• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Rack for Small snakes

epicdoom

epicdoom

New member
I saw this rack posted here by another member I like the idea so much I had to build one This will hold some of my smaller snakes. It was cheap to build. Its 4' long 1' wide and has 5" between shelves. Its set up with 3 Hydrofarm thermostats running 3 4' sections of flex watt 3" tape. It hods 18 5qt. sterilite tubs. Built in 1 half a days time. Only hard thing was getting the temps set up I used a tub wired with a thermometer poked through it to check the temp of the tape over its lenth it was within 1 degree on all 3 levels. I installed a stiffener on the back of each shelf to keep sag to a minimum and act as a tub stop so placement over the tape was exact on every tub. price at the end of post.
20121124_175240.jpg

20121125_184227.jpg

Cost for everything broken down rounded up
$ 32.00 wood 4--1x12x48 3--1x1.5x48
$ 7.00 Allthread free nuts and washers 2 4' X 3/8 rod 32nuts and 64washers
$ 70.00 12' flex watt tape 3 cords insulators aluminum tape shipping included
$ 18.00 for sterilite tubs X18 $1.00 each dollar store
$ 81.00 Hydrofarm thermostat X3 $27.00 each free shipping

May seem expensive but its much cheaper then 18 tank set ups.
I will accept several size tubs so it can be upgraded with larger tubs as snakes grow for now its holding only my small less then a year old snakes. This has freed up many of my tanks. And gives me time to buy more as I wait for my snakes to reach adulthood. I planed this rack out by going and measuring tubs at various stores so I could keep relative height. I have 3 larger tub sizes I can move into as needed. However this will also mean I loose space in the rack to put 18 tubs, so I have plans to build a new much larger one to handle those tubs
 
Does this twist at all? That was my concern when I posted the thread you mentioned in here, and since you made it, you could tell me for sure. Thanks!
 
TY for the comments folks
Nick it doesn't twist. When I first set it on the desk top its sitting on I had one of the bottom nuts sitting on the edge it just rocked back and forth. Its very solid I think using the stiffeners on the back helps with that a good bit as well as keeping the sag out of the shelves. I built this one mostly to see how well it would work. now that I know it works well I may be switching out everything. I could use the 11" tape for large tubs that would hold my adults keeping them at floor lvl. I would use larger allthread and more of it to support the larger and longer shelves would also move to 3/4 ply wood or OSB I may even build it without the all thread rod but I gotta tell you having the ability to adjust shelves to perfect fit is extremely nice
 
I built my racks to free-stand or the larger I put casters on bottom self so can move around. The ones I made are with all-thread and 3/4 inch shelving or large tubs/rack and 1/2 inch for smaller rack. The all-thread is the way to go so can adjust shelves if wish and washers and nuts on top and bottom tighten and hold very nicely. You can design it anyway you want once you know what size sjelves you want and I desinged a cabinet with sides and back heat that the large unit rolls into/small unit slides into so have warmth and still able to raise shelves up and down as needed. If your reptile area is warm enough, you may be able to do away with heat and/or sides ... depends on room temps and what you are putting in the rack. The design I got my idea from can be found on KS and has great step by step directions. Only down side is it is heavy as the dickens .. lol!!
 
My next build will be free standing don't need wheels as it will remain where I put it. I'll probably anchor it to the wall I plan on making it 6 foot tall 8 foot wide. Probably make 2 of them I really like the design. My brother keeps breeds his python female every year came over and looked at it he wants one for his hatchlings but he wants it to hang on the wall so guess I'm building him one also. I still use my heating devices even during the summer I have my room sealed up and use a small AC unit in the room during the summer to maintain 70 deg in the room for the cool sides of my tanks.
 
Ty Now that I have had a chance to run it a bit I do find its not without problems. First let me say its been great using it and its working great. The problem I'm finding with it is the need for adjustment every now and then. I knew this would be an issue even tho the wood used is dried its still subject to expansion and contraction. Since I have a temp probe in each of the 18 tubs I can see whats what. I'm finding as the unit expands some of the tubs loose a little contact with the tape causing the temp to be lower the fix has been to slip a small piece of cardboard under the front edge of the tub to force the back end down and in better contact with the tape. So far no temps have gone out of the high range of 85 Deg and none lower then 80 I prefer 83-84 constant so the cardboard gets me there without having to turn the nuts for readjustment. Since the adjustments would be so slight and from one extreme to the next its much easier to just shim the tub on the front end.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top