Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am thinking of switching from a mountain of various sized aquarium tanks to a plastic tub rack. I am worried that the snakes won't be happy in the tubs. Obviously it doesn't give them much climbing room or anything like that, but my mom told me that she's really worried it is inhumane to the snakes to keep them in tubs. My snakes are happy in their tanks, but are constantly hiding anyway, except for a couple of my young BRBs and they sometimes climb around on branches. Just wanted some input from the pros. Btw, it would be about 9 snakes ranging from tiny baby solomon island boas to a 4 foot red tail.

There's nothing inhumane about using tubs. In fact, after using both tubs and aquariums, I find that my snakes do better in the tubs. They are actually more active in the tubs, but they don't crawl around the edges constantly trying to escape the way they do in aquariums.
For vertical space, you might try using a taller tub, such as the tall Sterilite boxes from Wal-Mart, Target, etc. My brother has ratsnakes in tubs like this and he attaches dowels and branches using screws drilled through the plastic so the snakes have plenty of room to climb.
If you're handy, you can build a rack yourself to get exactly what you want. Here are some pics of a 10 level rack I designed and built for 41 qt.Sterilite tubs. I houses some of my milks and kings. The shelves are made from pre-cut melamine shelves from Lowes. I added a 1x2 spacer board along each edge to make the shelves wide enough to fit the tubs and also to help stabilize the whole thing (so it doesn't wobble).

Good luck!

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http://www.mikefoux.com
http://www.cafepress.com/shedz

1.2.0 Hondurans Het Amel
1.1.0 Hondurans Anery, Het Hypo
0.1.0 Honduran Hypo
0.1.0 Honduran Hypo, Het Anery
0.2.0 Pueblans
1.0.0 Pueblan Hypo
0.1.0 Corn Bloodred
0.0.1 GBK Blair's Phase
1.0.0 California King
0.1.0 California King Blue-eyed Blond
0.0.1 Speckled King WC
0.0.1 Jungle Carpet
0.1.0 Ball, Normal
1.0.0 San Diego Gopher, Poss. Het Applegate
0.0.1 Sulcata
0.1.0 Wife, Caucasius Mexicana

Nice rack - looks very economical and sturdy. I like the design; I've been putting off making one myself for 41QT tubs but seeing your design I may have to begin making mine soon. What size screws did you use to fasten the 1X4 post to the 1X2 spacer and melamine board?

Nice job,
Jim

Here's a pic of the exact screws I used. I pre-drilled and countersunk all the holes, which took a long time, but I feel was worth the extra effort.

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http://www.mikefoux.com
http://www.cafepress.com/shedz

1.2.0 Hondurans Het Amel
1.1.0 Hondurans Anery, Het Hypo
0.1.0 Honduran Hypo
0.1.0 Honduran Hypo, Het Anery
0.2.0 Pueblans
1.0.0 Pueblan Hypo
0.1.0 Corn Bloodred
0.0.1 GBK Blair's Phase
1.0.0 California King
0.1.0 California King Blue-eyed Blond
0.0.1 Speckled King WC
0.0.1 Jungle Carpet
0.1.0 Ball, Normal
1.0.0 San Diego Gopher, Poss. Het Applegate
0.0.1 Sulcata
0.1.0 Wife, Caucasius Mexicana

Thanks for the photo. Again - nice job.

Jim

I have been using rack systems for about 5 years now and I love them. All of my snakes are active in the tubs just like they were in glass tanks. It is a lot more space saving and much easier to clean. It is also much cheaper to heat. I would say go for it and use the rack systems.

Kyle
Kyles Reptyles
www.freewebs.com/kyleherp/