Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello All,

I'm getting ready to make some melamine rack systems and was wondering what the consensus is out there on which containers to use. Are there standard sizes? Which company makes the best / cheapest? Which company has the best assortment of sizes? What sizes should you use for neonates, subadults, adult BRBs? I'm also worried about building the rack and then down the road not being able to find the containers that I based the rack design on.

What are your opinions on heating melamine rack systems? Is it best to run heat tape along the back of the rack or under the shelves? What do you use to regulate rack temperatures?

Thanks in advance!
Jamie

Jamie,
...I like Sterilite boxes. Good prices and good quality. Look at dimensions. There are some that are the same height so that you can go with either two or three of different widths on one level of the rack. The smallest shoebox size is good for neonates. The largest ones are big enough for an adult. One of my racks is heated with flexwatt heat tape and the other has plumbing heat tape. Both are under the boxes near the back of the shelves. The flexwatt is thin enough that it does not require a notch routed into the melamine. The plumbing heat tape is bulky but could probably be placed at the very back bottom of each shelf and be an easy cheap installation. I control the heat with simple rheostats. Room temp in my snake room is fairly constant. If you keep them in a room with much temperature variation you will likely need a proportional thermostat. A non-proportional thermostat will get the heaters too hot when it is on. A non-proportional thermostat in combination with a rheostat would work.
Jeff

>>Hello All,
>>
>>I'm getting ready to make some melamine rack systems and was wondering what the consensus is out there on which containers to use. Are there standard sizes? Which company makes the best / cheapest? Which company has the best assortment of sizes? What sizes should you use for neonates, subadults, adult BRBs? I'm also worried about building the rack and then down the road not being able to find the containers that I based the rack design on.
>>
>>What are your opinions on heating melamine rack systems? Is it best to run heat tape along the back of the rack or under the shelves? What do you use to regulate rack temperatures?
>>
>>Thanks in advance!
>>Jamie

I have several, need to get some new pics though. I have two each racks based on three boxes.

First built were two based on the sterilite 1754 shoewbox tubs, 20 slots each. some pics:

Just recently built two 10 high racks around Iris CB 110, for some of my adults, very large tubs, the shelves are 20" x 40" and the tubs are not much smaller.

And lastly built two hatchling racks around the sterilite 4 1/2 quart boxes (don't remembre the number). These are pretty cool, they are each on roller bases, 6 wide by 8 high with counter tops. The two racks join together to make a 30" x 48" workbench in the middle of my room with a total of 96 slots for babies.

All of my racks are heated with flexwatt. Each shelf has it's own individual run with a plug. The thermostat shelf in each rack has a brown cord and is always plugged in while the other shelves have whiote cords and are only plugged as needed. I decided sometime back I would always have more slots than animals.

I use helix proportionals to control all the temps.

Oh yeah, get extra tubs when you build the racks, that way, even if the tubs become obsolete, you have spares. Also good for cleaning that extra soiled tub, you know the one where that durn snake smears waste all over the place. Simply swap out tubs and take the nasty one outside for hosing off.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
10.22 BRB
10.15 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

I see you have a decent number of rainbows and a decent number of constrictors. For heating, you need a Herpstat II. 700 watts of power times two( two heat probes, one for your bci, one for your brb). Using 11" flexwatt, you can heat 35 bci tubs and 35 brb tubs. Herpstat II has night drop built in and it's very easy to program. It's cool because you can control two different envirinments with one control(rainbows and corns, balls and rosys, or whatever combo you can think of). At first i thought the price sucked, but when you think of the power and options you're getting, it's the most efficient choice. Stay away from cheap pet store rheos!

i use underheat living michigan(cold winters). maybe backheat would be better in the southern and western staes, i don't know. an 1/4 inch gap between the heat tape and the tub is a good idea. you don't want to sit your snakes directly on the heat source.