maxfox426

Being that I'm still fairly new to the hobby, I started out with a lot of the same thoughts that you took years to develop. It's interesting how much things change over time, as we all learn what works, doesn't work, and ultimately strive to better the care of our animals.

That said, this one really did strike me.

I, not all that long ago, set out with the very gung-ho mentality that I had everything it takes to build all my own racks. I'm a fairly handy person, and very detail oriented. No reason so spend money on commercial racks! Ever! I built my first rack, a four-slot melamine system, and it's still great. It's holding up perfectly. It still does everything I ever asked it to do, and looks fairly nice to boot.

Then two years ago, I bought a ten-slot Animal Plastics rack. And... I'm in love. I probably will never build another rack, aside from modifying the homemade one I already have.

Sure, I paid a bit more to buy the rack than I would have spent to build something with the same capacity, and I could still very easily build a rack to meet similar specifications, but the final product of the AP rack is so worth the difference. I can't even really explain what the real difference *is*. The only thing I can think of is the weight (my four-slot homemade rack is easily twice as heavy as the ten-slot AP rack), but it's not like that was ever a direct problem. I don't know. I just know that the AP rack is one of the nicest, most functional things I've ever bought. It really is better than my homemade one, regardless of how proud I am for building it.

I still use my handy skills to build other snake-related things (usually equipment storage and I'm probably going to add-on a hatchling system to my existing homemade rack), but despite my abilities, I really think I'm leaving full-size snake racks to the professionals from now on.

Sorry, that was kind of long and pointless, long story short, I agree with you! And to think I thought I would NEVER buy a commercial rack system. lol