# show us ya DIY snake racks



## haymista (Jun 1, 2009)

Im gonna be building a snake rack and id love to get some ideas about sizes, what tubs are used, the best way to build them etc.
pics also helpful 
thanks


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## Vixen (Jun 1, 2009)

This is mine we made a while ago, only cost about $80 not including the tubs. Holds 40, not sure what litre the tubs are but they are the ones you can buy in a pack of 4 from Big W. Dont have a tape measure handy but I guess about 32 x 22 x 13cm.


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## abbott75 (Jun 1, 2009)

Haha is that a bed Vixen?


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## cougars (Jun 1, 2009)

Nice rack


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## Vixen (Jun 1, 2009)

abbott75 said:


> Haha is that a bed Vixen?


 
:lol: Yes, its in the spare bedroom. So too bad for any visitors that hate snakes!


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## Lozza (Jun 1, 2009)

VixenBabe said:


> :lol: Yes, its in the spare bedroom. So too bad for any visitors that hate snakes!


LOL our spare room's the same hehehe

Nice looking rack though - what did you make it out of? Is it just wood and melamine?


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## arbok (Jun 1, 2009)

wow whats that made of vixen, looks very professional


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## Stranger (Jun 1, 2009)

Bump As i am also intrested.


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## Serpentess (Jun 1, 2009)

lozza said:


> LOL our spare room's the same hehehe
> 
> Nice looking rack though - what did you make it out of? Is it just wood and melamine?



Looks like melamine and a steel frame to me. =]
Though that's just my guess.


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## Moreliavridis (Jun 1, 2009)

thats awsome vixen! what wattage heat cord do you use?


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## PilbaraPythons (Jun 1, 2009)

Here is a woma rack


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## GSXR_Boy (Jun 1, 2009)

smaller racks


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## Vixen (Jun 1, 2009)

Yes its a just a painted wooden frame, and melamine. Heatcord is a 50w on a pulsing thermo.


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## Sigman21 (Oct 5, 2009)

VixenBabe said:


> Yes its a just a painted wooden frame, and melamine. Heatcord is a 50w on a pulsing thermo.


nice rack  did u cut a recess into the melamine for the heat cord t sit nice and flush in? or how did u go about it and does the cord only cros the front half of each tub cheers dean


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## ChrisZhang (Oct 5, 2009)

what do you guys use to heat them?


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## bfg23 (Oct 5, 2009)

heatcords chris.


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## ezzy-eades (Oct 5, 2009)

i was wondering what size tubs would be suitable for adult spotteds and stimmies i am wanting to build my own rack in the near future


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## ChrisZhang (Oct 5, 2009)

thanks bfg23, can you tell me how they heat up the tub, where do you place them? inside the tub or outside like a heatmat and can you buy heatcord in meters? as i am confused.
cheers chris


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## bfg23 (Oct 5, 2009)

You buy the heatcord in different sizes, the herpshop has a variety.

Generally the heatcords are pressed into channels that get routed into the board the tubs sit on.
I do not use a rack so i am unsure how much heatcord you need under each tub. But i would imagine from using a cord in my beardy tank that 2 or 3 runs of the cord on each tub would be fine. The heat cord would heat up the surrounding timber too and give off a nice gentle heat.


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## Sigman21 (Oct 5, 2009)

usually heat cords are used


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## Fuscus (Oct 5, 2009)

cougars said:


> Nice rack


 I would agree except I can remember what happened last time I said that


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## Jason (Oct 5, 2009)

ezzy-eades said:


> i was wondering what size tubs would be suitable for adult spotteds and stimmies i am wanting to build my own rack in the near future



my are about 650 x 450 for antaresia... my honest opinion... PM Dickyknee when you are ready and get him to knock one up for you. he does a great job and i get him to build everything of mine now. heres one of the ones he has built me.


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## Snakelove (Oct 5, 2009)

Jason said:


> my are about 650 x 450 for antaresia... my honest opinion... PM Dickyknee when you are ready and get him to knock one up for you. he does a great job and i get him to build everything of mine now. heres one of the ones he has built me.


where bouts did you buy that tub if you dont mind? =)


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## dickyknee (Oct 5, 2009)




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## Colin (Oct 5, 2009)

great racks everyone.. heres a link to brian barczyk snakebytes tv episode 87 snake racks "how there made" that I watched yesterday thats interesting..

SnakeBytes TV - Home


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## bigi (Oct 5, 2009)

i would love to see some lizard racks, not to steal the thread but any pics would be great while this threads up


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## Jarden (Dec 2, 2009)

bump

Where can 30 litre tubs be brought that have the clip down lids my jungles getting a bit big for his tub wanting to get him a new one cheers


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## diprotodon (Dec 2, 2009)

Jarden said:


> bump
> 
> Where can 30 litre tubs be brought that have the clip down lids my jungles getting a bit big for his tub wanting to get him a new one cheers



30 litre stairmaid tubs from bigw two latches on the ends i reckon you would still need paper clips in the middle though


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## Pythons Rule (Dec 2, 2009)

here is the one I build few months back and it need more tubs and bigger ones. but there there for an example on size of the thing, includes 3 small enclosures for hatchies to yearlings.


