# Show us your RACK!



## Kristy_07 (Jul 19, 2010)

Spin-off from another thread, but it'd be great if people could post pics of their racks! If you could include some of the details... measurements, material, etc. that'd be great, also. 

So, go on! Show us ya rack!


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## bpb02 (Jul 19, 2010)

Bahaha that was quick


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## Kenshin (Jul 19, 2010)

im a big fan of racks.........


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## Guest (Jul 19, 2010)

Damn! I was expecting something different


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## python_dan89 (Jul 19, 2010)

would be intresting to see what people have come up with!!! 

cheers


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## Waterrat (Jul 19, 2010)

This is going really well so far :lol:
Pictures people, pictures!


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## driftoz (Jul 19, 2010)

+1


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## python_dan89 (Jul 19, 2010)

Lol


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## Boney (Jul 19, 2010)

i made these .. 40l and 3 l


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## shaye (Jul 19, 2010)

very nice anteresia how much did say one fo them cost for the 40l ones like materials tub and thermostat all up?


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## Boney (Jul 19, 2010)

40l tubs about $27 each , 2 heat cords per rack $35 each ,black edging about $20, screws and caps about $5, 4 wheels $12 ,thermo $125 , melamine would of got it out of 2 sheets of melamine sheeting so $68 ,alluminium tape about $5 ,about 5 hours of time... 4 hours of that was scratching my head


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## Kristy_07 (Jul 19, 2010)

Good work, Antaresia - that's what I wanted to see! I'm going to starting building some when I get home, by which I mean, make my partner do the work while I do useful things like research what to put in them and get him drinks. That's great to know....

Anyone else with a mature response?


(hehehe boobs )  keep it clean there kristy


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## solar 17 (Jul 19, 2010)

*l have never been a rack fan until last season when l had 3 racks made but the great the point about them is l supplied the tubs [with no lids] and it was made [to fine tolorences] so you slide a tub out and there is your critter and gee wizz does that save time[not having to remove a lid] and nothing has even looked like escaping....solar 17 [Baden]*


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## Boney (Jul 19, 2010)

no probs Kristy ,if you need anymore help give me a pm .

also a tip when putting these types of racks together ive found it is best to start working from the bottom and work your way up actually put a tub in with a piece of 3 mil sheet metal under your tub to give you the gap . do 1 board at a time repeat the process. every tub i found is perfect to slide in and out this way . i had bought racks off other people and the tubs where to the point you couldnt get your tub in or there was to much gap . they must of just had their measurements made it from that but never put the tub in that they where going to use .im not sure what they did?


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## dickyknee (Jul 19, 2010)

A couple of mine i am currently using ..


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## Kristy_07 (Jul 19, 2010)

solar 17 said:


> *l have never been a rack fan until last season when l had 3 racks made but the great the point about them is l supplied the tubs [with no lids] and it was made [to fine tolorences] so you slide a tub out and there is your critter and gee wizz does that save time[not having to remove a lid] and nothing has even looked like escaping....solar 17 [Baden]*


 


ANTARESIA1 said:


> no probs Kristy ,if you need anymore help give me a pm .
> 
> also a tip when putting these types of racks together ive found it is best to start working from the bottom and work your way up actually put a tub in with a piece of 3 mil sheet metal under your tub to give you the gap . do 1 board at a time repeat the process. every tub i found is perfect to slide in and out this way . i had bought racks off other people and the tubs where to the point you couldnt get your tub in or there was to much gap . they must of just had their measurements made it from that but never put the tub in that they where going to use .im not sure what they did?



Yep, that's exactly what I'd be looking at doing - no lids required. Thanks guys. 

Antaresia, I may flick you a PM about this in the future if that's okay. Ta.


