Reptile & Amphibian Forums

When I knew I was going to have 16 hatchlings, I went and bought a rack that had room for 15 hatchlings, 4 juveniles, and 2 adults. Silly me. The rack doesn't work properly. Went to see if my hatchlings had fed, started with the most aggressive of my hatchlings (hiss, strike, poo, musk, you name it). Well there was the little pinkie, and NO SNAKE. I don't BELIEVE this I said to myself. 5 o'clock in the morning, and I have to search a room for a hatchling snake that has never had a meal? I was concerned the poor thing would die! So I looked down, with the intention of inspecting the floor near the hatchling rack, and there, in an empty trash can at the base of the hatchling rack, was my little hatchling looking VERY indignant. Put him back and shoved something under the shoebox so it would more securely meet the bottom of the next shelf up.

Guess I got lucky in finding my hatchling, unlucky in buying a hatchling rack that doesn't hold hatchlings.
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~Sasheena

Hey, what kind of shoeboxes/sweaterboxes does this rack use? Is it designed to use the lids or not? Is it homebuilt or commercial?

Sterilite 1852, lidless rack system, bought it off the ks.com classifieds. Emailed the seller and he said it was designed to be used with heat tape so I should just put some cardboard beneath the backs of the shoeboxes to bring them flush with the top of the shelf. Did that, except one of the middle ones ended up sagging a bit in front... didn't notice, but it was enough for the snake to escape. Kinda looks awful now, this expensive rack with a bunch of cardboard taped everywhere to keep the sterilites flush with the top. Stupid purchase I guess. Haven't emailed the seller AGAIN yet.

>>Hey, what kind of shoeboxes/sweaterboxes does this rack use? Is it designed to use the lids or not? Is it homebuilt or commercial?
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~Sasheena

That's the same box I design my racks around. Is there enough space to put the lids on? You might have to go and buy new boxes if you don't have the lids, but they are about 88 cents at Wal-Mart. That box works well in a lids-on system, too.

>>That's the same box I design my racks around. Is there enough space to put the lids on? You might have to go and buy new boxes if you don't have the lids, but they are about 88 cents at Wal-Mart. That box works well in a lids-on system, too.

Yeah, I have the lids, they came with the rack. I went to pull the six cages that were in the rack, and put the lid on five of them. Didn't need to put the lid on the sixth, as the hatchling was gone. And darn it all, he was a keeper. he was there this morning, but when I went to put lids on, no go. Did a thorough examination of the room that the rack is in, but couldn't find it. Have a bale of hay in there though... almost impossible to go through that completely. He escaped with his first meal un-eaten. Not sure if trying to tempt him with a pinkie will help, but I'll do that, and spread flour too. Silly snake.
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~Sasheena

Some racks are intended for use with baby boids that can't squeeze out of an 1/8" gap. With baby kingsnakes and milksnakes, your rack has to have very little clearance as you found out. If the babies were Sinaloans they probably would have all been out. Shimming with cardboard is a good idea. You also might want to check out Superior Enterprise. They have pre-punched deli cups with lids that are perfect for baby snakes. The 6" size is good for Cal kings. You can just slide these in your rack partially over the heated area. After the snakes get a little size you can go to the shoeboxes.

Do you have their website? I've held off on purchasing a zillion deli cups, since at most I have 16 hatchlings for this year.
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~Sasheena