Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I think NOT....but the time has come when i have run out of room in my house to squeeze even one more tank in anywhere. We really don't care for the shoebox type rack systems out there and want to keep our snakes in tanks, 10gal, 20gal long, and 30gal. If there are any herpers out there that feel the same and have built any racks for tanks, if you have any pics i would love to see them just to get some ideas.

I currently keep:
1.1 colombian red tail boas
3.3 ball pythons
0.1 brazilian rainbow boa
2.2 corn snakes
0.0.2 texas rat snakes
1.1 green iguanas
0.1 leopard gecko
1.3 dogs
2.1 teenagers
1.0 husband

*note: The red tails will not be in the rack since they have larger tanks

I just bought a cheap set of shelves from Lowes that have adjustable shelves so you can change the size. I do not remember them being that expensive and they can hold quite a few tanks depending on sizes. Andy
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Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Who are you who can say it's ok to live through me? Alice In Chains

Why do you like tanks over plastic boxes? I used to use tanks but couldn't stand all the cleaning and heavy lifting. Now my enclosures are only as heavy as the snake inside and they all fit in the dishwasher. Curious as to other opinions.
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International Snakes Meetup
International Herpetology Meetup

I'm probably going to be switching from tanks to plastic, but most of my snakes are burrowers and are under the substrate most of the time anyway. I understand people wanting to be able to SEE their snakes without opening a lid.

I've kept snakes in tanks for 15 years and finally made the switch to racks and a Boaphile cage. I think the Boaphile makes a nice display cage for my least timid snake (7' Taiwan Beauty). The tubs in the rack are SO much easier to keep clean. I can clean 11 rubbermaid/sterilite tubs in about 30 minutes. It used to take me 30 minutes just to clean out a couple of 20 long glass aquariums because I had to haul them outside. I also broke a couple of aquariums over the years and don't ever want to repeat the experience. Most of my snakes don't appreciate me or my cats looking at them much- unless it's feeding day then they're looking at me- so they do seem more relaxed in the semi-translucent tubs. I also find it much easier to maintain humidity in tubs vs glass tanks.
Lora

As well, you can get the same surface area at a fraction of the cost. I think some people believe that it is "inhumane" to use small rubbermaids and racks, but some of those sweaterboxes are pretty big and can totally accomodate almost anything you want to put in them. andy
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Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Who are you who can say it's ok to live through me? Alice In Chains

Hey Andy!

I used to have about 12 20 gallon tanks in my snakeroom along with my racksystem of rubbermaids. Man.....I am so glad that I got rid of those tanks! They are cool in the way that the glass is crystal clear, but cleaning those sucked bad and my bad back was hurting from hauling those to the tub to wash.

My life changed when I bought these killer sweaterboxes at The Container Store. They are like 38 x 18 x 6. Perfect for all my adult pits! I have them stacked cause I don't have a rack built for them though. But they are really good and see through, and cleaning one takes all of 5 minutes at the most.

When I got rid of all of my tanks except 1 bigger one that holds a nice 6 ft pine, I had all my snakes in half the room that I had the tanks! Do you know what that meant? MORE SNAKES!

So now, I am able to house 29 comfortably in my snake room and I have room for more, thanks to these killer sweaterboxes.

Billy
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Genesis 1:1

Well, first off, I'd get a big cage for the iguanas so that you don't do all this adjusting for space and realize one day that you have no place to put a larger cage when they need it.

Second, I think that something like gorilla racks would be good for stacking, but there are plenty of other options out there. Vision Cages, Boaphile Plastics, Neodesha Cages, etc...

And finally, how is keeping the husband and the teenagers in aquariums working out? I would like to look into that myself for the future

>>I think NOT....but the time has come when i have run out of room in my house to squeeze even one more tank in anywhere. We really don't care for the shoebox type rack systems out there and want to keep our snakes in tanks, 10gal, 20gal long, and 30gal. If there are any herpers out there that feel the same and have built any racks for tanks, if you have any pics i would love to see them just to get some ideas.
>>
>>I currently keep:
>>1.1 colombian red tail boas
>>3.3 ball pythons
>>0.1 brazilian rainbow boa
>>2.2 corn snakes
>>0.0.2 texas rat snakes
>>1.1 green iguanas
>>0.1 leopard gecko
>>1.3 dogs
>>2.1 teenagers
>>1.0 husband
>>
>>*note: The red tails will not be in the rack since they have larger tanks

Thanks for all the replies to my post. The reason i want to use the glass tanks is that ALL of the snake i keep are truly pets and are handled on a regular basis. I want to try to keep them in as natural an enclosure as i can and still be able to watch them. Eventually we will probably switch to the plastic rack systems, but for now the tanks work for us. I believe i am fortunate to have a husband who is good at building things. So far he has built the two 4 1/2 ft. iguanas a really nice cage that is 6'x5'x3', and 2 racks for the tanks and is working on the 3rd this week

We use metal industrial racks and set up our tanks that way. They are stong enough to hold the weight and you still have the ability to get in each tank with out any hastle. The racks can be bought at places like home depot but you have to find the larger racks for big tanks and the run about 50 bucks a rack. Serch for metal shelves and racks and go from there. Just another option. scott