Reptile & Amphibian Forums

is wood a suitable material building racks? i thought i heard something about wood being a possible problem as far as mite infestations. is that true?

When you say wood, I assume solid planks of wood, not plywood or another engineered wood product. The big problem with real wood is the amount it expands and contracts over time with seasonal flucuations. This means it's less than ideal for racks which fairly tight tolerances.

If you mean plywood, I do think that is fine. You need to seal the rack anyways which should prevent any mite infestations.

I have used both plywood and hollow core doors for racks.

heat a room and make it humid...they work....

go to EBN website and they have plans for a wood rack with 34 inch boxes........works good.......

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dave

Melamine is fine for racks and still a great choice for the do-it-yourself type. It's just so cheap. Cages are another story.

One downfall to melamine relative to ball pythons is when it's used to build a rack for large boxes. I won't bore you with the mathmatics, but the typical ball python tub ends up wasting a lot of material when cut from a typical 4'x8' sheet.

In that regard, it ends up costing about the same to build a rack from hollow-core doors, especially if you find some scratch and dent ones at your local Lowes, Home Depot, etc.

If I were to build an adult ball python rack I'd use hollow core doors. If I were to build a typical sweater box rack for hatchlings and subadults, I'd use melamine. Just from the cost factor.

.......like I said....sean at EBN has plans on his site..nade from 2 x 2's and 1 x 4's.....with plastic screen at tops....the whole thing is actually movable.....put wheels on each rack and it is cool........

melamine is fine if you can lift 500 pounds........but I cannot.....

....it also does swell and does get affected by water.......

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I dont know about the mite issue, but... I use wood racks. Its true they can swell, a little with weather, but just make sure you have an 1/8 to 1/4 inch gap between the pegboard and the tub. I built the rack in the pictures for less than $200. Thats the cost of one level of some racks. Anyhow, below are some pictures of a rack I almost have finished... fits 8 tubs when its done... 44qt. each tub gets a 12"x12" section of heat tape. I cant really figure out why you would spend so much on a metal rack unless you just really dont like to get saw dust on your self.

Ben
American Tropics

When building a track-style rack like the one pictured, the expansion and contraction of solid wood is not nearly as much of a factor. When I build track style racks I also use solid wood to save weight.

I was thinking of just the typical lidless rack system.

Sorry, I should have thought of that. I've built enough of both types.

but I used the plastic screen and not pegboard......too humid here to thnk of the pegged......

and I didn't heat it........

.......works good.....dries fast........cypress is great for it.......

yep
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