Heating a racking system

Hi All,

The local store near my house has a special on portable plastic shelving units, or to a herper "Racking units" :laugh:

I was wondering if I could buy these and adapt them to my special purpose? I am sure somebody must've done it before...

I could very easily drill ventillation holes in it as I have done with my current loose plastic tubs but my main concern is how to heat the racks...

Is "back heating" effective? ie. using silicon and attaching the heating cable to the back of the tubs as opposed to underneath them?

I am nervous of putting a heating device directly in the containers themselves as the snakes may come into direct contact with these and I don't want them to get burnt...

Suggestions? Past Experiences? Advice? lol All very welcome!

Putting them in direct contact is no problem as long as you keep the heat under control. See this pictures of the wiring I did to set up my rack.

Cut an extension cord and attach it to a flexwatt panel and a dimmer switch.


At the back of the rack the flexwatt you can see that the flexwat panel is stapled to the wooden frame (don't staple though the heat element or you'll wreck it.


Each I put little markings on the dimmer so I knew what level It was set at. With these ones setting them at on them at the third mark makes them heat the bottom of the tub above to 83°


You could put a strip on the back, I prefer the bottom because it give the snake a good spot to lay and soak up heat directly. The floor they are sitting on is a nice 83° so there is no risk of burning. The key is to control the level of heat with a dimmer. For some of my snakes that need higher heat, my BRBs and BCI, I have them in the same rack but set their dimmers much higher to get the nice 90° and 95° warm spots.

If you are talking about the sterilite or rubbermaid plastic drawer/shelf units, I wouldn't trust one of those for my snakes. They are quite flimsy and the drawers don't close up flush, so snakes could find various routes of escape or transfer into other shelves.

If you're talking about the rubbermaid drawers you'll find at wal~mart I'd be careful to. I'd at least put something in to lock the doors as they slide out very easily and perhaps even a tight fitting wooden box around it to keep them from getting out any possible gaps around the side and the back.

Thanks Antsterr!

I will definitely show my bf this, he's the electrician! I like the whole dimmer switch thing!!!

From what I can tell, the racking system I saw was pretty sturdy!! Of course I will fully investigate before buying it. I want to use it mainly for keeping hatchlings one day when I breed and also for adult snakes that I don't have place for in my display unit.

I have back heat on one of my racks, and it serves my purposes just fine. It is siliconed at the top, bottom and sides directly to the backwall of the rack, and I have it plugged into a thermostat, with a probe that lies flat against the Flexwatt behind the tub. Works great!

I also have one with floor heat. Same idea, just on the back 1/3 of the shelf the tub sits on.