Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I see a lot of people with racks. Now having a rack confuses me (I'm new to all this by about 1 week, my son owns the snake) as it seems to defeat the purpose of having a pet. I can see a rack used for breeding and raising younglings to sell but it doesn't seem to me to be much for 'showing off' your pet. It looks more like a filing (cabnet) system.

I'm pretty sure that people with racks are not inhumane but if that was the first and only thing I knew/saw at first encounter, then that would probably be my initial mindset.

So a question if you please, is the rack a better way to house your pet or is it just a way to store your medals (a glass case of pinned butterflies comes to mind). I'm not trying to start an arguement or condemning anything, I'm just trying to understand the reason for the rack system. Granted, snakes probably will never need a lap pool or a swingset (maybe a trampoline tho') but it just seems a bit wrong to keep them in such small containers.
Thanks for any info and putting up with my newbie-ness.
-Jim

The rack system is just a more efficient way to keep reptiles. Most herps especially ball pythons spend the majority of their lives in burrows, under rocks, in nooks and crannies and can be stressed when placed into a larger enclosure, inducing anorexia, respitory problems, etc. Not to mention tanks are harder to control temp, humidity, etc. And have you ever tried to clean a fish tank versus a rack system container, they are just not as easy to maintain. That being said a tank is fine when you have one animal to concentrate on, once you get your temps, humidity, hide spots set, a herp can spend an entire lifetime happy and healthy in the proper tank setup. The main problem is most of us who've been bitten by the bug so to speak, can't stop at just one. So times that tank by even just five animals (which need to be housed seperately) and you've got a wall of hard to clean hard to get into and harder to keep secure enclosures. Where as with the rack system, one rack half the space, half the cost, easier maintenance. As long as the animal is health and feeding a tanks fine. But when the collection grows . . .and it probably will, the racks the only way to go. Cleaner cages, less stress for humans and herps, easier to control, security ( I can count on one hand how many escapes I've had in a rack sytem that werent user error.....none, but how many of us lost snakes due to poor brick placement LOL)
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Primeval-Beauty
"Finding beauty where other's fear to tread"

Here is something I wrote up a long time ago on the subject for some friends that where facing local regulation.
Rack Housing

Thanks for sharing this!

>>Here is something I wrote up a long time ago on the subject for some friends that where facing local regulation.
>>Rack Housing

Just a thought - a 34" by 16" rubbermaid tub might actually hold 10 gallons but when I first read that I thought you meant it had the footprint of a 10 gallon aquarium. Maybe stick to using quarts instead of gallons to avoid confusion?

Otherwise, well written!

~jenny
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"We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words."
- Anna Sewell (1820-1878)

Ah, I guess I'm thinking too much like a human then! Gotta make the tank all 'pretty' for the room...;>
Thanks for the info!
-Jim

The biggest thing to consider is how many snakes do you plan on getting? And don't say one, cuz you won't stop at just one, I promise. If you only get like 2 or 3 then go ahead a build a pretty 'tank-like' enclosure. Something you'd be proud to display in the living room.

But if you think you'll end up with more than 5 or so, might as well build a rack system. So much easier. I'm almost as excited about my new rack system as I am about my balls pythons themselves! And about your post below. The heat tape will not melt the plastic. The heat tape only needs to be somewhere around 88-92 degrees, depending on the room temp.
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1.0 Pastel Ball
1.1 Het VPI Axanthic Balls
1.1 Het Albino Balls
0.0.2 Red Tail Boas
1.0 Albino Nelsoni Milksnake
1.1 Room mates
2.2 Dogs
0.1 Cat

I dunno about heat tape not melting the plastic. I bought a 4 tier rack unit that came with 3 or 4 inch wide heat tape, I put it on a rheostat because it was getting the tubs to 130 degrees. With the rheostat in place and all the way down (minium) the rack was still at a whopping 120 degrees, so i then added a plug in dimmer, but with no success the tub still maintained a constant temperature of 108 degrees, which cause two of the tubs to melt where it sat over top of the heat tape. This cause one of my breeder females to sustain minor burns, she has since recovered and is doing well. Im sure there are many factors, maybe poor rack design, to high of wattage heat tape, or loose connections (though i didn't see any). Whatever the case may be heat tape does have the potential to melt a tub.

I'm sure it does have the potential, but if set up properly, it should never melt plastic. Something was very wrong with your set up.
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1.0 Pastel Ball
1.1 Het VPI Axanthic Balls
1.1 Het Albino Balls
0.0.2 Red Tail Boas
1.0 Albino Nelsoni Milksnake
1.1 Room mates
2.2 Dogs
0.1 Cat

Like I said there may have been something wrong maybe the tape was to close to the tub, too high of a wattage, etc. I'm just stating that heat tape has the potential to melt a tub. I later figured out the the cut-out for the heat tape in the rack was not deep enough which is what caused the heat tape to touch the tub and melt it.

Well put Steve I had many escapees when I had 4 or 5 bps in different tanks but as you said with the rack system not one.
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Damian Macioce
www.strongholdreptiles.com