Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How would this work as far as heating goes, if they are used on their own as opposed to in a rack system where the heat source such as flex watt runs down the back of the rack? I found this photo in a reptiles magazine and I am curious because it would be a cheaper endeavor than building racks or purchasing them

My advice is forget cheap. Think fire hazard, don't burn down your house to save a few bucks. The thing about some of these pricey custom snake racks is once you spend the cash and own them, you soon get over the feeling you overpaid as the ease and peace of mind you have is well worth it. I'd look into R.B.I.Plastics and Vision. Tom Stevens
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TomsSnakes.com

Great advice Tom, they might be good for a temp box for small snakes, but not in the long run. Had a friend who used them with heat tape, some of them melted. Invest in cages that will last, it's worth the price and to your snakes!

Scott

I built my own rack for 175 dollars (well below any commercial 7 slot 32 qt rack) and this was including tubs and thermostat (ranco). And it was worth every penny. The snakes are thriving and its way easier to keep my albino black rat snakes cage dry (he spills his water every chance he gets) when alls I have to do is pull out a tub, pop the lid, and paper towel dry, then add either some more newspaper, aspen or paper towels (depending on whats available.)
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-J.Hill

back heat is simple and can be very effective. just be mindful of the snakes you're using it for.... i use it for my hatchling and yearling cal kings and have never had a problem. i tried it for my rosy boas and ran into all sorts of issues - they really need the belly heat.

just something to consider....

byron.d

So what you are asking is - if you just stack some shoeboxes in some sort of open cabinet like in the picture and run Flexwatt down the back, will it work? If the room is warm, perhaps. But in general, no.

A better approach for simply stacking shoeboxes is this: make a large enclosure of plywood with a door with an acrylic window. Mount a light fixture inside on one side of the ceiling or make a screened cutout on top to one side. Use a red heat bulb or ceramic emitter and a proportional controller. Then stack your boxes inside this enclosure. Now you have a mini temperature-controlled snake room of sorts.

The enclosure mentioned above doesn't have to be sealed or built perfectly. It is just to help hold the heat in. On the cool end, make adequate vents. That way the shoeboxes will have a cooler side to them.

The method described above is how I handled keeping baby snakes before I got a real rack for them. It was easy and very effective. The real benefit was, for some species, you could move them closer to the heat source if needed (like for baby boas.) And the cooler-tolerant species go on the bottom of the stack. I like that aspect better than racks. So much so that I don't have the racks anymore. I can use any box I want that fits. No worrying about the dimensions changing.

Byron makes a great point. Some types of snakes need access warm temps for digestion, warmer than other snakes. His mention of rosies is fitting IMO.
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Mark

The image would work fine if it were in a heated “reptile room” where you weren’t heating the individual enclosures. If you were to try to heat just the enclosures in the shelving you would have a difficult time doing it effectively with back heat.

The second issue is, personally I never liked stacking tubs on top of each other unless the stack of containers squeezed in snug. Losing a snake sucks. This is where buying a rack is beneficial. Most racks today are built with very precise tolerances and an escape is rare.

As far as a fire hazard I think there might be a bit of over reacting going on. The tubs (shoe/sweater boxes) in commercially purchased racks are the same anyone can buy in a store. The heat tape is the same that’s available from a dozen vendors here on king snake. There is no greater risk of fire then using a rack that was well made at home or purchased, provided you use a thermostat. The tubs will melt at the same temperature.

""As far as a fire hazard I think there might be a bit of over reacting going on. The tubs (shoe/sweater boxes) in commercially purchased racks are the same anyone can buy in a store. The heat tape is the same that’s available from a dozen vendors here on king snake. There is no greater risk of fire then using a rack that was well made at home or purchased, provided you use a thermostat. The tubs will melt at the same temperature.""

If there's just a stack of boxes sitting there how would you suspend tape behind them safely and securely? As you said snakes have been known to escape. I have had snakes turn half my room inside out knocking things over and to think of one dragging a strip of heat tape to the floor, in a knot, or god knows what else could be disastrous. Thermostats are madatory, but if things are not stabalized and secure it could easily be a fire hazard. I am not aware of any home owners insurance that will cover you if your house burns due to a fire concerning your reptile collection.
Tom Stevens
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TomsSnakes.com

Very true. But I did say "well made at home".

as for the home owners insurance, my friend had an insurance company tell her they would not insure her house until the light on her Uromastyx was secured to the tank itself so it couldn't hit the floor and the heat tape on her water dragon attached to the display tank...

Just something to keep in mind, because even if you already have insurance, if they find out there was a heat lamp or tape not secured, they won't pay out...

I bought one of the meta shelf units from walmart that have the rubber coated wire shelves. I then cut pieces of 1/2 inch thick foam board (fire retardent) to the dimension of the shelves and placed them over the wire shelving. I taped 3 inch fexwatt length ways across the back edge and attached it to a thermostat. The rear quarter of the sterilite shoe box sits on the tape and stays right at the 87-88 degree mark. The cool end has stayed pretty consistant with my room temp giving a good gradient. I occassionaly feel the bottom of the shoe box and it seems to be doing well.

