Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Happy Holidays everyone!

Here is a new rack design that I have been testing out. I like it because it is easy to assemble, reasonably cheap and is expandable. I purchased the plastic shelving from the Home Depot for about $50.00 for each unit. The boxes are 31 qt. rubbermaid with locking lids, about $7.00 ea. at Wall Mart. I designed this with young ball pythons in mind, but have now decided to use it for easterns as well. Assembly is easy, all you need is the shelving, a hacksaw to cut down the tubular legs, some three inch flexwatt and connections, a surge protector, a dimmer, and rubbermaid tubs and you're ready to go.

I have historically built my racks out of 3/8" or 1/2 inch plywood, but I am getting lazy and I hate the staining/sealing process, so I'm looking into other options that will work well, be affordable and allow me to bypass sealing. I'm very happy with this rack and I recently purchased a couple more shelving units from the Depot, and many more Rubbermaids from Wally World in order to expand this one and build another. Thanks for looking.

Will

PS - If anyone wants to see the plywood racks, lemme know

I like it alot. Very clean looking. plus where I live wood warps too much. do those locking tubs really keep kings from escaping since I imagine the rack set up does not add anything to the top as a deterrant to escape...how do you have the heat tape secured and wired? Thanks.

That's great Will..
Tell you what I do. First you have to realize that I am a notorious cheapskate. (no comments please)
Anyway, I scout H. Depot and Lowe's often for their "cull" carts. That's where they put leftover wood from customer special orders, and cuts, etc. Often there are the ingredients to make a simple rack though most time not all at the same time.
For instance, I just picked up quality 5/8" plywood (cabinet grade) in 2'x 4' pieces for .51 ea. 8 of 'em for 4 bucks. Now all I need is some scrap 1" x 3" and I'm off.
The tubs I use are either 2221 rubbermaids or the sterlite 27 qt. that are the exact same height.
All I do is:
starting at the bottom naturally, a piece of plywood cut to 17" X 48". Then place two of the sweater boxes on it. Another piece of plywood on top of that, and repeat for the amount of wood and boxes I have.
Cut the 1"x3"s for the height, screw all the plywood to the 1" X 3"s and your done. I often add wheels to larger ones I do for others as well.
Here's one I made quickly from scrap light wood/malamine from a remodled dept. store. I bought the wood for $5. and had enough for another just like it.

:Mark
-----
Surrender Dorothy!

www.crimsonking.funtigo.com

Great Idea,
Thanks;
-----
RBICHLER

.....sometimes thes guys crawl into your kingsnake rack

Can't have that now can we??
:Mark
-----
Surrender Dorothy!

www.crimsonking.funtigo.com

LOL for a cheepskate those are not very cheap lol. Just playing . nice manderin

ahh... but I paid $15. for him! I did shell out $50. for his mate though......
Note they were wc back a few years ago....hopefully I can get them to breed this year.
:Mark
-----
Surrender Dorothy!

www.crimsonking.funtigo.com

That unknown spider on your photo gallery is a red back or better know as black widow. ......Be careful, its a dangerous spider.......mike

two racks both with lids, i guess lidless racks are gettin to be a thing of the past.

Your point is well taken for the snakes that have an overly aggressive feeding response. A lid could be convenient for those animals.

The advantage of the lidless system is one of added convenience. It takes less time to maintain the lidless system. It is not a large difference in the amount of time, but I would say it is easily 30-60 seconds in difference in service time to have to completely or mostly remove the tub in order to remove its lid before feeding/watering/routine spot cleaning. While that doesn't seem like alot of time, when you service 100 cages or more, it adds up really fast and can easily add another 30 minutes to an hour of time it takes to service the same quantity of animals as the lidless system. If you service your animals twice per week, then that is a total of up to 2 extra hours spent with little apparent advantages to justify the lost time. For larger breeders that may have to service 500-1000 cages per week, the numbers are even worse.

I have both systems in operation right now. The lidless is much more convenient and faster, although I do have a few animals that it would be nice to have the extra protection of the lid.

I'll never have more than 200 hundred enclosures so i won't mind spending some extra time, one thing i hate is a jittery milk or rat on the loose.
May i ask what kind of snakes do you keep?

Somehow I have to think Jetzen wants to spend more time in the snake room. And who am I to argue. Feeding snakes and having a cold one. Life is good.

Steve

.

here are some new racks i HAD built for less than 150$ hold 6 each NO LIDS MODEL.Jetzen i need to keep the camera in the snake room ,nothin like a 4 footer greeting you w/mouth open i usually give em my t shirt front to chew while i get their attention then back to normal !?!
my biggest prob w/ no lid model is if they are tight i may decapitate a snake by accident Closing the tight thing.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
GO Dolphins.......Chris

I keep gray banded kingsnakes, california kingsnakes, desert kingsnakes, nuevo leon kingsnakes, various corn snake morphs, rubber boas, rosy boas, lyre snakes, transpecos ratsnakes, bairds ratsnakes, arizona mountain kingsnakes, sonoran gopher snakes, and california mountain kingsnakes.

