Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ARE RACKS ESCAPE PROOF?

That's a vague question...

There are some species who can escape from a well-built lidless rack made from melamine. Two that I would avoid putting in at all costs are Coral Snakes and Scarlet Kingsnakes.

I would also avoid juveniles of many colubrid species in typical melamine racks - especially juvenile grey-banded kingsnakes.

If the racks are made from plastic then the list of species grows a bit. I already know of a guy with plastic racks from a well known manufacturer who has his adult Elaphe bimaculata escaping on a regular basis. It's in a tight room so he's not worried about it for now. I will not name the what brand of rack it is.

I will say that the best built plastic rack I've ever seen were the ones offered by Jason's Jungle. If you keep small colubrids and want an escape proof rack I'd look no further than him. I've seen about 4 different brands of plastic rack on the market and his were the best by far.

Lastly, racks are not always escape proof for the babies of small, live-bearing snakes.

However, with all that said, I've never had a snake or a baby escape from any rack I've built. I've had racks in use now for 10 years in zoos and every sort of snake has been kept in them. No escapes.

So your answer really depends on 1) what species, 2) whether or not they snakes are adults, 3) what the rack is made of, and 4) how well it's built.

I should clarify what I meant about Jason's Jungle. What I meant to say was that if you want a *plastic* rack and not a melamine rack, and you need it to be escape proof for small colubrids, then I'd go with Jason's Jungle.

Well made melamine racks will be more escape proof than most plastic racks. Jason's Jungle is a likely exception to that. If you're not keeping small colubrids all these issues are less important.

Lastly, I wrote: "I will not name the what brand of rack it is."

That's an awful sentence. I meant to say "I will not name the brand of the rack..."