Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi.
I'm planning on building a small rack... only 5 shelves. I would like to house 2 ball pythons and 2 corns.
Since they are different species and require different heat gradients, is it possible to house them in the same rack?
How do we wire up the flexwatt? Would it have to be on 2 seperate thermostats?
We are pretty clueless, and have been looking at plans on this forum. I think we're going to go with Troy's ladder rack... and just adjust it to the size we need. We bought containers today, and I will have to order the heat tape and the other supplies.
I was hoping to get a few suggestions from you all... before I order!
Thank you all so much,
Mindy

I really need to order my supplies... and I don't want to order the wrong thing!

Before I start, let me encourage you to build a rack that is 4' tall. If you're building it yourself you won't be using any more material as lumber comes in 4' increments. Also, it will allow you to have the cornsnakes lower in the rack where it will be cooler (more on that later).

Also, it gives you room to expand in you get more snakes (happens to all of us).

But to your question...

It is possible to house them in the same rack.

You have several options. Note that not all of these options are mutually exclusive. It may be that you have to employ several of them to achieve your desired temps. Without knowing more details it is hard to recommend any combination of these options.

First, I'm not all that certain that cornsnakes will suffer at the temps required by ball pythons. It may not be ideal, but I think you could keep them at the same temps while you fiddle with some of my recommendations to get temps where you want them.

**First option**

I assume (hope) you're using a fairly large box for your ball python and not a typical 28 qt. to 32 qt. sweater box.

If so, one option will be to simply keep the cornsnakes on the lower shelves and run the heat tape vertically up the back. The upper most shelves will naturally be the warmest since heat rises. And due to the longer box the cornsnakes will have more opportunities to get away from the heat, if it is indeed still too warm on their shelves.

**Option 2**

You could also use attach some sort of heat shield to the back of the cornsnake tubs to reduce the amount of heat the cornsnake tubs receive.

If you want to use "belly heat" you'd have to attach some sort of material to the bottom of the cage to reduce heat transmission into the cage.

Whether you use belly heat or heat tape on the back will be partially determined by how cold the temp. in your room is. If it's in the 60's during the winter "belly heat" may be a better option.

**Option 3**

This option will work well with the "ladder rack" design. This design will not maintain heat well due to the open sides and back and you can use this to your advantage.

Keep the ball pythons on the upper most shelves and fill in the side gaps and the back of the rack with pieces of foil covered styrene insulation. On the cornsnake shelves, leave the back and sides open. This will cause the cornsnake shelves to lose some heat, thereby being cooler. How much this works will again depend on several factors that you'll have to observe.

**Option 4**

Use ultratherm heat pads. It will be more expensive but since you only have 4 snakes it's probably the easiest. Simply buy separate heat pads for each tub and control them individually with a rheostat.

**Option 5**

Similar to option 4. Use heat cable wrapped through grooves routed into the shelves. Simply wrap more coils underneath the ball pythons that the corns.

If one is too hot, simply remove a coil. Conversely, if one is not hot enough, add another coil.

Hope this gives you some ideas.

Thank you so much! I know you probably get sick of having to repeat the same info over and over again, but, I didn't see a post about housing 2 different types in the same rack.
Great advice, and I appreciate it! Oh, and btw, I have BIG 48quart underbed storage boxes... so, they're going to feel like they're moving into a mansion!
Thanks for your time,
Mindy

I'm glad to hear you're using 48 qt. boxes. I think that will be great for both species.

One thing I forgot to mention was to use cut spacers when building the ladder style rack. This has been discussed in several rack building threads. You'd probably only have to go back two or three pages if you're not already familiar with what I mean.

Most underbed storage boxes are fairly shallow with the lids off. This is good as it allows you to fit several tiers into a single 4' tall rack.

You can probably expect to be able to hold 6 or 7 boxes.

I do hope you take my recommendation for a 4' tall rack seriously. I can't tell you how many people I've advised on such matters who later were disapointed when they wanted to get more snakes and realized that had thrown material away. Heck, I'm currently consulting someone via e-mail on how to add two extra tiers to a rack that was only built with 5 tiers tall to begin with. Better to build it 4' tall to begin with.

Even if you don't use the space for snakes it will help with your heat gradiant and will give you storage space or a place to keep rheostats or thermostats.

You don't need to have all the shelves installed. Just build it 4' tall so you'll have the space to add them later.

Chris,

We're still trying to figure out this rack situation... we're acting like it's rocket science!

Anyway... a question about the heat cable. I think we're leaning toward using it, and I was wondering... with the idea you gave us about adding/removing a loop of cable to "control" the amount of heat... would that mean I would only need ONE thermostat? Would I just set the thermostat for the temp I would need for the B.P.'s and remove some of the cable for the corns? I know this may be a stupid question, but I want to get this right!
Also... how much heat does the cable put out? (how many loops do you think I would need for the B.P., as compared to the corns?)
You seem to be the "expert" on this forum... along with a few others! I would appreciate your opinion...

thank you,

Mindy

Yes, you would probably just use one thermostat, or possibly even a cheaper rheostat to control the upper most box in the rack.

The rest you would monitor to see how much cooler they were and adjust accordingly. You might even have to have more loops for the lower Ball Python.

As far as how many loops to use, there are many factors that will influence this and it's hard to answer. I've never used the product myself. I certainly would route enough grooves to cover half the floor of a box just to be safe.

Perhaps post another thread with "heat cable" in the title. I think MarkG would respond. He's the person to ask when it comes to all things heating around here.

I have no doubt that the absolute easiest way would be to use Ultratherms. It would be more expensive if you insisted upon thermostats, but I don't think they are necessary for UTH's since they don't get as hot.

Rheostats would work fine in conjunction with Ultratherms and are very cheap.

Thanks Chris... I'll try posting another message. I'm wearing myself out trying to figure this out! I really appreciate all of your help! Great advice! Thank you.