Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone! Okay I'm going to build my first snake rack do to my collection getting bigger I have a couple questions before I get everything I need to build it. First I need a cheap but reliable material to build the rack, I'm a a tight budget? I heard to use melamine, plywood, 2x4's, and my father is professional carpenter and suggested to use aluminium to build it? And second when installing the flex watt heat tape should I hang it on the back or lay it on the bottoms? Thanks, Scott

First off I suggest avoiding dimensional lumber has its rarely true and has the uncanny nature of warping as it does so.

I myself built a hatch-ling rack similar to Greg Maxwell's via his old sites instructions. www.finegtps.com I think thats it...

It is an enclosed rack design using heat rope in a routed channel. To save on weight I used 1/4" Baltic Birth ply for the sides and back. To give it a semi finished look I also faced the cut edges of the melamine shelves with strips of the BB ply. Total rack probably cost $150 to build, plus tubs of course.

Course like anything I don't have pictures...

It would probably help the suggestion process if you let us know what species you keep and what sort of rack you are looking to have for your collection.

As for the belly heat vs back heat, to me that depends on the rack and the user. I wouldn't recommend back heat in an open rack design...again that's me.

Cheers
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Jeremy Payne
JB Reptile

1.0 Snow "Kahl"
0.2 Triple Het Moonglow "Kahl"
0.1 Orange Tail Hypo Het Leopard
0.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow
1.0 Ghost
0.1 DH Ghost
1.1 "Kahl" Albino
1.0.2 Hypomelenistic
1.3 Pastel Hypo
0.1 Anerthrystic
0.0.2 Normal

1.1 Morelia Clastolepis

I'm using it for milksnakes and kingsnakes. I'm planning to build it in.

Consider the flexible design of using melamine shelves and threaded rod for the vertical supports.

I hope the guy with that setup posts a picture for you.

Having a rack that can adjust to different box heights is a great thing. Then you can lay Flexwatt on the shelf and raise the box up on felt pads so it clears the Flexwatt. Easy.

Basically, you cut the shelves to size to cover the top of the sweaterbox plus add at least 4 inches or more in width. Add a good 4 inches more than you need for depth. This way, you can adjust the size of the heated area under the box by sliding the box all the way back or all the way forward.

Drill holes in the 4 corners of the shelves for the rod to pass through. Use washers and nuts to secure the shelves to the rod. Start with bottom shelf (raised up from the floor to suit your needs), secure it, lay box on it, lay a piece of cardboard for spacing, then secure the next shelf. Etc, etc.
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Mark

>>Hi everyone! Okay I'm going to build my first snake rack do to my collection getting bigger I have a couple questions before I get everything I need to build it. First I need a cheap but reliable material to build the rack, I'm a a tight budget? I heard to use melamine, plywood, 2x4's, and my father is professional carpenter and suggested to use aluminium to build it? And second when installing the flex watt heat tape should I hang it on the back or lay it on the bottoms? Thanks, Scott

Here are some of my racks. I have used melamine, MDF, and birch plywood to build them. From left to right: Birch plywood rack for shoeboxes, sealed with polyurethane; MDF rack for 12 and 28 qt Sterilite tubs, sealed with self-adhesive shelf liner; two MDF racks for 32 qt Sterilite tubs, shelves sealed with polyurethane; Rack for 41 qt Sterilite tubs, melmaine for the shelves and birch plywood for the sides.

A couple more pics of my latest rack, the one for 12 and 28 qt tubs. It is made of MDF (medium density fiberboard), which I used plastic shelf liner (Contact Paper) to seal both sides of each shelf. I used iron-on birch edging to seal the front edges of the sides and shelves. The back is hardboard with a hole in each bottom corner, for heat cable. I think total cost was somewhere around $75 - $80.

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-Toby Brock
Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research

You or your father probably already know all about MDF, but just in case you don't...

I am not crazy about MDF, but I use it because I can't get 24" x 48" melamine sheets in my area any more - and MDF is flat, smooth, and straight. It is consistently flatter than the better grades of plywood, that I have been able to find.

When assembling MDF, be sure to pre-drill all screw-holes, or you will have a lot of splitting. Also use a good wood glue. I also like to counter-sink the screw-holes.

You will need to seal it with something, at least the shelves. I used Contact Paper brand plastic shelf liner, which is self-adhesive and sticks well. I have used polyurethane in the past, which once you have enough coats - seals MDF really well, and also seems to strengthen it somewhat. A jug of water-based polyurethane will cost a good deal more than a roll of shelf-liner, though.

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-Toby Brock
Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research

Toby,

Helpful post. I've also built just about every rack combination that you have. I'm curious to hear what your favorite is?

I still like 1/2" plywood sides, cheap bull-nosed melamine shelves and 1/8" pegboard for the back. I built a rack out of 1/2" Celtec PVCX last winter and that's pretty nice too but I'm not convinced it's worth the extra money for a rack.

Hey Chris,

Thanks for the response. I have thought seriously about using PVCX myself, but like you, I just wonder whether it is worth it. The best thing about a plastic rack (IMHO) would be the difference in weight from all of these other materials.

