# DIY Hatchy Rack



## bimbo (Mar 7, 2012)

I have a few hatchies locked in with a breeder and need somewhere to put them so I decided I needed a hatchy rack. I need to house 17 hatchies so I built the rack to hold 16 sistema or similar tubs and I have room somewhere else for the extra one. This rack will sit out of my 10 month old daughters reach on top of my existing enclosure.

First off I ordered black melamine mdf from Mr Ply and also had them cut it for me as well as adding the edging on all the front edges cut list is as follows

5 x 400w x 1050L
2 x 400w x 600H

These sizes fitted the tubs in a 4x4 figuration and made the most out of a 2400x1200mm sheet of timber (only one strip of 15cmx200cm was left over)

Total cost was about $170 - would be cheaper if you went with standard white.





This also shows the tubs I am going to use - I would use sistema 7L tubs but only if I can find them on special. These tubs are 6.3L and basically the same dimensions as the sistema but a fraction shorter - cost $7 each from Kmart. I am using tubs with lids as my plan is to sell the hatchies in their own tubs with hide and water bowl etc as a bit of a starter type setup and all that would be needed is a heat source.

First off was to run some grooves for the heat cord to sit in. I think I will only need one run of heat cord but cut 2 grooves just incase. I did this using a circular saw and ran 2 cuts right next to each other to create a 6mm or so groove.








I then needed to drill some holes to mount the shelves and have a bunch of these support doobies so thought I would use them.





Next was to start screwing it all together making sure it is all square.





Then on with the back (3mm piece of ply I had) which makes the whole thing sturdy - also holds it all square





Then time to put it in place and install the heat cord, slide the shleves and tubs in place





Just need to go and buy a few more tubs and make sure that the temps etc are all good then it is time to add some pythons

Cheers
James


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## Jande (Mar 7, 2012)

Looks great! So clever


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## PythonOwner25 (Mar 7, 2012)

Awesome! snake enclosure below looks pretty sweet as well


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## bimbo (Mar 7, 2012)

PythonOwner25 said:


> Awesome! snake enclosure below looks pretty sweet as well


Thanks, except I didn't realise the glass was so dirty till after the photo - my daughter loves my blonde male that is in there and is always tapping on the glass cause then he comes out to see what is up thinking he is going to get fed.


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## Belv6 (Mar 8, 2012)

looks awesome, did one heat cord run through the whole rack or did u need 2 ? and what size and watt heat cord did u use ? and would this mr ply guy ship to melb


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## bimbo (Mar 8, 2012)

Mr Ply are a franchise/chain type store but any kitchen/cabinat maker or many timber supply stores will cut to order. If you are using white melamine then you can buy shelving in various widths that already has the plastic edge on it (can even get all of the white you need at bunnings) you can also buy cupbord ends that are pre drilled to take the little shelf brackets.

I have only run 1 run of cord at the moment and seeing how temps go. My cord was 4m long and 25 watts connected to a habistat 100 thermo - just cause that is what I had in my reptile spares box. I need to get a longer heat cord though as there isn't enough length to do the top shelf. 

Cheers
James


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## dickyknee (Mar 8, 2012)

Looks good James , will be nice to fill it up i'll bet 

If your cord is too short , just use 1 run of cord and it should be fine for that sized tub ..... On a side note , never waste money on 4m cords as they never go far , 7 or 9 are much better and the extra cord you can dangle over the back for added heat


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## Snowman (Mar 8, 2012)

I dont think the shorter cords are a waste of money in the long term. 2 x 15w cords = 8 meters. So you can run 8 meters of cord at 30w. A 6 meter cord runs at 50w and a 9 meter cord runs at 80w. The shorter 4 meter cords cover more area and use less electricity...
My hatchy rack just has a few 15w cords running into a power board. They heat the tubs up fine and I use less electricity than getting the longer cords.



width="98%"
|- 
| width="34%" |
*15watt - 4.0 metres*​

| width="31%" |
*$20.00 each*​

|- 
| width="34%" |
*25watt - 4.3 metres*​

| width="31%" |
*$25.00 each*​

|- 
| width="34%" |
*50watt - 6.0 metres*​

| width="31%" |
*$30.00 each*​

|- 
| width="34%" |
*80watt - 9.0 metres*​

| width="31%" |
*$35.00 each*​

|-


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## dickyknee (Mar 8, 2012)

Snowman said:


> I dont think the shorter cords are a waste of money in the long term. 2 x 15w cords = 8 meters. So you can run 8 meters of cord at 30w. A 6 meter cord runs at 50w and a 9 meter cord runs at 80w. The shorter 4 meter cords cover more area and use less electricity...
> My hatchy rack just has a few 15w cords running into a power board. They heat the tubs up fine and I use less electricity than getting the longer cords.
> 
> 
> ...



