Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I made my new hatchling rack.
My plans called for these boards.

They came from Lowes, but I've seen similar ones at Home Depot and all kinds of other stores like that.
We used 12x24s for the side supports, and 12x36" boards made the shelves themselves. I did it this way because I plan on building another set of these eventually, and with being wider than it is tall, it's more stable. I can now stack the second unit on top of the first. Because the boards are 12", the containers hang out a bit in the front, making it necessary to keep lids on. That's not really a problem for me, because I'd prefer to keep lids on my hatchlings anyway. I saved about $20 on the project by using 12" boards instead of 14" boards, too. Not a ton of savings, but enough to make me do it that way; a college student trying to feed this many herps, I try to save every penny I can! $20 saved means I can put one more hatchling in here!

The back is pegboard that we just tacked on with finishing nails.

The first couple boards took us about an hour to put together, because we were working on a folding card table in my best friend's garage, and we had to keep looking for more tools & supplies. The whole project would have gone much smoother had we used a level surface that didn't wobble around when we tried to drill on it!

After we got the first three boards (top & sides) attached to each other, we flipped the unit upside down to build it. I put showboxes ontop the "bottom"(which is actually the top, because of being upside down), and set the next shelf on top of the containers. To make sure the containers would slide in and out, I folded a sheet of paper three times, and set it on top of the containers. This made just enough of a gap for us to work with.
After we got the first three boards together, popping the rest of the shelves together took no time at all.

Here's the finished project, which took just about an hour and 45 minutes.

We used two drills(one with a drill bit, for guide holes, and the other with a screwdriver bit, to drive the screws in), a circular saw to cut the pegboard, and a hammer to drive the finishing nails into the pegboard.

So, supplies:
5 12x36" laminated boards. $29.85
2 12x24" laminated boards $9.94
125 1.75" #6 screws $3.49
1 2x6 pegboard $3.53
16 Sterilite shoeboxes $15.84
Project total: $62.65
That makes each individual cage cost $3.91.
Heck of a lot cheaper than buying aquariums!

So, the project is just about done. The only thing I still need is heat tape. Can anyone point out the best way to buy & use this? I've been told before that the cheapest way to wire it is to buy cheap extension cords. I know in pictures, I've seen people plug 8 different pieces into a power strip, but I'd like to wire it all into one plug, if that's possible. What is a fair rate for heat tape? I've always used human heat pads for everything else I have, because of the build in rheostat.

Check out beanfarm for heat tape, or a few of the other regular posters on here who sell it themselves. As far as wiring goes, since you have the rack built you will want to go with individually wired strips per level rather then fishing through a single piece level to level.

Thats about all the info I can provide since I use back heat rather then belly heat (which is easier as long as you have a controled temp room, but a pain if the room is cooler).
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Randall L Turner Jr.
Boas make the world go round.

I usually order all my heating supplies from The Beanfarm. Competitive pricing and good service. I have used flexwatt for back heat and belly heat. I prefer belly heat and with a pegboard back panel, I would suggest that you use belly heat. Since the shelves are not set into a dado slot/groove in the sides I would use one long piece of flexwatt. I've run a single 30 foot piece, no problems. I would remove the shelves and make a groove with a router. A shallow groove, 1/16 inch deep and as wide as the flexwatt tape is sufficient to set the tape below the surface of each shelf. This way when you slide the boxes in and out of each shelf you do not damage the tape. An alternative is to cover the flexwatt tape with foil tape that is available at Home Depot or Lowes.
Hope this helps.

I'm checking out beanfarm right now. I was planning on belly heat, because the temperatures in my house drop low at nights sometimes.
I hadn't thought about using one piece of flexwatt, but that would probably work better, huh? At this point, I'd be a little afraid to tear the whole thing apart, though.
Also, I don't have a router, so I'd have to find someone who would let me borrow theirs.

For connecting flexwatt.. Do you need the metal connectors with the plastic covers, or will metal connectors covered in electrical tape or some such thing work as good?

I was thinking originally of running a seperate piece of flexwatt for each cage, and just connecting them to each other, instead of running plugs from each piece to a power strip seperately. Like, I'd connect the top to the next one down, then that to the next one down, etc.. and the bottom to the plug & rheostat. Would that work? At that point, I could use individual pieces for each shelf, and not have to tear it apart.
Oh, here's another idea- Could I run them like that, but instead of connecting each one to the shelf below it, could I splice them all into a single plug straight out the back? Seems like it might be easier.

You could try back heat for your setup, since it is easier. You may need to remove the pegboard to do it, but that shouldn't be tough.

1. Mount enough flexwatt vertically on the pegboard to span the shelf. For your setup that could be 2 pieces of 11-inch wide flexwatt with a few inches between them and to each side of them.

2. Cover the back of the pegboard with styrene foam insulation or Reflectix.

3. Remount the pegboard with wood screws instead of nails for easy removal. Don't puncture the Flexwatt.

The easiest way for belly heat is to use aluminum foil tape to hold down a piece of Flexwatt to each shelf across the shelf near the back. Cover the Flexwatt entirely with the aluminum tape. Cords go up and out the back.

Here is what I do for belly heat in a melamine hatchling rack, just to give you options/ideas:

1. I cut pieces of 1/4" hardboard (looks like cardboard, sold at any Lowes, etc and is cheap) and mount those to the top of each shelf with a few countersunk #6 wood screws.

2. Then I router the groove for whatever heater I'm using. Hardboard cuts like butter with a router. Clamp on a straight edge so the router channel is nice and straight. For Flexwatt you'll need about 1/16 to 3/32 deep and make multiple passes to make a wide enough groove.

3. Assemble the shelves like you did, spacing like you did.

4. Put in a peice of Flexwatt on each shelf in the groove. Run the cord up the side and out the back for each shelf. You can use an outlet strip for each cord, or else use a junction box with cover and connect all or some of the cords together.

Good luck with your project!