Suriname RTB
0.1 Anerthrystic RTB
1.0 Ball Python
1.1 Rhinoceros Iguana's
1.0 Green Iguana
1.1 Cream Golden Retrieviers
1.0 Pomeriaian
0.3 Catus Terribilis
0.1 Spouse

the largest boxs i could find were:

- sterilites #1996 (74 qt) which is 44" x 19 3/4" x 6 3/8". unlike the #1995 (66 qt) mentioned in the other post they dont have wheels.
- reptiletubs.com ve175 which is 52 7/8" x 20 7/8" x 14 1/16"

sounds like a fun project (the rack and the outcrossing project). if you are set on a rack those are probably your best choices for tubs.
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- Jason F.

just exploring my options for a high density housing project.

LOL, some will live in the nice high rise cage.....some will live in the "project"

Also contemplating boaphiles, the townhouse 4'x2'x11" (2 sections/level) would house 12 adults in one 2'x4' footprint.

Already have a couple of stacks of various 2'x4' single, double and quad section boaphiles.

hmmmm, trying to compare three parameters.
1, How many tubs per square foot of floor with a given 6' height limit.

2, square footage of tub/cage section

3, how many levels in stack

tub,,,,,,,tub/sq ft,,,sq ft,,,# lvl
RTcb70,,,,,,,,2.2,,,,4.1,,,,10
RTcb80,,,,,,,,1.2,,,,3.9,,,,5
RTcb110,,,,,,1.7,,,,5.4,,,,10
RTcb75,,,,,,,,1.5,,,,5.8,,,,9
RTcf750,,,,,,,1.8,,,,3.5,,,,7
boaphile,,,,,,,1.5,,,,4.0,,,,6

So, the boaphile 2'x4' (two cages per level) stack, could house 12 BRB's in a 8 square foot area (2'x4').

Two racks of the cb70 tubs could house 20 BRB's with a slightly higher square footage per tub/section in about 8 1/2 square foot area (37 1/2" x 32 1/5" )

Will have to look at my snake room and see what will fit better. I do prefer a cage to a tub, I do like to look in and see the animals.

-----
Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB)
4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
2.1 Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 Het for Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)
1.0 BCI albino het stripe
1.0 BCI salmon hypo
0.1 BCI ghost

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

the reason i said that was because i plan way to far ahead then i should and in the future i will most likely be in the same situation.
i keep BCIs and the cages i keep adults (males) in are 2'x4'x2'. due to the height this does not allow me to have many cages stacked (i used lights for heat which requires height).
if i were you, i would consider either buying the boaphiles you were talking about or building something similar.
you could build a stack at wahtever height you feel comfortable with using the hollow core door style floor and heating the cage in the floor with heat tape.
if i am remembering you correctly you had bult a beautiful setup for your adult brbs with the pvc connecting tubes. i am sure you would have no problem building a stack of cages if that was the way you chose to go.
also, i was not aware that you only needed a 2'x2' footprint, you deffinately dont need the super huge tubs i recommended.
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- Jason F.

I do prefer a cage to a tub, I do like to look in and see the animals.

Well that tells me a lot, but I assume you'll still need a rack for growing up near adults for breeding?

On that note, I do want to comment on the sq. footage of the boxes.

RTcb80... 3.9 sq. ft.

I use the CB-80 exclusively and can tell you that the floor area is not quite 3.9 sq. ft. Due to the thick rim and the sloping sides the floor area is actually 27" x 14" - or about 2.63 square feet.

That's only about 2/3 the floor area you estimated for the CB-80.

The same holds true for other tubs, and ever the boaphile for that matter [the inside dimension of a Boaphile is less than 48" x 24"] but it is especially compounded by the thick rim around the Iris boxes and the sloping sides.

With that said, Iris boxes are the way to go. Just don't underestimate the floor area.

I hadn't thought about the delta in floor space vs the overall tub size D'oh. The only tubs that are similar floorspace to the boaphiles are the cb75 and cb110. Funny, the tubs are very similar, only slightly different dims???

I factored in a 1/3 loss from overall dims and also used the actual of 23" x 23" on the boaphile townhouse. Tubs per square foot of floor are almost the same at 1.5 (ish).

Main differences as I see it are:

Tubs -
-Racks would be about 40ish" square and would hold 18 or 20 tubs so would fit in 48" wall space but would stick out 16ish" further than all my standard 24" stuff.
-Tubs are shorter at around 6" height.
-Cost for 20 tubs, 50' of 11" heat tape and rack materials I estimated at $850 or just over 40$ per tub/slot.
-Some (ok, lots) assembly required.

Boaphiles -
-Clear doors (definately a plus at cleaning time)
-48" wall space would hold 12 cage sections
-Cages are taller inside at 11" = larger volume for snakes, don't know if they care, I do.
-Higher cost of about $1,800 for stack or $150 per cage section.
-Turnkey type cage, unpackage, stack em up and ready to turn on heat/stabilize.
-Match my existing boaphiles and also same depth as my wood cages.

I'm leaning towards the boaphiles. Real question is will 12 cage sections be enough for my needs.
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Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB)
4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
2.1 Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 Het for Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)
1.0 BCI albino het stripe
1.0 BCI salmon hypo
0.1 BCI ghost

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

The only tubs that are similar floorspace to the boaphiles are the cb75 and cb110. Funny, the tubs are very similar, only slightly different dims???

I wondered that myself. I suppose the big difference for you might be which box would lend itself better to utilizing building material efficiently.

I factored in a 1/3 loss from overall dims...

Every box will be slightly different. The CB-80 *might* be worse due to it's height - the angle makes more of a difference.

Bob S. here on this forum said the actual floor area of the CB-110 is 36" x 18" - or 4.5 sq. ft. The listed dimension is 5.4 sq. ft. so that's more like 83%. He also said that the "loss" of floor area was not as great as the CB-70. I take that to mean the CB-110 sides don't slope as much and/or the rim around the top is not as thick.

Main differences as I see it are:

Clear doors (definately a plus at cleaning time)

A couple of comments on this.

Don't forget how much time a rack saves you when feeding and removing uneaten rodents. When I used to keep a large collection having a rack was very convenient when it came to feeding. Not only could I feed quickly, but I would get up early on Monday mornings and quickly pull uneaten rodents and get them out in the trash before the truch arrived (Monday was trash day). This would have been a lot harder with cages.

With cages you have to set down whatever you are holding and open the hasps and lower the door. With racks I would slide open the tub with a long pair of hemostats and then use the hemostats to offer rodents or pull them out the next day. In my other hand I either held a tray of rodents or a garage bag to throw them away. I never had to set anything down.

Clear doors do help, no doubt, but again a rack tub can be slid open and checked so quickly that it's almost a wash. And cleaning rack tubs (especially the Iris tubs with their flat, smooth bottoms) really saves a lot of time.

My last comment has to do with the shape of your room. Boaphiles use up a lot of wall space and are perhaps best suited to a long, narrow room. Racks typically stick out a bit farther (depending on how you build them) and sometimes utilize space a lot better.

So don't forget to account for the shape of your room. You may have already mentioned this.

Also, have you considered building your own Boaphiles?

Wow Dave.And I thought I got intense about caging issues. Good luck

LOL, I have folders full of sketches, notes, etc. on different cages, boxes, building materials, etc.

I used to have even more until an unfortunate basement flood.

LOL! Chris, No offense meant, but YOU being INTENSE was a forgone conclusion! LOL We appreciate you here a lot.
Bob