I'm visiting a friend in another state this week and building racks for him. He and I shopped all over for boxes and decided on the Rubbermaid 2220 and 2221 series for several reasons...
For reference, the 2221's are the 28 qt. sweather boxes and the 2220's are half that size. When building a rack with width-wise insertion, two of the 2220's can fit in a tier side by side or one 2221 can be inserted.
1) They are relatively unchanged for the last 16 years. I purchased one of these Rubbermaids in 1987 for a cornsnake and it still fits in racks I built last summer. It is a bit tighter but it still fits. Sterilite boxes, on the other hand, seem to change dramatically every year or two. Dramatically enough that the height changed by 1/2" or more.
2) 2221's and 2220's do not have raised "feet" on the bottom. I built a test rack around a Sterilite Box my friend found at Walmart that had 6 raised feet on the bottom. The bottom of the box sagged around these feet and the height of the box varied by 3/32" from one end to the other. Even worse was that once in the rack the boxes could easily be pulled down so that the area around the feet could touch the shelf. Once in the rack a Sharpie marker could easily be sqeezed through into the box. This is unacceptable for snakes.
3) The height is just low enough that 7 tiers can be built into a 4' tall rack. Sterilite does make a box with a flat bottom but a) it's out of production and b) it's tall enough that only 6 tiers can be built into a 4' tall rack.
Given that lumber comes in 4' increments I think this is an important feature.
4) They are durable. The newer ones have not held up as well as my 16 year old model but they are still tough.
***********problem with 2220's and 2221's************
1) Hard to find and often have to be ordered. I'm in Denver this week and have been to several stores and have only found 4 of the 2221's.
2) Most 2220's are slighly taller than the 2221's. For me this is not a problem and even a benefit. Theroretically most snakes in the 2220's will be smaller than snakes in a 2221. So the tall height makes for a tighter fit in a rack. For the novice builder who often makes the mistake of building the racks too "tight" this can be a huge problem.
With my most recent purchase of Rubbermaids the height has been the same, hower.
Sorry to get so lengthy with this response. I've been building racks for so long and see all of the common mistakes made. One big mistake is using some box that is odd in design or only available for a year. There was a period of time when the 2220 series were not made and many keepers turned to other boxes. Just a few years ago on this forum a very common topic was how someone's rack was useless now that the box they used was out of production and all of theirs had broken.
*************Question for Rob Jenkins****************
I went to a Lowes this week and saw all the shelving components you used for your rack. I did not buy them because at the time I thought we would not be using the Rubbermaid boxes. By the time I purchased full sheets of melamine we had found the Rubbermaids and obviously could not go back.
From my quick measurements it appeard that the shelves were not quite as wide (deep) as a Rubbermaid 2221. So my two-part question is 1) is this the case and 2) did you do anything to account for it?
If it is a problem I think it could easily be accounted for by tacking a simple frame onto the back and attaching a back to it.
I think your design is excellent and great for people who don't own a lot of tools. However, I want to know all the facts before I recommend it to others. I get a lot of e-mails about racks and plan to recommend your design.
Sorry if you covered this in your previous thread. I've not been able to reach that thread in the KS archives.
