Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Can someone show some pictures with racks systems that display the animals. I love the ease/escape proofness of the rack system but i miss seeing my snakes. Anyone have any ideas?
Ben
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1.0 Black Rat
0.0.1 Normal Corn
0.1 Anery Stripe
1.0 Okeetee
0.1 Leucistic Texas Rat
1.1 blue beauty

A rack system that had better visibility and maybe adjustable ventilation and really efficient and adjustable heating.

The racks that are out there are so "backyard technology". Instead of screwing plywood together, they are just screwing sheets of plastic together.

Maybe someone will come up with something a little more innovative.

Build a rack around the Cambro polycarbonate food storage boxes, heat the back with rope light and you're in business.

I'd recommend the 9" tall version if viewing is important. Much better viewing than a 6" tall box. I learned this the hard way.

Rubbermaid also makes a poly box but it has frosted corners and would not allow for full viewing.

Another choice is to route the front out of a box and install an acrylic or polycarbonate window. Even screen allows for decent viewing.

I've done all of the above. I've also built racks that allowed for UV light and misting systems between the tiers. This allows for the individual heating and ventilation mentioned by the previous poster. I kept large numbers of chameleons and geckos in such racks. Some tree vipers as well.

Where would you find the boxes you are talking about? Iv'e never see them, must looked in all the wrong places.

Go to this link and start looking for the best prices. There are some significantly cheaper sources if you look hard enough.
Camwear

Why aren't you making racks for a living? It would appear that the demand is out there.

Those cambro tubs are nice, but kinda pricey.

But an excellent choice in one wants the merits of a lidless rack but with little comprimise when it comes to viewing.

As far as the easy comment, I simply meant the viewing part. If one knows how to build a rack then making one with viewing is "easy". Actual rack building is not necessarily easy.

Chris, I have gotten SO much help from you and it seems you know the answer for everything, no to mention I have seen some of your work... you could definitly make some killer cash building enclosures and racks. I know I would buy from you... I have a cage in the works right now, but I am in NO rush, but if I had the money I would definitly ask if you would build it for me, I think I would trust it more LOL. either way... keep up the good work and keep sharing your infinate knowledge with us lil folk.
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"Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are." - Kurt Cobain

"You laugh at me because I am different; I laugh at you because you are all the same."

~~ Krystal ~~

I'm pretty much just an idea guy. I come up with an idea and then I go about building it. Typically I then give the cage away and work on another idea. I'm strange that way. My friends are grateful, though I typically have no interest in mass-producing those cages for sale.

But I'm now living in an area that has a terrible job market for biologists (long-term girlfriend got a great job in an area that we love otherwise) so I may have to try my hand in the cage market.

I'm currently tweaking some designs for cages and racks that owners would assemble themselves. It would be an "open" rack design similar to what Freedom Breeder uses. Aluminum components with no welds needed. I will probably offer the cages in "stages" depending on how much work the owner would want to do him or herself.

It's at the grass roots stages right now. I'm building one for a friend first and then will decide if it's worthwhile.

It's one of those designs that's so simple I don't know if it will fly. I think people will just order the parts and build them themselves. But I just found out today a bird company is selling cages built the same way for thousands of dollars so who knows.

n/p
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"Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are." - Kurt Cobain

"You laugh at me because I am different; I laugh at you because you are all the same."

~~ Krystal ~~

That is exactly why I am in the process of putting together a stack of cages to replace my racks. They may be fine for breeders who are out to make money, and that fine, I buy from breeders. But for us that are in it because we enjoy it, we like to be able to see our snakes. Once you slide that tub back, thats it, cant't see them until the tubs are pulled back out. Don't see any thing changing because of the tubs we are forced to use. Curious to see how other feel.

................the snakes!!! is it in the best interest of a shy timid animal to be totally exposed? sometimes i think we (i'm including myself) approach keeping snakes with what pleases us,and the snake comes in a distant second place.just a thought.

One of the things I found with my "viewable" racks is that I was sliding the boxes open less often. When I needed to check for dirty water bowls, uneaten rodents, or even eggs I could simply look through the front of the box. My best guess is that the stress put on the snake by frequent opening of the boxes outweights that of the brighter light from the more clear material.

