Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm in the process of building a rack that is similar to the design of Markus Jayne's rack. My question how much of a space should I leave between the shelf and the top of the tub. I initially was gonna just build it using the tubs w/ their lids on as spacers but after noting the height difference of 1/4" I wonder is that too much of a gap? Should I go with 1/8"? It's mainly going to be used to house adult BP's but I may have a juvenile in there too if there's an unused tub.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Shawn

For adult BP's you don't have a lot to worry about but juveniles can be a different story.

I always shoot for 1/8" gap. Any less and slight variances can lead to a box that does not slide well. Anymore and young animals can possibly escape.

I used to use the box without a lid and then a piece of 1/8" material that was slightly larger than the box itself. I found this does not work well and went to cutting melamine spacers that I use to set the distance apart in each tier. This makes rack building so much easier.

Given the size of the shelves in the Markus Jayne design having the boxes flex can be a problem.

What boxes are you using and what is their floor area (floor area, not the size of the box)? I'm building several large box racks for a friend and am looking for something long and shallow for part of his collection. Most of the under-bed storage boxes over 30" long are poorly constructed for my taste.

Thanks.

I'm using Sterilite 1760--48 quart clearview storage boxes. They measure 35 x 16 3/4 x 6. I didn't measure floor space. I thought that 1/4" might be too much for juvi's. So the top 1/8" sheet doesn't work? That's what I was gonna try. When I measured between to shelves I got 5 7/8 w/ top and 5 5/8 w/o the top. Spacers may be the only way to go.

thanks,

shawn

Thanks for the info on the box. I think I'm going to order some CB-110's from Reptiletubs.com.

I've included a link on rack building. Follow the link and scroll down. You'll see pictures showing the spacers.

By using a 1/8" piece of hardboard over a box you run the risk of the box flexing as you "work" the material and having an inconsistent gap along the length of the box. If you have slight variances from tier to tier you can create additional problems. I think this will be a bigger problem with the large shelves used for the rack you are building.

You can use the box with a piece of 1/8" material but I strongly believe that cutting spacers from melamine or MDF is the ideal way to go.

Good luck and let us know how the process goes.
rack spacers

I also use Sterilite 1760--48 quart tubs for my two "eating machine" racks. Here is a pic of my version of the rack similar to Markus Jayne's rack. When building them, I left a piece of cardboard under the tub so that I had a spacer to work with. It gave me approximately 1/8" of space and the tubs slide perfectly. Hope that helps!

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Michael