Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Need to talk to you, about materials, measuring, tools, etc. Thanks! you can email me at frost_fell@hotmail.com
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Sign of the Serpent

Ummm, this is a forum... you should make everything public... if we didnt there would be nothing to read here.

I have build several. For balls my fav has to be using the 41qt long starilite tubs and 3/4"x2" long pine boards, and pegboard. They are cheap and fast to build. The only tools you need are a cut off saw, wood glue, measure tape, and screws and screw driver (or I use a brad nailer and compressor) and some pistol grip clamps. If I cut all the boards at one time to save trips to and from the saw I can finish a rack in about 6 hours, with a general cost of $300 including tubs (that may even be a bit high). the tubs are about $6.50 each.

I posted my email because a public forum is not the place for a 5 million back and forth message discussion on minute details. Hence the "email me!" part. thanks for the suggestion though Ill be sure to never give contact information ever again
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Sign of the Serpent

He is right, this is an open forum. Questions need to be answered here, unless they are off topic. But I dont like your website.
Will Wohlers

I have built several racks or different styles. The ones pictured are my latest and probally the cheapest. Total cost for one rack with 8 tubs heat tape and all is approx. $ 200. I have posted this picture before but here it is again.

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Thomas Jones
aligatorhunter@cox.net

Those are nice. What is the material that the tubs sit on? Melamine?

And...do you really hunt alligators?

Chris

What do you guys really care if he wants someone to email him about plans for a rack? I mean its PLANS........ for a RACK. You are acting like this is some congressional hearing where every detail needs to be out in the open and on the record. Jesus.
"But I dont like your website". Nice touch. What are you, 6 years old? Relax.

ep
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Occupants not paying rent:
1.1. balls
1.1 corns
1 everglades rat
1 w. hognose
1 bearded dragon
2.1 cats

np
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Sign of the Serpent

The first one is a 25 slot that holds tubs that measure 22 inches long, 9.5 inches wide, and 3.5 inches high. It is heated with 3" flexwatt belly heat. The material is melamine, but this rack sits on top of a work bench with large casters so moving it is a breeze. The ten tubs on the right side of the picture are darker due to them being occupied, as the others are empty.

The second one is a 30 slot that hold 6 quart sterilite tubs with 3 strips of 11" flexwatt running down the back. The material used was melamine as well, yes it is heavy, but I put casters under it for easy moving. This rack is great for hatchlings.

What are some things I can use besides melamine or plywood. And what is a good balance between cheap and strong? It will be a 5 or 6 shelf rack, nothing too fancy, for 41 qt sterilites, and I plan to use belly heat. Cant be too expensive or heavy. Unless theres any reason not to, I planned to just use plywood for the shelves and whatever else works with it, for the sides

Oh and for those who put theirs on a kind of sliding drawer system, how do you measure and assemble the things that hold it up? Just want to make sure I get this right and dont end putting the whole thing together and then finding out I screwed it up in a tiny area and its ruined the whole thing.
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Sign of the Serpent

Melamine is outrageously heavy! I've built 2 racks out of it and wish that I hadn't. It also bows unless you have spacers or short spans. The pics above show a long span; I assume that the melamine is screwed into a back board to prevent it from sagging.

My latest rack is plywood, painted with several coats of latex. Much lighter and easy to build. If I was more of a carpenter, I would do drawers or a system like the Freedom Breeder racks, but I'm not.

Just put a couple of tubs between the shelves and adjust them so that the tubs slide (don't go by the measurements on the tubs). Once you have one top and bottom shelf correct, then measure that and do the same for the other shelves.

Its easy...

Good luck.

I used it to make this rack, modifying a design another poster on this forum came up with. He used the PVC for the shelves only and I thought a rack made from only PVC would be great. It's very lightweight, sturdy and easily cleaned. I left the lids on my tubs because there is an indented spot where the blue clip downs are. I'm planning on making a few more of these.

Cheryl

Do you remember where the instructions for making that rack is at? I've been trying to find it. Thanks for any help.
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3.3 Normal Ball pythons (Hoss, Little Man, Adam, Helen, Annabel Lee and the new girl who gets named when she eats)
0.2 Snow corns (Legolas, Eurydice)
1.0 Amel het charcoal (Orlando)
1.0 Hypo het anery het Amel (Antony)
0.1 Amel het Stripe (Cleopatra)
1.0 Caramel Motley poss het Amel (Flick)
0.1 Amber (Amberly)
0.1 Normal Cal King snake (Sidhe which sounds exactly like "she"
0.0.1 GTP (Kissy the Red)
1.1 Haitian Boa (Enkil and Akasha)

And bunches of furry pets

I tried to go to the URL of those instructions and it turns out that they've taken it off and are selling the racks now. Hmmmmm.

Good way to slip in an advertisement.

They aren't very hard to make. The horizontal and vertial pieces are 3/4x2" strips and the shelves are 1/2" cut to the size you need for your containers.

I had started to type in directions but heck, I'm going to be making another one over the next few days. I'll take pics along the way and post them with directions when I finish.

Cheryl

For 2 racks 9 high the PVC cost me $322.24 cut. Don't remember what the screws and the castors cost. The boxes in this rack are old Rubbermaid Latchtoppers 24.5x16.3x6.4" high. I could easily have gone 10 or 11 high but I'm not that tall! After this rack I'm going to make a few that will take the cb70's.

Cheryl

Thanks. So I did find the site. Oh well I've found a place that sells sheets for $65. 2 sheets should make 1 adult and 1 baby rack according to my math.
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3.3 Normal Ball pythons (Hoss, Little Man, Adam, Helen, Annabel Lee and the new girl who gets named when she eats)
0.2 Snow corns (Legolas, Eurydice)
1.0 Amel het charcoal (Orlando)
1.0 Hypo het anery het Amel (Antony)
0.1 Amel het Stripe (Cleopatra)
1.0 Caramel Motley poss het Amel (Flick)
0.1 Amber (Amberly)
0.1 Normal Cal King snake (Sidhe which sounds exactly like "she"
0.0.1 GTP (Kissy the Red)
1.1 Haitian Boa (Enkil and Akasha)

And bunches of furry pets

Where do you get expanded PVC?
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Sign of the Serpent

Heres a good site with rack plans:

Clays Rack Page
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

6.34.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi)
0.1.0 Bredls Python (Smurfette)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.4 frogs rescued from pool skimmer
0.0.0 Lizards of unknown origin

very cool! Now I just need power tools LMAO

thanks for the link
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Sign of the Serpent

Here is a pic of a rack I have some of my balls in. There is a channel that fits the heat tape (3/8" deep) and a step up in the front and back of the channel (1/4" deep) to support a piece of plexiglass (1/4" thick) so the bins can slide over where the heat tape is.

what is yours made of? how did you attach everything? how did you cut the recessed part? Hoping to keep it simple as I dont have a whole lot of tools available, and Im not crafty.
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Sign of the Serpent

It's made of 3/4" malamine from Home Depot, and is smply predrilled and screwed together, and wood glued. The recessed part is done with a hand held router and carefully placed clamps and straightedges.