As for which is my favorite - hmm... I don't think I have built my favorite yet, to tell the truth! LOL For this last rack, I wanted to go with either 3/4" birch plywood (like I used for the shoebox rack), or 3/4" melamine - but had to settle for MDF, due to a few things.

The birch plywood I found was all warped, and I cannot find the 24" x 48" or even 48" x 96" panels of melamine any more - only 12" and 15" "shelves". Also, concerning birch plywood; I wish I had used something else for the shoebox rack, as I have found that even with polyurethaning, the shelves have done a bit of warping. Having said that though, I really like the look of polyurethaned birch plywood, and it goes really well with our floor. LOL

I actually think that the latest rack is probably my best so far, and only regret using shelf-liner rather than polyurethane. But - I really hate painting, and I am too impatient when building a rack, for waiting for coats to dry, sanding, etc... My skills are improving though, and if I could have made this rack out of melamine, it would have been just about perfect IMHO. I just bought some 5/8" x 12" melamine shelves, to build a rack for 9.5 cup Ziploc tubs. Pics as soon as I get around to putting it together.

Got any pics of the PVCX rack you built?
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-Toby Brock
Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research

This is the second time you've posted the inability to get melamine panels.

Where is it that your located, even the big box stores carry full sheets of white.

I just have a hard time believing you could be in a location that is more remote than I, and I have full access to the melamine catalog. Course anything aside form the norm, I'd have to order a full lift but I have the option.

Mind boggling...
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Jeremy Payne
JB Reptile

1.0 Snow "Kahl"
0.2 Triple Het Moonglow "Kahl"
0.1 Orange Tail Hypo Het Leopard
0.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow
1.0 Ghost
0.1 DH Ghost
1.1 "Kahl" Albino
1.0.2 Hypomelenistic
1.3 Pastel Hypo
0.1 Anerthrystic
0.0.2 Normal

1.1 Morelia Clastolepis

LOL! It is mind boggling to me too, Jeremy! I have no idea why melamine sheets are so strangely absent from the stores here, in Corpus Christi, TX. The last time I saw a full 4' x 8' sheet of melamine, it was melamine coated MDF at Lowe's (a couple years ago). I wanted to get some, but did not have a truck - and when I returned a few months later, there was no more melamine MDF! I used to be able to get 24" x 48" and 4' x 8' panels of the particle board melamine at any Home Depot in town, but like I said they just seem to have stopped selling it in the last couple years, and only have shelves now. I have also called so-called "specialty lumber stores" and cabinet shops in the area, without luck. One told me that they could order it, but they wanted an exhorbitant amount to do so. I could probably find it easily in San Antonio, about two hours drive north, but I really prefer to get stuff locally.
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-Toby Brock
Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research

If it was any day but Sunday I would have called but; there are almost a dozen cabinet shops in your area. I get mine from a cabinet shop, It's a big one so they outsource as well. Unless you need like 5 sheets at a time even the smaller guys stock melamine and its better quality than the foil faced stuff at Lowes or Home Depot.

I can get a sheet for $40 out the door, and its quality.

The one thing I can't get....plastic.

Cheers
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Jeremy Payne
JB Reptile

1.0 Snow "Kahl"
0.2 Triple Het Moonglow "Kahl"
0.1 Orange Tail Hypo Het Leopard
0.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow
1.0 Ghost
0.1 DH Ghost
1.1 "Kahl" Albino
1.0.2 Hypomelenistic
1.3 Pastel Hypo
0.1 Anerthrystic
0.0.2 Normal

1.1 Morelia Clastolepis

I know that I have called a few (although, not a dozen), and they did not have any. The last time I tried was probably a year ago or more...

I would have to order plastic as well...

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-Toby Brock
Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research

Did you talk to the buyer at the Lowes store? They can usually get a few sheets on a truck from the DI. Its not what you know its who you know...
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Jeremy Payne
JB Reptile

1.0 Snow "Kahl"
0.2 Triple Het Moonglow "Kahl"
0.1 Orange Tail Hypo Het Leopard
0.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow
1.0 Ghost
0.1 DH Ghost
1.1 "Kahl" Albino
1.0.2 Hypomelenistic
1.3 Pastel Hypo
0.1 Anerthrystic
0.0.2 Normal

1.1 Morelia Clastolepis

LOL! Okay Jeremy, you win - apparently I have not tried hard enough to get melamine in my area. I guess I just want to see it easy to hand - on the shelf, and waiting for me to load and buy. In the future I guess I will throw in a disclaimer that I have not done any really serious work to find the stuff...

I have thought about trying to get the local Home Depot (which is closest to my house) to see if they would get some 24" x 48" melamine for me, but have not. I guess I am just annoyed that they would stop stocking it...

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-Toby Brock
Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research

>>LOL! Okay Jeremy, you win - apparently I have not tried hard enough to get melamine in my area. I guess I just want to see it easy to hand - on the shelf, and waiting for me to load and buy. In the future I guess I will throw in a disclaimer that I have not done any really serious work to find the stuff...
>>
>>I have thought about trying to get the local Home Depot (which is closest to my house) to see if they would get some 24" x 48" melamine for me, but have not. I guess I am just annoyed that they would stop stocking it...

