scottrussell
New member
so i've got enough snakes now that a rack is in order. i know this is a corn snake forum, but im going to be housing mainly ball pythons in this rack..it'll work with corns too but i just want to note that if anyone sees a problem with my design.
the snakes are barely a year old and i just want something to house them in for about a year; and in that time i'll have built adult an adult sized rack for balls and this one will be inherited for corns or baby balls.
so i'm using 12qt sterilite bins that are 16" D x 12 W x 6" H
i'm going to have it be 3 bins wide x 4 bins high for a total of 12 bins.
the total dimensions of the rack will be 36" W x 18" D x 34" H
the 6 will be dedicated to housing the balls, and the way this is set up the other two shelves can handle: 3-12qt bins, 1-32qt and 1-12qt, or 1 40qt bin so it can grow with the snakes or if i obtain larger snakes. the goal is to be pretty versatile.
i planned on just running 3" or 4" (haven't decided...help?) heat tape accross the underneath of the sweater boxes - so i'll have four 3 foot strips of flex watt running from left the right of the rack towards the back end. the rack is going to have a plywood back, sides, and top, but the right side will have a 3 or 4" (depending on size of heat tape) gap towards the back of the rack. so if the left side is 18", then the right side will be 14" with both from ends being flush. this way, i'll only have 4 flexwatt clip/connections instead of 12, plus the snakes will have back belly heat instead of a foot of belly heat running through the center.
depending on what people say on the matter, i will either be using a dimmer, inexpensive herp thermostat..or even house thermostat (don't know if that will work yet). i've been told that with corns even a dimmer would be fine, just find the point where you like the temp and just tape the dimmer in place.
apart from that, i am still having a dilemma with wiring the flexwatt. my main concerns are: will 3/4" wide be enough to heat the cage? once i wire a connection with flex watt, will i be able to pry it open and switch the 3" on one shelf with a 12" (if i ever use a 40qt bin it'll be a lot bigger area), or are all connections you make with that stuff permanent? or what if i just wire the two rows of flexwatt i need for now, can i wire the other two later?
if anyone has questions/comments/concerns i'd really appreciate it cause this is my first rack. and the design makes sense in my head, but if it's too confusing i can scan the blueprints i drew for it.
the snakes are barely a year old and i just want something to house them in for about a year; and in that time i'll have built adult an adult sized rack for balls and this one will be inherited for corns or baby balls.
so i'm using 12qt sterilite bins that are 16" D x 12 W x 6" H
i'm going to have it be 3 bins wide x 4 bins high for a total of 12 bins.
the total dimensions of the rack will be 36" W x 18" D x 34" H
the 6 will be dedicated to housing the balls, and the way this is set up the other two shelves can handle: 3-12qt bins, 1-32qt and 1-12qt, or 1 40qt bin so it can grow with the snakes or if i obtain larger snakes. the goal is to be pretty versatile.
i planned on just running 3" or 4" (haven't decided...help?) heat tape accross the underneath of the sweater boxes - so i'll have four 3 foot strips of flex watt running from left the right of the rack towards the back end. the rack is going to have a plywood back, sides, and top, but the right side will have a 3 or 4" (depending on size of heat tape) gap towards the back of the rack. so if the left side is 18", then the right side will be 14" with both from ends being flush. this way, i'll only have 4 flexwatt clip/connections instead of 12, plus the snakes will have back belly heat instead of a foot of belly heat running through the center.
depending on what people say on the matter, i will either be using a dimmer, inexpensive herp thermostat..or even house thermostat (don't know if that will work yet). i've been told that with corns even a dimmer would be fine, just find the point where you like the temp and just tape the dimmer in place.
apart from that, i am still having a dilemma with wiring the flexwatt. my main concerns are: will 3/4" wide be enough to heat the cage? once i wire a connection with flex watt, will i be able to pry it open and switch the 3" on one shelf with a 12" (if i ever use a 40qt bin it'll be a lot bigger area), or are all connections you make with that stuff permanent? or what if i just wire the two rows of flexwatt i need for now, can i wire the other two later?
if anyone has questions/comments/concerns i'd really appreciate it cause this is my first rack. and the design makes sense in my head, but if it's too confusing i can scan the blueprints i drew for it.