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What does everyone think of this new idea?

One of the toughest parts of breeding season for me has always been feeding the males and females during breeding. All those males have to be removed for feeding. All those males need a place to go and few of my males are permanently kept in the same area as the females. So I do a lot of walking and or stacking temporary stacks of tubs in the isles for males. NO MORE!

Customers often have the best ideas! Bradley Boa asked me once, "Hey Jeff. Instead of just a pedestal to put the cages on, why can't you make short racks to keep the males in for the cages to sit on?" What a great idea. Some of the greatest innovations we have been fortunate to pioneer are the direct result of such questions. Brad's question set me to planning. Brad made the suggestion and I just had to make it work. I did it first for some of my own that have oversized pedestals. These pedestals were all already set up. I made a jig to route a hole in the front. Built up runners for the racks to rest on inside the existing pedestals. Slid them in, wired them up, screwed them down and badda boom badda bang! I'm in business! We don't actually offer any for sale yet. The only problem we have had was finding the perfect tub. We have not been able to do that yet so have designed a two or three high rack that uses the old standby Rubbermaid 2221 Blanket Box tub. I am making a mess of those for myself next week. I'll post pictures of them when they are ready. Thanks Brad for the suggestion!

What do you think of these? A bit dusty but you get the idea. Four drawers under each stack that carries four cages. These particular tubs are 40 quart tubs and suitable for males up to 5'. I am just moving males into these racks today for the first time. A couple meals in these boys and it's BREEDING TIME!!!

Drawers in:

Here is a stack in a different isle before I cut the holes in for the new pedestal racks:

I wish we could find a tub that was around 22" square and short like a blanket box tub. If anyone knows of such a thing, I would love to hear about it. It would make for much more efficient use of the space below a standard 4' long cage. We are not offering any for sale yet, so this not an advertisement but what does everyone think about the concept?
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I always pictured either a CB70, maybe a CB110 long wise across a 12" pedastal. That's only 2 males per stack, but generally running one male with a female or two, this would work out. That would leave a bit of "trim" around the tubs, but putting supports alongside this cut out area would go a long way toward supporting the upper cages so that wouldn't be a bad thing. It's a great idea, I'm sure you'll get it all hammered out. It would be great if you could come up with a quick way to alter existing pedastals so prior customers could possibly bring pedastals to a show to be converted, at a small fee of course, or some way for them to upgrade without scraping the pedastals they now have. One reason to go with one company vs. another IMO is constantly changing styles, materials. If I buy a rack or stack today, I want to be able to match it exactly if I buy another stack next year. I hate when cage companies stop producing a style or change it visually from what you bought previously. Then your set up looks "goofy" since a uniform set up looks much better IMO. Good luck getting it all dialed in, are you going to be at Tinley again this year?

I think it will put the old pedastels into the Halls of Val-Halla. Where the great ideas of the past live forever, and new ideas come up to replace the elders. heehehehe Glue who neeeds glue... xanax works just fine..... corny and in left feild..... sorry... lol

Robert Wood

and my Dad still doesn't wear womans clothes Jeff... heheh/...
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when can i send my old ones back for the new ones lol

Good idea. Especially for people with larger collections.
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Great idea Jeff!!!

Seems better use of the pedestal!

Andy
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All I can say is that Brad is an all right guy!! Jeff they look good. I hope to see you in Chicago. Take care Brad

I think it would be good to have shelves under there for supplies, water bowls etc. Would also be nice to be able to hide all the electrical stuff in there. Such as running the heat tape cords in the back of it and have the ranco and power strip inside rather than hanging out the back.
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Mark Kennedy

killer box for that sort of thing is the iris 30 qt buckle box. 22 inches long, slick inside for easy cleanup, top of the rim is even [no low spot for your snake to work his nose into], and makes a great transport by just clipping on the lid. they are available at office max [iris] and office depot [under the office depot brand name] both companies deliver, great idea indeed. kd