If you knew how hard I tried to find things only for them to be just beyond driving distance in 12 hrs, you'd know where I was coming from. I have to drive 130 miles to get to an Olive Garden.

Often particularly with box stores if the item doesn't ring up on the register more than a handful of times a year, corporate pulls it so the shelf could be better utilized.

Then again I know there is a few things on the shelf at the Home Depot back home that where there so long the paint fadded on the shelf. And you can't tell me that many people buy that fancy tool box at Lowes very often yet ther is always one on display. Granted something are required by vendor to display but really..

Good luck man.
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Jeremy Payne
JB Reptile

1.0 Snow "Kahl"
0.2 Triple Het Moonglow "Kahl"
0.1 Orange Tail Hypo Het Leopard
0.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow
1.0 Ghost
0.1 DH Ghost
1.1 "Kahl" Albino
1.0.2 Hypomelenistic
1.3 Pastel Hypo
0.1 Anerthrystic
0.0.2 Normal

1.1 Morelia Clastolepis

>>If you knew how hard I tried to find things only for them to be just beyond driving distance in 12 hrs, you'd know where I was coming from. I have to drive 130 miles to get to an Olive Garden.
>>
>>Often particularly with box stores if the item doesn't ring up on the register more than a handful of times a year, corporate pulls it so the shelf could be better utilized.
>>
>>Then again I know there is a few things on the shelf at the Home Depot back home that where there so long the paint fadded on the shelf. And you can't tell me that many people buy that fancy tool box at Lowes very often yet ther is always one on display. Granted something are required by vendor to display but really..
>>
>>Good luck man.
>>-----
>>Jeremy Payne
>>JB Reptile
>>
>>1.0 Snow "Kahl"
>>0.2 Triple Het Moonglow "Kahl"
>>0.1 Orange Tail Hypo Het Leopard
>>0.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow
>>1.0 Ghost
>>0.1 DH Ghost
>>1.1 "Kahl" Albino
>>1.0.2 Hypomelenistic
>>1.3 Pastel Hypo
>>0.1 Anerthrystic
>>0.0.2 Normal
>>
>>1.1 Morelia Clastolepis

Thanks Jeremy.

I think that is probably why the Home Depot here doesn't stock the larger sheets of melamine any more - they don't sell except to people like me, who are few and far between here. The shelf that used to have 24" x 48" melamine now holds 12" x 8' melamine planks.

So, I will ammend my original statement to, "I use MDF (instead of melamine) because I choose to make do with what I find on the shelf."
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-Toby Brock
Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research

Toby,

My wife changed the settings on her Flickr account and for some reason I can't copy to the image source to post the picture from my Flickr account. Don't have the time to figure it out right now.

BTW, the rack is only four levels tall, not five. It holds two, 12 qt. boxes per level or one 28 qt. box.

It has sagged every so slightly in the last year but is still holding a pair of hatchling Santa Cruz Dwarf Gophersnakes. As I'm sure you know they're pretty small for a Pituophis spp and they have not escaped.

I'm going to stick with melamine for the shelves from now on. In part because they are sturdy enought for cages or hatchling racks to be stacked on top of.

But I also plan to switch to the Cambro Polycarbonate Food Pans and Food Boxes. They are heavier and cause PVCX to flex more.

They are basically unbreakable so no more having to worry about replacing a broken box and finding out what you've used for years is now an 1/8" taller and won't fit.

I'll see if I can remember how to post pictures from Flickr later on.

Or if you just want to copy and paste the URL.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17271433@N00/3399386719/

That is a sharp and very professional looking rack, Chris! Thanks for the URL - great series of build pics too.

BTW, where did you get the Santa Cruz Dwarf Gophers? I haven't seen them for sale in a long time.
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-Toby Brock
Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research

I got them from John Ginter. I don't believe he'll mind me mentioning his name is association with pumilus. He was a great guy to deal with.

I saw my first specimen almost 25 years ago at the Steinhart Aquarium in Northern California. Since I've always had a liking for small snakes they burned a vivid memory in my mind. I got a Pale Milksnake a year and a half ago and it recharged my interest in small Colubrids and Erycines and I decided to track down a pair of Dwarf Gophers. And I'm glad I did.
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Currently keeping:

3.5.5 Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Javan, mixed colors)
0.0.3 Rhynchophis boulengeri
0.4 Lampropeltis triangulum multistriata
0.0.3 Rhamphiophis rubropunctatus
2.1.2 Morelia viridis
1.0 Morelia clastolepis
1.1 Coelognathus flavolineatus
1.1 Pituophis catenifer pumilus
1.2 Charina bottae
1.1 Lichanura trivirgata

Thanks Chris!

I first noticed them a few years ago, and then forgot about them. I have always liked Pits, but due to space I am limited to keeping mostly small snakes - so thanks to you, they are on my wish list again. LOL I'll have to look John up soon...
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-Toby Brock
Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research