I am standing by my comment  

In theory you are right , but after many years of trial and error and building / selling racks , I found 4m cords just do not heat up well ... I would much prefer to run 1 x 9m cord any day.


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## Ramsayi (Mar 8, 2012)

I think longer cords are better in the long run.It's good to have a bit of extra wattage available when temps outside start to drop.Also if running the cords through a dimming or pulse thermostat wouldn't that reduce the amount of power used once a set temp was reached?


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## bimbo (Mar 8, 2012)

Have to agree with Dickyknee and Ramsayi as my 4m cord is just over 1m too short  So I am off shopping this arvo for a longer one. For the watts that they use it won't make any differance to the power bill etc if you have a meter hanging off the end not heating anything whereas it is hard to heat tubs that don't have any heat cord under them 

Just a quick question - where abouts do you guys put have the probe for the thermostat sitting?

Cheers
James


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## Ramsayi (Mar 8, 2012)

bimbo said:


> Just a quick question - where abouts do you guys put have the probe for the thermostat sitting?
> 
> Cheers
> James



I route the shelves for the cords and route a bit extra out on one of the middle shelves so the probe can sit directly under the cord.


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## Dmnted (Mar 8, 2012)

I agree with Ramsayi.
The shorter cord just don't cut it for heating in some circumstances.
Also, isn't the heat distributed evenly throughout the length of the cord and influenced by resistance?

15 watt x 4 meters = 3.75 watts p/m
25 watt x 4.3 meters = 5.8 watts p/m
50 watt x 6 meters = 8.3 watts p/m
80 watt x 9 meters = 8.8 watts p/m


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## Snowman (Mar 8, 2012)

I get great heat from the 4m cords. Perhaps it's your methods of using them? I use 10mm coreflute shelves, 1200 long. I have to use a thermostat to keep them under 33 degrees. The sparky in me will always go for efficient low wattage. 4 x 15w cords covers 16m at 60w.


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## Belv6 (Mar 9, 2012)

> 4 x 15w cords covers 16m at 60w.



i think its more hassles and more problems running 4, i would rather just run one strong 8m one hooked up to a pulse thermostat, but if it works for u them thats great im not gona tell u what do do because its obviously working for u


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## Snowman (Mar 9, 2012)

Belv6 said:


> i think its more hassles and more problems running 4, i would rather just run one strong 8m one hooked up to a pulse thermostat, but if it works for u them thats great im not gona tell u what do do because its obviously working for u


Yeah I can understand that..... I have a power board at the end of the shelf that I plug the cords into. Then the power board is connected to my pulse proportional. The thing I love the most is 10mm coreflute. The stuff is friggin awesome. Holds so much heat and is so easy to set up. Until I got the coreflute I could never get enough heat out of cords.


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## bimbo (Mar 9, 2012)

Both ways have merit I guess.
I picked up a 7m 50w heat cord last night and will fit that this arvo. With the cord in there at the moment (4m one) the tubs that are being heated are comfortably sitting at around 30 at the hot end and 24ish at the cool end so with a bit of tweaking there sould be no dramas running a single run of heat cord (specially with the 7m 50watt cord).

Once I get home I will take some pics of the click clacks all set up with hides and water etc.

Cheers
James


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## goyathlay2 (Mar 9, 2012)

Hi When we did our hatchy rack also we got tape from the hardware shop its about 2 inches thick and about $10 to hold down the heat cord it really helps yours looks great


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## solar 17 (Mar 9, 2012)

l have a slightly different take on the heating "control" bit, l run two 8 meter heat cords, one running continuously and the other through a timer, so the 2nd one comes on at 7pm and goes off at 8.00am, this works great for myself The timers are $9.00 in Dicksmiths and if l get the odd cool day l just heat the clock by-pass switch on the timer.
.......solar 17 (Baden)


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## bimbo (Mar 9, 2012)

goyathlay2 said:


> Hi When we did our hatchy rack also we got tape from the hardware shop its about 2 inches thick and about $10 to hold down the heat cord it really helps yours looks great



