Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am interested in building a small snake rack system for 4 or 5 adult colubrids(gopher snakes, kingsnakes,etc.) and normally I would house them all seperately in their own terrarium. But now space is an issue and I can't have that many large terrariums with all the lighting, heating, etc. I have just recently started looking at rack systems and was considering building one myself. Boaphile and others sell nice racks but they would cost me five times as much as it would cost me to build it myself. So I had a few questions about building it myself:

1. What kind of wood should I use? I heard particle board(melamine veneer) can give off toxic fumes when heated.
2. How should I mount the heat tape? Along the back of the rack or underneath each individual bin?

Now here are my reservations: I'm a good carpenter but I know nothing about being an electrician. Installing the heat tape worries me. How safe is that stuff when installing it yourself(shorting out and fire hazard)?
Should I just break down and buy a professional PVC material rack and have the pros build it? If so, are there any affordable brands you recommend?

Thanks

Best I can tell you is just go on google and type in build snake rack or something of the sort.. I have 6 or 7 good cheap designs for them but i printed out and have no idea where they came from..

Almost every engineered sheet good has some sort of toxicity concern when heated, even the PVCX products. Even plywood. Honestly the formaldehyde in melamine coated particle board worries me more than the plastic off-gassing. But I have used it and would use it again. But that's just me, only you can decide what gives you peace of mind.
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Currently keeping a small collection of various Gonyosoma. Both G. janseni and G. oxycephala.

Consider using heat cable and a router for the heat - the router gets it down where the box doesn't have to slide over it, and that would eliminate your wiring concerns.
-Lee McMurtry

I have two racks. One I built myself and one I purchased from reptile basics. Purchasing from them was pleasureable and the rack has held up well for 2 years. The one I built myself I used hollow core doors and I am pleased with them. They are holding up well and are lightweight. I have seen plenty built out of melamine and noone has had any problems with fumes that I am aware of.

If you are a carpenter you should have no problem at all constructing your own, it's fairly easy. I have used back heat and belly heat. This depends more on your situation and ambient room temps. I would recommend keeping the room relatively warm and using the heat tape to suppliment. I'm not comfortable running the heat tape very hot and it's only recommended to run up to 95d F but will get much hotter if not on a rheostat.

The heat tape is easy to wire and doesn't require much electrical knowledge. I kept the part with the connections away from the tubs to ensure it wouldn't be around any moving parts.
There are some really good walkthroughs available for step by step construction. I believe I refered to rio bravo reptiles for a basic idea and modified it to my needs.

Hope this helps

You can use 2 x 4's and 2 x 2's with peg board for tops.

I've got some free plans on my site. Click the rack system link at the bottom of the home page.
link to plans