Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a rack currently for my colubrids. It works, but it's not great. It wasn't really built optimally, and I have wasted space because of it. I'm looking to build a second rack, to save on space.

I have plans made up, and everything needed to build modular cages, as some of you may remember me asking about them before. Well, I've been thinking about it, and I realized that next spring, I'm going to have a TON of babies that I'm going to need to house. On top of that, I'm going to be out of the country for a month next summer, and I'm going to need someone else to feed my snakes while I'm gone. That would be much easier if I could do the rack. When I do the modulars, they're going to be build over time, as I can afford them. The rack, on the other hand, I could afford to build all at once, and then fill in with heaters and rubbermaids as I go.

So, I'm looking for new plans to build another rack. The first one I build was made from low quality 2'x8' melamine coated particle boards, and looks horrid. It works great, but isn't very nice looking at all. I used corner brackets to hang the shelves on it, and I kind of like that, because they're easy to adjust. Several times, I've taken out and moved shelves around, so I can fit things on differently. I've ended up using three different sized containers, and I like the flexibility of having a variable shelf.

With the new shelf, I'm looking for two things. Primarily, I need shelves for hatchlings. I'm using plastic Sterility shoeboxes currently, but with a new set of shelves, I'd be able to switch to something else if it would fit better.
This coming year, I'm expecting two clutches of corn snakes, and one clutch of black rats. I may wind up with a clutch of everglades eggs as well, but I'm not sure about that; I'm only going off snakes that have already bred.

The next year, I'll probably have Hog Island boas, everglades, and ruthven's kings, in addition to the things I'm expecting this year coming.

So, I'd like to build a rack that can be added onto. If I can build something out of materials that I can find at any given time, it'd be nice to build one this year, and be able to just build another set any time I need them.

So, does anyone have any plans for caging that would fit the purpose I need? I was thinking that hatchling racks could be made from the same 12x24 melamine coated boards I was looking at for building my modular cages for adults(except I was going to use the 12x36" boards- these are just shorter).

With all of those babies, it sounds like you need a number of boxes. Building is fun, but for babies, tolerances are everything.

Just in case you decide to purchase and be done with it -

Check out the Elite Series at www.herpenclosures.com

Check out the Iris box baby rack at www.animalplastics.com

There are so many more. Look in the classifieds here on kingsnake as well market.kingsnake.com/index.php?cat=22

those are all nice racks, but I'd honestly rather build my own.
The way I've been housing hatchlings so far, I've been keeping the lids on the containers. At that, I've never had a hatchling escape. So, at that point, tolerances aren't quite as important. I just need a way to keep them organized, and to be able to put heat on them. If it weren't for heat, I could just pull a shelf off the rack I have now, and stack shoeboxes on top of each other.

Thanks for the suggestion, though.

building a rack with tight enough tolerances so babies dont escape isnt hard at all. All you need to do is be able to read a tape measure.
Several different sizes of the sterolite tubs are the same height which is very helpfull if you wanting to be able to mix things up a bit. You can use larger tubs or smaller tubs in the same rack.
Good luck on the build.

You are right, with lids on it becomes even easier.

I will suggest you purchase the boxes you like first and then build around those, since box styles/sizes may change. However, Iris boxes (available at The Container Store) seem to stay consistent year after year.

I made a nice rack using a closet system they sell at Home Depot, then making some slight mods to it. The nice thing is they sell extra shelves that are deep enough for baby and juvie boxes, and you can space the shelves as needed with shelf brackets or screws if desired. That was easy because it required no cutting, yet you get to build and tailor to your needs. For about $110 I got 6 shelves neatly spaced and it looked great, with all visible edges already finished with edge banding. Worth considering.

The sterilite tubs I've been using have been the same for the last like 3 years. They've changed colors a couple times, and that's it. I'll probably end up using those, just because I can get them for $1 each. It won't break my wallet to go buy a bunch of them, and have them sit around.

For the Container Store, the closest one is about three and a half hours away. So, that kind of sucks.

I believe Reptiletubs.com sells Iris tubs, and they set up occaisionally at a local show, which just happens to be next weekend. The chances of having this built before then are slim, so I may just wait, and see if they have any at the show.

If I could go back and do it again, I would have bought one of those closet racks for my adults. The next time I need to build for them, that's definitely what I'm doing. I like the idea of the doors on the rack, because it can be turned into storage space at any time. I was thinking about picking one of those up regardless, so I have somewhere better to put all of my bedding, extra heat lamps, containers, etc...