I was doing the usual laps round bunnings yesterday and found some aluminium all weather repair tape (flashtack brand?)which should do the job. I have found that when pulling the tubs in and out somethimes they roll the cord out of the groove.



solar 17 said:


> l have a slightly different take on the heating "control" bit, l run two 8 meter heat cords, one running continuously and the other through a timer, so the 2nd one comes on at 7pm and goes off at 8.00am, this works great for myself The timers are $9.00 in Dicksmiths and if l get the odd cool day l just heat the clock by-pass switch on the timer.
> .......solar 17 (Baden)


I am always very weary of using heating without any form of control as many years ago I did manage to deform the base of a kritter keeper type tub using a heat cord with no thermostat. For the sake of a few extra $$ it gives me peace of mind that I can set a temp and be fairly certain that it will be fine and constant.


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## Dmnted (Mar 9, 2012)

Here is photo of a hatchy rack I built a few months ago also made out of MDF.
Heating is via a 6 meter cord routed through the floor of each level and fed from the bottom to the top.
I used aluminium tape also to fix the heat cord in place.
Temps reach up to 34 degrees inside each tub at the rear with a 5 degree temp gradient.
Added a thermostat dropping the warm end to 32 leaving the cool end at 27 and the hatchies are all happy and snappy.


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## DanNG (Mar 9, 2012)

The 10mm corflute does really seem to crank the heat up on the short cords... Maybe it's the extra air/breathing space around the cord.


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## Monitor_Keeper (Mar 9, 2012)

Dmnted said:


> Here is photo of a hatchy rack I built a few months ago also made out of MDF.
> Heating is via a 6 meter cord routed through the floor of each level and fed from the bottom to the top.
> I used aluminium tape also to fix the heat cord in place.
> Temps reach up to 34 degrees inside each tub at the rear with a 5 degree temp gradient.
> Added a thermostat dropping the warm end to 32 leaving the cool end at 27 and the hatchies are all happy and snappy.



Looks very well built and clean


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## bimbo (Mar 9, 2012)

I will have to go looking for another tape as the one I bought has a layer of rubber/bitchermin type stuff under the foil layer and I don't think that would go to well especially being ontop of constant heat.

Dmnted that is a top looking rack, nice work


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## Wrightpython (Mar 9, 2012)

bimbo said:


> Have to agree with Dickyknee and Ramsayi as my 4m cord is just over 1m too short  So I am off shopping this arvo for a longer one. For the watts that they use it won't make any differance to the power bill etc if you have a meter hanging off the end not heating anything whereas it is hard to heat tubs that don't have any heat cord under them
> 
> Just a quick question - where abouts do you guys put have the probe for the thermostat sitting?
> 
> ...


i just tape or cable tie the probe to the cord where it comes out one shelf and enters the one above normally have 150 mm worth of cord on the outside of the hatchie rack you can attech to


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## bimbo (Mar 10, 2012)

I think I have everything sorted now and ready for some hatchlings. Here is a pic of my 'click clacks' all set up





Should do the trick.
Temps are sitting at about 31 or 32 at the hot end and during the day cool end is about 27. Not sure what it goes down to at night but will check that in the morning.
Only thing I did find out was that I have the rack sitting ontop of my existing enclosure which is heated with a heat mat and has additional/basking heat provided via 12 volt down lights. The hatchy tub which is sitting directly above these lights is still 31/32 at the hot end but 30 at the cool end so it definatly pays to check all the tubs.
To fix this on my regular daddy daughter trip to bunnings I will pick up some square 25mm aluminium and put a length under the front and rear of the rack to lift it up and give an air gap between it and the enclosure (timber would work but I know I can get black aluminium for qblock racks so it will match - heck I can probably even tell ou what isle it is in at bunnings :twisted: )

Now I just need to get my mice breeding away otherwise petshop prices on pinkies will send me broke. BTW I nearly wet my self laughing when I asked at one pet shop how much their adult mice where - $9.95. I went to my local pet store and got them for just over $2 each 

Cheers
James


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## shabori (Mar 11, 2012)

where did you get those little hides they are so cute


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## bimbo (Mar 11, 2012)

From Proherp I think, about 5 bucks each and they have a few differant sizes


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## Kimberlyann (Apr 1, 2012)

I freaking love those tubs, when ever im in kmart i always grab a spare one


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