Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been planning all of these cages and rack with my wife for a few weeks now and I have come to an inpass with her in regards to the rat snakes. She is fine with a large cage for the boas but feels the rats will be fine in a rack system. I feel they should have more vertical space to climb, so I want cages for them. Here is an idea I plan to pitch to her, a sort of happy medium...
If I take the tallest, widest tub I can find, cut the center of the bottom of one out, leaving a lip on it, then attach it open end to open end on top of each other (useing a bolt and wing nut)I should have a HUGE tub that will be rackable and gives me the room I want for my rat snakes.
Has anyone done this? Does anyone see a potential flaw in this paln? I would hate to get home after 7 months of deployment and have to divorce her over this....
Thanks, Blue

Rats really don't need vertical so That idea is kinda confusing to me.

However, I have built rat racks using concrete mixing tubs and hardware cloth that were very practical and space saving these used by Exotics by nature are identical to my setup.

http://www.exoticsbynature.com/facility/rodent3.jpg

Good Luck
-----
Jeremy

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

1.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow RTB's
1.1 Hypomelenistic RTB's
0.2 Pastel Hypo RTB's
2.0 Double Het Stripe Albino RTB's
0.1 Suriname RTB
0.1 Anerthrystic RTB
0.0.10 Red Bearded Dragons
1.1 Rhinoceros Iguana's
1.0 Green Iguana
1.0 Ball Python
1.1 Cream Golden Retrieviers
1.0 Pomeriaian
0.2 Catus Terribilis
0.1 Spouse
1.0 Child -coming soon-

Snakes, Rat Snakes.... Black, Yellow, Everglades, greenish...
I forgot, I have to be real clear here..
I do use concrete tubs for my feeder rats though. I like them, they are real easy to clean! Just dump wipe and go...

Crap I missed the snakes and thought you meant rats, man I sould read a lot more in the morning.
-----
Jeremy

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

1.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow RTB's
1.1 Hypomelenistic RTB's
0.2 Pastel Hypo RTB's
2.0 Double Het Stripe Albino RTB's
0.1 Suriname RTB
0.1 Anerthrystic RTB
0.0.10 Red Bearded Dragons
1.1 Rhinoceros Iguana's
1.0 Green Iguana
1.0 Ball Python
1.1 Cream Golden Retrieviers
1.0 Pomeriaian
0.2 Catus Terribilis
0.1 Spouse
1.0 Child -coming soon-

I understand the concept you're getting at. While such a design would be 'rack-able' I think you'll find once you put some branches in it as well as water bowl, hide boxes, etc. that you'll have a heavier caging unit that will be difficult to slide in and out of rack. I tried something similar although I simply used one of the taller clear storage boxes I could find. I found it difficult to put the amount of substrate, branches, etc, into the boxes and still have a serviceable unit. Also, I didn't go with belly heat which could complicate things in your rack design with larger more unwieldly boxes. I DO think all ratsnakes should be given substantial climbing opportunities. I think you'd be better off trying to build some kind of caging unit that would allow you to simply have sliding doors or hinged doors without the hassles of sliding really large tubs in and out of a rack. Something else that just occured to me is that if you went ahead with larger tubs like you're describing you'd have to build a substantially more sturdy rack than is typically constructed for using regular-sized tubs. I'm not saying it can't be done but it's a lot more involved from an engineering standpoint than a typical rack.
-----
Matt Campbell

"I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in." John Muir

So the rack would be a pain? Man, am I going to miss her.
I was looking at building the rat snakes a cage that would give them a space of 2'X2'X2'. Is this enough space for a full grown rat snake? I have seen people who keep black rats in 20 gal and I just can't bring my self to do that. When I was a kid I had a young black rat for a few weeks and it was in a 55 gal. I do have young adults now in 20 gal but it's getting to be time to move them on up to something nicer. Plus the wife wants all the tanks gone, everything has to be easy access for what she calls speed feeding ( dump and run) and watering.
Thanks, Blue