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## shaye (Jul 19, 2010)

Yeh reckon I could flick u one too mate tour racks are made pretty good


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## Boney (Jul 19, 2010)

racks can be good ..... however when i first started keeping reptiles i kept everything in cages . and when i kept pythons in cages i think i paid alot more attention to them . and enjoyed them more , and i knew my animals more ect,ect . but then i really got the bug then i started to keep things in racks to save space and time . but now ive found buy doing this ive really lost interest in what im doing i was only really looking at my pythons when i cleaned them out ect . so im going back to my old ways of keeping much fewer animals and in cages . 

there was a artical in tails and scales issue 12 page 4 by Mik Julin that really did gel with me ..


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## driftoz (Jul 19, 2010)

ANTARESIA1 said:


> racks can be good ..... however when i first started keeping reptiles i kept everything in cages . and when i kept pythons in cages i think i paid alot more attention to them . and enjoyed them more , and i knew my animals more ect,ect . but then i really got the bug then i started to keep things in racks to save space and time . but now ive found buy doing this ive really lost interest in what im doing i was only really looking at my pythons when i cleaned them out ect . so im going back to my old ways of keeping much fewer animals and in cages .
> 
> there was a artical in tails and scales issue 12 page 4 by Mik Julin that really did gel with me ..


 i want to try get as many reptiles as i can but im going to be having them in decked out vivs so i can see them aand watch what they do, the only racks i plan to use is for the hatchlings if i start breeding.


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## Jay84 (Jul 19, 2010)

I just finished painting my new rack today. ill take some pics tomoro once it is all set up.


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## My_Snakey (Jul 20, 2010)

Kristy_07 said:


> I'm going to starting building some when I get home, by which I mean, make my partner do the work while I do useful things like research what to put in them and get him drinks.



LOL I had to laugh at that because it's so true!!!



Nice racks guys!


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## DonnB (Jul 20, 2010)

Hey ANTARESIA1... What are the dimensions of those tubs?


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## Boney (Jul 20, 2010)

DonnB said:


> Hey ANTARESIA1... What are the dimensions of those tubs?


 
tubs are 680 x450 x 160 


o.k guys here is my measurements for my 40 litre rack set-up x 8 tubs ,

then go to bunnings and get them to cut it out for you they are meant to charge you $1 a cut but if your like me and you know them all from high school they will do it for nothing haha 

top and bottom sheets x 2 510x 690
all other shelves x 7 450x 690
legs so to speak x 4 1440 x 150 

dont forget to router and dont router your top board or i will pay you out , ive got 2 runs or cords so router 2 lines ive done them about 14 cm and 7 cm from back of rack . 

and if all this seems to hard to put together which it isnt ive got a heap of them here i need to move on .


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## kupper (Jul 20, 2010)




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## shaye (Jul 20, 2010)

nice racks kupper are they the advanced hatchling racks from true blue???
coz i was thinking of getting some lol antaresia1 haha i was thinking of making a rack for so long lol and never got around to it and since we been talking about it i got the wood from work and screws lol and made a quick one up this arvo  only a quickie but it will do the job for small snakes and geckos 
il take and post some pics up soon


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## shaye (Jul 20, 2010)

just a quick one i knocked up this arvo i havent paid a cent yet for it just need thermostat and heat cord and she will be set 




View attachment 155644




View attachment 155645


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## scottyo998 (Jul 20, 2010)

This is one we just built with the help of a mate. Built for adult carpets and only set up back a few hundred excluding tubs. Its not fully set up and you can only see one unit but an identical one is underneath so all up it holds 12 snakes. Im pretty happy with, especially considering that for that many tubs at an adult size, a premade one would cost anything up to $2500 depending where you get it (even if they do look a bit nicer haha)


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## shaye (Jul 20, 2010)

scottyo998 said:


> This is one we just built with the help of a mate. Built for adult carpets and only set up back a few hundred excluding tubs. Its not fully set up and you can only see one unit but an identical one is underneath so all up it holds 12 snakes. Im pretty happy with, especially considering that for that many tubs at an adult size, a premade one would cost anything up to $2500 depending where you get it (even if they do look a bit nicer haha)



nice yeh why bother having the top quality ones if these DIY ones work  not like we got hundred of people coming and commenting our racks lol


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## scottyo998 (Jul 20, 2010)

yeah i think they work better simply because they are custom, you build em for what you need, and ALOT cheaper haha. like when i was browsing, one company (for the same sized boxes give or take) was asking for $7000 for the 12 boxes. So thats why, as its obvious to see here, people will build their own, with better results too. Good work guys


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## hypochondroac (Jul 20, 2010)

Nice Kupper.


