Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, its been a few years and my 32 qt PVCx racks are holding just fine. No warping, sagging or bowing. I like PVCx...it's fantastic to work with (just don't breath in the dust, always wear a mask when cutting it). In fact, my good friend and fellow snake breeder, John Yocum of Zoo-otics.com flew me out to his place this past summer to build a bunch of these racks for his snake room! He LOVES them as it has cut down on his cleaning time 10-fold! Anyway, I have been home for the past several weeks recovering from my 4th & final major abdominal surgery. I was recently feeling up to finally building these 41 qt racks. I've had the materials lying around forever. They'll mainly be used for dwarf boa projects and a few other things like my black pines. I'm very pleased with how they turned out and the fact that each slot has a spot for providing belly heat is a huge plus. I think I'm just about done with the rack building business for a while. It has taken a lot out of me.lol.

It's been a few years since talking with Chris Harper about building a reptile room and now it's just about filled to max capacity.lol. What started as a dream/idea has become a reality. I have the link below showing start-to-finish pics of my herp room progress. I have tried to share my experiences with others and hopefully I have been helpful to a those looking to cut costs while NOT cuting corners with respect to husbandry.

Anyway, ENJOY and as always feel free to ask questions!
Happy Holidays,
Jason

Racks in use...


Side View

back view (note the slots for heat pads)

-----
Sincerely, Jason
www.NortheastSnakes.com
NortheastSnakes@verizon.net

Edited on December 19, 2007 at 19:46:20 by PHGinger.

Wow Jason, another surgery? I'm sorry to hear that and hope everything is sorted out. I remember talking to you after your last one.

Good work on the racks. What are you paying for a sheet of 1/4" nowadays?

And why do some levels have a double layer of PVCX and others (near the top) only have one?
-----
Currently keeping a small collection of various Gonyosoma. Both G. janseni and G. oxycephala.

About a 1 1/2 ago I pulled an upper-abdominal hernia that occassionally strangulated my intestines. I did it lifting heavy stuff while doing work around my yard. Over the past year, the problem put me in the ER twice and required the work of two surgeons to fix...it was another 6-8 hr surgery. Ugh. As long as I take it easy, I should be okay now. However, I'm only 31 yrs old and I've always been hyper so its very hard for me to take it easy at times.

Last time I negotiated, I got the price down to about $50 per 4x8' sheet through E&T Plastics. E&T has about 6 sites around the country. Their link is in my FAQ section. I think the more sheets you order, the cheaper they'll price it. But the biggest bonus...precision cuts for free! They're customer service is great too!

Good Eye! Only 1 rack doesn't have the double layer of PVCX (and as you pointed out, its the rack on the left...it's the 2nd slot from the top). I simply ran out of pvcx to make that particular shelf a double layer. The very top sheet doesn't need a double layer since nothing is above it & I don't need to provide 'top heat' for the animal in the top slot.

Plus, I didn't want to pay for another 4x8' sheet of PVCx when I only needed 1 shelf. Therefore, of the two racks, one has a slot that will not have belly heat. I placed it near the top since I was worried about sagging, without the support of wood sandwiched between the layers. It would probably be a lot more noticeable if I had the racks right up against one another (side-by-side)...however, I have that support pole in between them so you don't see the 2-3 inch discrepency in height. I have an old normal male ball python that will be residing in that particular slot.
-----
Sincerely, Jason
www.NortheastSnakes.com
NortheastSnakes@verizon.net

Thanks for the update. How many snakes do you have nowadays? It must be quite a few.

I remember our conversation about snake rooms. I have mine built as well but it is nowhere near capacity and I'm happy to keep it that way. I'm going to go in the opposite direction and just build a few naturalistic display cages and make the room my escape from the world.
-----
Currently keeping a small collection of various Gonyosoma. Both G. janseni and G. oxycephala.

What did you use to heat those racks they are very nice and that room is awsome.

Tom

Tom, Thank you for the kind comments. I'm not exactly sure what I'll be using for heat pads. I purposely left enough room to try out a few different brands. I may even design something of my own. Either way, I tried to keep enough space to keep things safe. As always, I super paranoid about heating & electrical fires when it comes to this stuff since my snake room is in my home.
-----
Sincerely, Jason
www.NortheastSnakes.com
NortheastSnakes@verizon.net

AWESOME racks and reptile room. Hope one day to have that. The only problem is making the "other half" want it also. You have any pointers for that...lol
And try and take it easy,,,,

David
-----
Ball Python
Jungle Carpet Python
Eastern King
Mexican Black King
Sonoran Gopher
Aberrent Cal King
Anduran Milk
Hypo Brooks
Amel Motley Corn
White Sided Bull
Striped Pacific Gopher

I love the smell of aspen shavings in the morning...lol

"To serve man..it's...it's a cookbook!"