Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,

Just an opinion question for those more experienced than I (I'd imagine that to be most of the people on this forum )

I just started getting into the hobby the beginning of this year. I already have two snakes (a blood and a ball) and am planning on getting another blood some time in the next month or so. The snakes are currently housed in converted aquariums with one thermostat controlling the temps in both. After realizing that I would probably have to buy another thermostat to regulate the temps in the new blood's enclosure, I began to consider building a rack system.

In the opinion of those more experienced on the forum, is this more trouble than it's worth? I'm not planning on breeding any snakes any time soon. The rack would really just be for my theoretical future collection, and possibly for the snakes I currently have, if I decide to move them.

Thanks for any opinions you all can offer,

Kitt

My breaking point (and what I would classify as a decent one in general) was at 4 snakes. Only catch is that they need to be of the same variety of at least with the same heat requirements. If you have a cornsnake and a sand boa for example, their heat requirements are substantially different, probably almost 10 degrees. They would not be good candidates to share a rack.

Overall, the ease of the racks (IMHO) are worth every penny, whether it's one you make or one your buy. I love the fact that the entire setup I use for my snakes is less than $6 ($5 for a 32-quart tub, 70 cents for a water bowl holder, and 5 cents for the water bowl). This makes having spares on hand very affordable. I keep a stack of clean tubs available. When a snake dirties it's tub, I take it out but it in a clean tub, then stack the dirty tubs until I have 3 or 4, then clean and sterilize them, then put them back in 'standby' for the next time I need them. It's very efficient.

If you're in to having a 'pretty' setup with the rocks/driftwood/fancy water bowl/etc., then a rack probably isn't for you, it's definitely for functionality and consistency moreso than for having a 'pretty' setup.

Hope this helps and best of luck,
Jason @ Jason's Jungle

That's a good question but not an easy one to answer.

Right now I only have 11 snakes, 7 are in a rack and 4 juveniles are stacked in rubbermaids on top of the rack. Even now I'm thinking that the 4 juveniles would be better off in a rack. The species in question is very fast and aggressive and working with them from a rack is just easier.

In a nutshell, I really have no desire to keep snakes in anything other than a rack or a front opening cage. Pulling heat elements off of the top of an aquarium and finding a safe place to set them just seems like such a nusance now.

Even if I had one snake I would build it a cage with a front opening door.

But with that said, there is no reason why you can't control the temps for three terrariums off of one thermostat. Simply have each of the heating elements run off of a dimmer/rheostat which are then all run through the thermostat.

There are others on this forum who can help you with this better than I can.

your smart to consider this at this point in your collecting,many people wait longer and then wish they would have bought or made a rack in the beginning.i would calculate the total cost of a rack and then divide the number of snakes it will hold.for example if you paid $300 dollars for a rack and it housed 20 snakes,that's $15 per snake.could you house a single snake for $15,of course not,but the fish tanks look more natural.bottom line is this,how many snakes will you collect? if your like most people you'll probaly need a rack down the road.

Thanks everyone for replying! I think that I will go ahead and start building a rack, as I have many other snakes "lined up" that I'd like to get in the future (all of them pythons or boas with similar requirements). Plus I do just enjoy building things; the tanks that my snakes are in now were actually converted to side-opening tanks by me, and I found even just doing that to be a fun project. (I'm sure building a whole rack will involve a lot more frustration than those projects, but still).

Thanks again for your input,
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Kitt