I prefer to keep the rosy boas in aquariums (they seem to do better for me than in racks of plastic sweaterboxes) but everything else is in lidless or lidded rack systems.

I have the most trouble with sonoran gopher snakes, cornsnakes, and rosy boas becoming vicious biters when housed in racks.

Lids or No-Lids, it's all good, whatever works for the individual snakekeeper works good, I designed all my racks to accommodate lids, it worked out good for me and sometimes when i feed i use a lid as a tray to feed on, like this.

and BTW you have a nice variety of snakes to work with.

I use a rack system with no lids. Easier when you have lots of snakes.

Kerby...

...it would be something new. I have never used a lidless system. A few reasons that mostly are due to my own shortcomings or air-headedness.
I like to take the whole box out sometimes to check out the snakes and want that lid handy in case I need something that's just out of reach. I don't like leaving a snake in a lidless box even for a second. I can be forgetful as hell sometimes. In fact, I have returned to my snake room to find a mex-mex in a box after what I know was 20 mins. with no lid. Can't believe I did that and it's even harder for me to believe he didn't bolt.
Lucky that time and it won't happen again. I'd hate to lose an animal that way.
The feeding response thing is a consideration, but it has actually been a problem having lids sometimes since my snakes have grabbed either my hand and/or the mouse at the same time, pinning my hand with the lid against the shelf. Talk about fun!
Whatever, I guess my only conscious thoughts about the lids were for the security and the fact I can be a little less precise in the measuring and fitting when I make the racks.
:Mark
-----
Surrender Dorothy!

www.crimsonking.funtigo.com

Looks Great, DO you think it's sturdy enough to make it a roll around?
-----
RBICHLER

Why do you guys think that there is such a difference between lidless drawers and boxes with lids? Is it just because with a box you can let them come up out of the cage onto a table top or something? Some people seem to be insinuating that lidless racks increase agresiveness/ feeding response??...

I have one homemade rack with lids and one rack made by rosies racksystems and more without lids, as well as plenty of tanks. I find that there are snakes that will asociate whatever the cage opening mechanism with food and will come up out of a tank/drawer/box with mouth open and ready to go. I anticipate this and am ready for them. Personally I think that the lidless system is more convenient

I made my racks from scrap larch 1x3 that we had at the sawmill.
I went with lids for added security. I plan on expanding the setup this winter with a set of smaller racks for juveniles and hatchling tubs. The room stays at 78 degrees.

This next picture is my cold cellar with winter inhabitants.

-----
Bob Bull
1.3 L.g.getula MD Locality
2.1 L.g.g GA locality
2.3 L.g.g albino
1.4 L.g.g het albino
1.2 L.g.g P-het albino
1.0 L.g.floridana peanutbutter
0.2 L.g.f. het peanutbutter
1.0 L.g.f. N.E. axanthic
1.0 L.g.nigrita
1.1 L.t.hondurensis het hypo-melanistic
0.1 L.t.hondurensis hypo-melanistic

Yours seem different than almost everyone else's...

Most people from what I've seen built/got their racks to fit the containers perfectly... So the lid is pressing against the top shelf... Or so the container slides in their lidless and is a perfect fit. To add as an extra sense of security.

Yours are quite different though... You ever have any escapes?
-----
Mike
KingPin Reptiles Inc.
www.freewebs.com/mikesnake
www.freewebs.com/badyear2005

Mike, I made the racks in the office to hold two sweater boxes within each cell. The smaller tubs for juveniles and hatchlings don't fit into these racks, otherwise the rack system is tight and I am making racks for the smaller tubs. The only time I have escapees is when I screw-up and leave a tub unattended.

In the cold cellar I utilize the space available, I have not had an escapee from hibernation. In the next couple of years I'll have an 18 x 18 underground room for the snakes and then I'll redesign the whole operating, containment, and husbandry procedures.
-----
Bob Bull
1.3 L.g.getula MD Locality
2.1 L.g.g GA locality
2.3 L.g.g albino
1.4 L.g.g het albino
1.2 L.g.g P-het albino
1.0 L.g.floridana peanutbutter
0.2 L.g.f. het peanutbutter
1.0 L.g.f. N.E. axanthic
1.0 L.g.nigrita
1.1 L.t.hondurensis het hypo-melanistic
0.1 L.t.hondurensis hypo-melanistic