Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone have a preferance? I am going to build a few racks, and need to know if I should go with Rubbermaid, or Sterlite boxes. Does one withstand heat better than the other? Just looking for opinions. Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks

I prefer the 28 qt. rubbermaids. I have boxes purchased in 1987 that still fit in racks built for the newer model. So I have that bias. I have even more bias from the years of keeping venomous snakes. The rubbermaid boxes have a rim that a snake-hook can easily grip to allow safe opening of the box. With any of the sterilite boxes the hooks tended to pop off.

Compared to the 28 qt. sterilite I find the rubbermaids to be just a bit more sturdy and I prefer the continuous rim around the bottom of the box vs. the four raised feet of the 28 qt. sterilites.

However, sterilite also makes a 28 qt. box without the four raised feet. It's still a slightly more flimsy box but it has the advantage of being about the same height as both the 41 qt. and 12 qt. boxes, meaning you could build one rack that held all three sizes. Pretty nice feature. In fact my next rack will probably be built around these three boxes.

Sterilite also makes a 32 qt. box that I really like. The only thing I don't like is the 6.25" height which only allows 6 levels per 4' tall rack. With either companies 28 qt. box you can fit 7 levels per 4' tall rack. A nice feature since lumber comes in 4' increments, typically.
-----
Current snakes:

0.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.3 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

3.3 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

One word of caution, if you go with rubbermaid, you might want to make certain the one you choose is not one of the models they have discontinued. I beleive the are going to or have stopped making some of their models. Good luck