Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Anyone know the sizes for the Sterilite 12qt. and 28qt. tubs? I'm planning on building a hatchling/yearling ball rack and would like to know the dimensions of these tubs so I can make plans to build the rack. I've searched all over the internet and on Sterilite's website but can't find any dimensions.

Thanks for the info!
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Michael

seeing that you will at some point purchase these tub,why not now?

Very simple reason...I'm not exactly sure which tub I want to use and I was debating between a few...that's why I need the dimensions of the tub...plus it'll make the plans I'm drawing out for the rack easier to create.

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Michael

Hi Michael,

Long time to chat. Hope things are going well with you.

I know exactly which boxes you are talking about. I think they are distributed solely to department stores and not listed on their website. A friend of mine purchased several of these boxes and built a basic rack around them. He now regrets it. These boxes have raised feet on the bottom and the boxes start to sag/settle around the feet. I measured dozens of his boxes and their height varied by 3/8" of an inch since not all of them settled the same.

Even worse, the new boxes are already quite flexible. Even when placed in tight section of the rack you could use your hands to pull down on the boxes and increase the gap by at least 1/4". Fortunately he was only keeping juvenile blood pythons in these racks so they were unable to escpape. I'm not sure the same would hold true for juvenile ball pythons.

I strongly recommend you use sterilites 32 qt. box or see if Iris makes something similar. The problem with the 32 qt. box is that it is 6&3/8" tall and only 6 of them can be fit in a 48" tall rack if built from 3/4" material. With slightly shorter boxes one can fit 7 boxes in a 4' tall rack. Maybe not an issue for you.

The now discontinued rubbermaid 28 qt. box is still the best box for racks unless one is using 1/2" or 1/4" plastic to build their racks. In that case the 32 qt. Sterilite is a just as good.

Yes it's been a while since we last chatted. Everything is going great for me. I hope all is well for you on your end.

I knew you would be able to answer that dilemma for me. That was the problem I was thinking would happen with those Sterilite containers with the raised feet. I'll be going to Target and some other stores this weekend so I'm hoping to find some good decent tubs for my rack.

I also saw some Rubbermaid tubs...the 6.5 qt. which was 8"x14.5"x5"....the 12 qt. which was 10.5"x16"x6.25"....and of course the 32 qt. which is 15.5"x26"x6.5", and those were the only ones I saw at Lowes and Walmart. I may end up using those 12 qt Rubbermaids since the 6.5 qt looked a little too small. Although I may build a shelf with the 6.5 qt tubs for my leucistic ratsnakes and then have a combo of 12 qt and possibly either 28 or 32 qt tubs also.

Guess I'll decide this weekend once I find the exact tubs I want to use.

Thanks again Chris!! I appreciate your words of wisdom. Let me know if you have any more advice. Thanks and take care!

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Michael

No problem.

Whatever you do I recommend that you build a rack that holds both full and half sized boxes. This way a full sized can slide in width wise or the same level can hold two half sized.

These racks are also lighter since they use less material.

So you'll need to make sure the boxes have the same height. From the dimensions you listed the rubbermaids are different.

I would see if Office Depot or Office Max has any similar sized Iris boxes.

Chris,
I just went to The Container Store's website and found some boxes/tubs that may work well. The link is below. If you could, please check it out and tell me what your opinion is of these containers. I may try to use them, though not sure yet. Thanks again!!

www.thecontainerstore.com/browse/Product.jhtml?CATID=71227&PRODID=59840
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Michael

I scanned the site very quickly and only saw one box that was about the same size as the sweater boxes you are looking at. I believe they called it a boot box.

I did not see a half-sized box which would be helpful for the type of rack you are building.

At any rate, I have seen these boxes in person. They do have feet on the bottom but they are much more sturdily built than the sterilites that your original post was about.

I believe these boxes won't sag around the feet and will remain escape proof. However, the feet still prevent the boxes from sliding efficiently in and out of a rack. Not a huge deal but one to consider nonetheless.

I was in a Bed Bath and Beyond tonight and saw that Iris does have a sweater box in the 28 qt. range. I did not get to take a close look as the GF was in home shopping mode if you know what I mean.

Worth checking out. Reptiletubs.com carries a full line of Iris' products.