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## python_dan89 (Jul 14, 2010)

Bump


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## cris (Jul 14, 2010)

I must stress this is not refering to females breasts, but i dont like white racks IMO they should be dark to provide a more sheltered environment for the snakes. 



diprotodon said:


> 30 litre stairmaid tubs from bigw two latches on the ends i reckon you would still need paper clips in the middle though


 
They are fine without clips in the middle although the new latches arnt as snake friendly, they close violently and i have had them detach at the back when opening the other side (this didnt happen with the old blue clips). Even the old blue clips seem to fail eventually probably due to UV and/or repeated stress, so building a proper rack is the best way to go long term. Also for a jungle python the higher 52 litre tubs would be better IMO.


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## MDSTIM (Jul 14, 2010)

Hi Huys,

I'm just in the process of building a large rack, (similar to Dickyknee), BUT what I wanted to comment on is that I had to do a fair amount of research...including involvement of someone with good equipment and the "know how" before starting the project. (Note: Looked at professional racks and they are out of my price range and also getting them shipped from interstate CAN be costly). 

My thoughts would be that this would make a great "STICKY" if someone, (I don't feel as a newbie that I could run with it), was prepared to put in the time and this would then not see the reoccurrence of this thread, (could include tub types and sizes, rack dimensions with drawings, materials, costs, fittings....and anything else of interest).

I know that one of the areas that I struggled with, was finding a suitably sized tub....I settled on Bell's that are 100L x 55W x 20H for adult pythons, (although still feel they are a bit small for larger specimens and we are focussing on the mid range sized pythons).

Any takers to creating a sticky ?

Cheers
Ron


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## shaye (Jul 14, 2010)

Agree with ron sticky it haha and I'm gonna build one soon


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## zuesowns (Jul 14, 2010)

great snake racks guys, keep them coming.


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## boxhead1990 (Feb 19, 2012)

i too am in favour of having a bit of info ragarding racks im thinking about building one later in the year for when i can afford to have alot more pythons and next year when i start getting into class 2 stuff when im able to apply for my class 2 so a sticky would be great thanks


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## jbest (Jan 5, 2013)

Does anybody have any idea of how many times you would need to run a heat cord across a 80l bells tub to get sufficient temp for womas.


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## smithson (Jan 5, 2013)

2to3 time will do I have a rack with 6 bell tubs in but I think there only 41l I will check now


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## jbest (Jan 5, 2013)

smithson said:


> 2to3 time will do I have a rack with 6 bell tubs in but I think there only 41l I will check now



what do you keep in the 41L's Im thinking for when my womas get to adult size 80L would probably be best.


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## smithson (Jan 5, 2013)

Yea 80l mite be ok I keep spotteds in and childrens in my rack there 41l
sorry 4 the late reply


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## ericrs (Jan 7, 2013)

here are some pics of a rack i built for my mate (jairusthevirus) on this forum.
turned out ok. tubs are from ikea. got perspex cut to size for the lid/heat cord shelf. went got some aluminum from a supplier and mate two mirror imaged frames. a bit tedious getting the gaps just right but it works well. 
Just pop riveted c channel to some uprights then double sided taped the perspex in place. 2 50w heat cords weaved under 1 side of the box.
only good for the womas and bhp's but never the less. just means we had to buy more snakes to fill it. enjoy


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## jbest (Jan 7, 2013)

looks great but can i ask is the heatcord sandwiched between two layers of perspex? obviously heat comes from top and bottom yea? approx what did materials cost? looks like a great alternative and also wouldnt be anywhere near as heavy as melamine. also how have you connected bottom horizontal box section to the vertical pieces?



ericrs said:


> here are some pics of a rack i built for my mate (jairusthevirus) on this forum.
> turned out ok. tubs are from ikea. got perspex cut to size for the lid/heat cord shelf. went got some aluminum from a supplier and mate two mirror imaged frames. a bit tedious getting the gaps just right but it works well.
> Just pop riveted c channel to some uprights then double sided taped the perspex in place. 2 50w heat cords weaved under 1 side of the box.
> only good for the womas and bhp's but never the less. just means we had to buy more snakes to fill it. enjoy
> ...


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## ericrs (Jan 8, 2013)

cheers mate. the heat cord just sits ontop of the perspex and is tape down using good quality cloth tape. it is super light compared to melamine and my plan was to attach wheels to it to make it easy to move around. will do it one day.lol.
the uprights are welded to the bottom pieces. i really wanted to fix it any other way but there was no simple, neat, cost effective way but luckily my mate is a boiler maker so he zapped them together.
as for cost it was a bit of a kick in the balls. total cost was 7-800 bucks and that was everything at trade price as im a chippy by trade so got some connections. this didn't include the two 50w heat cords, thermostat, cost to weld as that was free or the 10+ hours of my time to build it.
so the cost is well over 1000 bucks
i really like the design as its different and have had no ill effects from housing snakes. (up and running for over 6 months now)
we actually put a problem feeder in it and she came good . 
if i were to do it again i wouldnt to be honest. ive been looking at vision racks and a v-70 houses 2 more tubs/snakes, holds the heat better, has wheels and is only a couple hundred more. 
maybe when the price of perspex comes down (spent 400 alone on that) and aluminium (350 on that) it will be worth it. 
cheers eric


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