For species that don't use hide boxes perhaps there is some stress from people walking by, etc.

I used to keep a lot of terrestrial vipers. Most of them would not use hide boxes nor burrow in their substrate. In a clear fronted cage some specimens would strike the glass/poly/acrylic when I walked by. This did not seem to be a problem in the opaque rubbermaids and sterilites.

With cobras, on the other hand, they would strike when I walked by no matter what the cage they were in.

In that regard I suspect that a cage with viewing might be more stressful for the inhabitants.

Is this maybe something the owner of Vision Herpetological has in the works? Don't be shy!!

It is understandable that you want to promote your product, but just stop constantly knocking your competition every time you post, okay? Visions aren't all good, and they aren't all bad, either. Just like your competitors' products.

This forum is great for sharing experience and information. It's all about each individual evaluating his or her requirements and making an informed choice. 'Tomas', you've just got to compete on your merits and understand that there's room for more than one cage company out there.

Hi

I was also looking for good prices on some clear storage boxes since I was thinking the same way. I kind of miss the old fishtank/terrarium days when I actually displayed my snakes complete with plants and branches, a background, and lighting. Anyway, here are some of the cheapest I found on-line. You could probobly find them cheaper if you do a harder search or you can contact the manufacturer and ask them for a local distributor that can sell you some boxes instead of buying them from stores. This way you don't have to get the store's high mark-ups and you could even save as much as half. If the distributor agrees to sell to you(not all of them do) you most likely be able to pick them up at their werehouse. This also works well with substrates/bedding and other stuff that you need a lot of. Here are the links for the boxes;

https://www.surfasonline.com/productlines/49.cfm

http://www.cleaningstuff.net/Search.bok?category=Food Service : Food Boxes, Lids

Hope this helps.
my site

Much better than what I remember finding a few years back.

Thanks for the links.

Did you end up using them? Any pictures?

Hi Cris,

Those are the cheapest I've found. I have not used them yet but I have plans to do so in the future. I'm currently using a sterilite storage rack system for my animals. I may change into the cambro boxes maybe after this year or while my animals in brumation. I'll make sure that I post the pics when I'm done. Thanks and take care.

Jonel
my site

Hello,

I've been struggling with how to house and heat all of the various snakes I own. I'm a big proponent of naturalistic vivaria and not neccessarily rack systems. If racks work for someone and all the needs of their animals are met, fine. I was looking for a way to create a rack that would consolidate all my animals into one central location, easily heated, well-ventilated, and most importantly, still looked nice and allowed me to see the animals. One other consideration, and vote for consolidating everything together was to eliminate or at least greatly reduce the amount of power strips, and other miscellaneous cords I have strung out everywhere. Another consideration I had was that the tubs out there are simply to small in most cases to satisfy my desires for giving my animals ample space and also still allowing for naturalistic design. What I'm going to do is construct my rack and actually build every box for the unit from a lightweight combination of tileboard, 1"x2"s, and screen with clear acrylic panels for viewing in the front. I'm sure it's going to end up costing more than using existing Rubbermaid or Sterilite tubs, but I'll be able to tailor each box/enclosure to the species and still get the benefits conveyed by rack designs. I'll post pictures when the unit is completed - but that's likely to be a few weeks off. Finally to answer your question, you could use the clear polycarbonate boxes mentioned by other posters or you could use a tool like a dremel to cut out the front of Rubbermaid-type boxes and install acrylic panels. The second choice is obviously more difficult if you don't have the tools or are not mechanically inclined.
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Matt Campbell
Animal Keeper, Small Mammal/Reptile House
Lincoln Park Zoo Chicago, Illinois

Assistant Curator
Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, Illinois

Hi Ben

To add to my post below. I saw this rack at the photo gallery and it's a completely acrylic rack. I don't have any info on it so try to contact the guy(Marc) as I did. He mentions in his gallery that he has a cage building business called MBDL. This might be the solution to a nice "display" rack that we're all looking for. Thanks and let us know if you get any info on the product and I will do the same. Here's the link;

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/index.pl?photo=69223

Jonel
My site