I use paper towels for the substrate. This is easy for cleaning and doesn't require as much electricity to keep the temp where I need it. To keep the hatchlings from escaping I use the shoe box tops with small bungies around the middle (doesn't touch the flexwatt. My 8 little ones seem to be doing well as they are eating large fuzzies now and have moved 2 of them to larger enclosures because they have outgrown the shoe box and are eating small mice. It's not as nice as having a rack where you don't need the tops but the open "airness" helps dissipate the heat as well except for where I need it. My juvies and adults are in a rack.
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www.elmgrovereptiles.com

This is what I use for hatchlings while I get some size on them. I do not keep any larger snakes in tupperware or shoeboxes. For heat, I bought a UTH and glued it to a piece of glass. I is a few inches behind the shoeboxes and it works great to add some gentle heat.

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Diego

Diego & Tiffany's Zoo:
SNAKES
2.4.0 Corn Snakes (Different morphs)
1.1.0 Hypo Everglades Rat Snakes
2.1.0 Baird's Rat Snakes
1.2.0 Trans-Pecos Rat Snakes
1.1.0 Trinket Rat Snake
1.0.0 Japanese Rat Snake
1.1.0 Salt and Pepper Bull Snakes
0.1.0 Amel Pacific Gopher Snake
1.0.0 Het Amel San Diego Gopher Snake
0.1.0 San Diego Gopher Snake
3.2.0 Sonoran Gopher Snakes
0.1.0 Amel Sonoran Gopher Snakes
1.1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake
2.1.0 Gray Banded Kingsnakes (2.1 River Road)
1.0.0 Hypermelanistic California Kingsnake
0.1.0 Albino High White California Kingsnake
0.2.0 California Kingsnakes
1.1.0 Thayeri Kingsnake
0.1.0 Florida Kingsnake
1.1.0 Boa Constrictors
0.1.0 Dumeril's Boa
2.0.0 Rosy Boas (Mexican & Mid Baja)
1.1.0 Kenyan Sand Boas
0.1.0 Indonesian Dwarf Pacific Boa
1.1.0 Ball Pythons
1.0.0 Woma Python
1.1.0 Cape York Spotted Pythons
1.1.0 Macklot's Pythons
1.1.0 Western Hognoses
1.1.0 Red Sided Garter Snakes

LIZARDS
1.0.0 Frilled Dragon
3.1.0 Bearded Dragons (2 Normal, 1 RedXGold, 1 Citrus)
0.1.0 Eastern Collared Lizard
1.0.0 African Fat-Tail Gecko
0.1.0 Merauke Blue Tongue Skink
1.4.0 Leopard Geckos
1.0.1 Yellow Niger Uromastyx
1.1.0 Chuckwalla
0.1.0 Banded Gecko

FROGS
2.2.0 Southern Bell Frogs
1.0.1 Green Tree Frogs
1.0.0 Bubbling Kassina
1.1.1 White's Tree Frogs
0.0.2 Gold Frogs

I bought this box for $15 about 20 years ago in IKEA (a cheap/disposable furnture store).. I installed the 2 ceramic light sockets and a small fan to circulate the air. I use it to house hatchlings when all of my hatchling racks fill up..

Also, before I got a good incubator I used this box with the lightbulbs on a simple dimmer switch to hatch out hundreds of corn/king snake eggs...

I guess you could say it was worth the $15 investment!

~ Mike Russo

That's really nice, Mike! Gives me some nice ideas...
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Diego

Diego & Tiffany's Zoo:
SNAKES
2.4.0 Corn Snakes (Different morphs)
1.1.0 Hypo Everglades Rat Snakes
2.1.0 Baird's Rat Snakes
1.2.0 Trans-Pecos Rat Snakes
1.1.0 Trinket Rat Snake
1.0.0 Japanese Rat Snake
1.1.0 Salt and Pepper Bull Snakes
0.1.0 Amel Pacific Gopher Snake
1.0.0 Het Amel San Diego Gopher Snake
0.1.0 San Diego Gopher Snake
3.2.0 Sonoran Gopher Snakes
0.1.0 Amel Sonoran Gopher Snakes
1.1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake
2.1.0 Gray Banded Kingsnakes (2.1 River Road)
1.0.0 Hypermelanistic California Kingsnake
0.1.0 Albino High White California Kingsnake
0.2.0 California Kingsnakes
1.1.0 Thayeri Kingsnake
0.1.0 Florida Kingsnake
1.1.0 Boa Constrictors
0.1.0 Dumeril's Boa
2.0.0 Rosy Boas (Mexican & Mid Baja)
1.1.0 Kenyan Sand Boas
0.1.0 Indonesian Dwarf Pacific Boa
1.1.0 Ball Pythons
1.0.0 Woma Python
1.1.0 Cape York Spotted Pythons
1.1.0 Macklot's Pythons
1.1.0 Western Hognoses
1.1.0 Red Sided Garter Snakes

LIZARDS
1.0.0 Frilled Dragon
3.1.0 Bearded Dragons (2 Normal, 1 RedXGold, 1 Citrus)
0.1.0 Eastern Collared Lizard
1.0.0 African Fat-Tail Gecko
0.1.0 Merauke Blue Tongue Skink
1.4.0 Leopard Geckos
1.0.1 Yellow Niger Uromastyx
1.1.0 Chuckwalla
0.1.0 Banded Gecko

FROGS
2.2.0 Southern Bell Frogs
1.0.1 Green Tree Frogs
1.0.0 Bubbling Kassina
1.1.1 White's Tree Frogs
0.0.2 Gold Frogs