Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So what is the best ball python rack design in your oppinion? I remember seeing one that I thought was pretty good (I think it was called 'the feeder rack'(??? not sure)) but I'm looking for oppinions/plans/links. I want to get some of these built in the next couple weeks before I start bringing in stock to fill them with.

Thanks
Sean
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Heart Mountain Herps

>>So what is the best ball python rack design in your oppinion?

Sean, I think this is a tough question to answer. First you need to decide what box you feel comfortable with. Some breeders use the basic 28 qt. box with only 20"x14" of floor area. Others use the Iris CB-110 which is nearly twice as large.

My recommendation would be different for those two boxes.

Additionally, the temperature/humidity of your herp room might determine whether you use a more open or closed design. What you comfortable with might also determine this.

Then there's also the weight cost issue. Are you wanting a money is no object rack that can be moved easily or are you leaning more towards an affordable rack which won't be moved often? Or are you somewhere inbetween?
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Current snakes:

0.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.3 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

3.3 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

Hey Chris,

Thanks for answering. Right now I'd rather dump the money into animals rather than a really cool rack, otherwise I'd go with one of the freedom breeders which is probably what I'll replace them with in a couple years. I did some rearranging with the beardies so the snakes are going to get their own room when I bring them in. Base temp in my house is 82 in the main house and 72 in the basement where I keep all the bugs/rodents and incubators. Iris tubs aren't necessary, I'm not concerned with totally clear tubs so steralite ones should work just fine for what I need. I plan on using the GCS 4 unit pulse proportional thermostat and flexwatt, do you think it would be better to run 4 racks off of this or 2 with 2 different zones in each because of the heat rise factor? I'm up in Wyoming so humidity is real low usually but with all the lizards I'd say the house itself probably stays around 30%. As far as tub size, I need to be able to house single breedable females per tub, and of course a male with her for short breeding times. Moving the racks around all the time really isn't necessary although it would be nice if it could be done with less than 4 guys (I've had some real heavy cages in the past lol). I'm thinking if I line the walls with these and then put an island work table in the middle of the room that should work but I don't really want the walls to be just 1 rack, I'd rather have several smaller ones each having their own temp control (single or double tub wide and a little room above for storage of extra clean tubs). Hope that helps give you enough info, if you need any more let me know. Look forward to your ideas.

Thanks
Sean
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Heart Mountain Herps

>>Base temp in my house is 82 in the main house and 72 in the basement where I keep all the bugs/rodents and incubators.

So you're saying it's 82* ambient in the ball python room or 72*? Regardless, it sounds like you want something fairly simple and cheap right now so build an open rack is probably not the best idea.

>>Iris tubs aren't necessary, I'm not concerned with totally clear tubs so steralite ones should work just fine for what I need.

That still does not tell me what size tub you want. From your description below I gather you want a large box, something where the floor is about 30" long. Good idea, IMO.

Also, the Iris CB-70 and CB-110 (the typical BP tubs) are just a bit more clear than sterilites. I think the Iris tubs are worth the extra money due to how sturdy they are. They will last a lifetime. Again, if you're thinking about switching over then it might make sense to keep things cheap for now.

How about a simple/cheap rack that can hold different sized boxes?

Sterilite makes a 41 qt, 28 qt & 12 qt. series that are all basically the same height. One of the regular posters here built a rack where each tier can hold one 41 qt or one 28 qt one 12 qt or three 12 qt boxes.

There are slightly different versions of these boxes. You'll need to find the ones with the continuous rim around the bottom rather than the individual raised feet on the bottom.

Also, this means the 41 qt. and 28 qt. boxes will need to slide in width wise. I'd build the racks from melamine and plywood.

>>I plan on using the GCS 4 unit pulse proportional thermostat and flexwatt, do you think it would be better to run 4 racks off of this or 2 with 2 different zones in each because of the heat rise factor?

I think two racks with two zones is the better idea.
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Current snakes:

0.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.3 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

3.3 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

>>So you're saying it's 82* ambient in the ball python room or 72*?

It's 82 ambient in what will be the snake room.

>>That still does not tell me what size tub you want.

I'm not sure what tub size I want exactly, that's one of the things I'm asking. I need it to be able to house single adult females comfortably. I just ordered Dr. Sewards and VPI's videos so if you're not sure maybe they'll have recomendations in them when they get here. I was just saying that the 'clear' aspect of the iris tubs weren't my main concern, the semi clear steralites would be fine for my purposes (if I really want to see the snakes I'll slide the tubs out lol).

>>How about a simple/cheap rack that can hold different sized boxes?

Sounds fine to me. I would like to maximize space efficiency though so I'm not sure about sliding in width wise.

Thanks
Sean
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Heart Mountain Herps

If I were to get into Ball Pythons I'd use the Iris CB-70. Primarily because it is so sturdy and also for a reason I'll list below.

I believe the Sterilite 41 qt. has just a bit less floor area than the CB-70 due to its more narrow width.

But it still sounds like the Sterilite 41 qt. is a better fit with your current needs (cheap until you can switch over to Freedom Breeders). It's the only large, BP worthy box that has two other boxes the same height. That is a nice advantage but requires the width-wise insertion.

>>>>How about a simple/cheap rack that can hold different sized boxes?

>>Sounds fine to me. I would like to maximize space efficiency though so I'm not sure about sliding in width wise.

That's your call. It really depends on the shape and layout of your room and/or how important using multiple sized boxes in one rack is to you.

If you do decide that you want the boxes to slide in length-wise then you might reconsider the CB-70 box.

I say so because many rack companies are designing racks around this box to directly appeal to the ball python breeders. Many of these racks are very similar to the Freedom Breeders.

Vision has a similar rack coming out. It will be much lighter and I believe can be partially unassembled. I've seen several pictures of the product and it looks very nice.

So why not build racks around a box you can later transfer to your nicer racks?

On the other hand, if you really just want to build a few racks that you can later use for hatchling and grow-up then the width-wise design with the Sterilite 41 qt. is probably a better choice.
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Current snakes:

0.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.3 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

3.3 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)