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## shaye (Jul 20, 2010)

yeh hypo hes got a few nice racks and yeh scotty we make them to fit wat we need


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## shaye (Jul 21, 2010)

so far cost me $120 for tubs and heat cord 
heat cord is only short and low wattage so i need to get a longer and higher wattage to go on thermostat
knocked her up in about an hour yesturday arvo


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## mike83 (Jul 21, 2010)

Looks good Shaye.


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## shaye (Jul 21, 2010)

cheers mike not the best but it will do for me  im not fussed lol


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## Kristy_07 (Jul 21, 2010)

kupper said:


>


 

You're a show-off, mate


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## Kristy_07 (Jul 21, 2010)

Thanks to all that have contributed to this thread - I think the information and photos are really helpful to those looking to step-up their collections. Thanks, again, and keep them coming!


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## wokka (Jul 21, 2010)




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## shaye (Jul 21, 2010)

wow thats some awesome rack right there wokka :shock: lol wen u guys started this thread i got the motivation to actually try build one and it worked out lol just put all my snakes in there for now 

nice wokka did u build it urself or pay for them?


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## diprotodon (Jul 21, 2010)

scottyo998 said:


> This is one we just built with the help of a mate. Built for adult carpets and only set up back a few hundred excluding tubs. Its not fully set up and you can only see one unit but an identical one is underneath so all up it holds 12 snakes. Im pretty happy with, especially considering that for that many tubs at an adult size, a premade one would cost anything up to $2500 depending where you get it (even if they do look a bit nicer haha)



so you would keep arboreal snakes like carpets in a tub like that ? withoit the option to perch?


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## diprotodon (Jul 21, 2010)

what size tubs are they man? sorry they look like 10litre stairmaid tubs is that the size thanks



shaye said:


> so far cost me $120 for tubs and heat cord
> heat cord is only short and low wattage so i need to get a longer and higher wattage to go on thermostat
> knocked her up in about an hour yesturday arvo


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## scottyo998 (Jul 21, 2010)

diprotodon said:


> so you would keep arboreal snakes like carpets in a tub like that ? withoit the option to perch?


 Carpets are only semi arboreal, so they dont need it, and the only some take the option to use them. Absolutely none of my carpets use any form of perch that they have at the moment, they all stick to ground level explore. However the majority of exercise my snakes get is from taking them out and letting them roam or holding them, other than that they are quite happy to just sit in their warm spots. Besides, i am not the only one who does it, and there are other species that i can see being kept in tubs that many would consider more arboreal than carpets, such as spotteds and stimsons. Snakes do perfectly well in rack systems, that is why they are used


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## Kenshin (Jul 21, 2010)

some fantastic racks people, wokka nice olive wish i could afford them lol....... what size are the tubs you are using for hatchling racks? 10L or 7L?


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## shaye (Jul 21, 2010)

yeh there only 10L tubs for now i need to sell my other cage to make bigger ones 
coz i need big tubs for my blackheads and for wen my womas get bigger


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## wokka (Jul 21, 2010)

Kenshin said:


> some fantastic racks people, wokka nice olive wish i could afford them lol....... what size are the tubs you are using for hatchling racks? 10L or 7L?


The hatchling racks are vision tubs sold in Australia as slitherin, about 40cm long x 15 cm wide and 10cm high; my next size is 40 x 40 x12cm; then 40 x 60 x 15cm; then 40 x 80 x 15 cm.


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## Waterrat (Jul 21, 2010)

View attachment 155751
Please no offence to anyone. 

For the life of me, I will never understand what pleasure people can possibly have from keeping snakes in racks. I collect antique shotguns and if I couldn't have them on racks on the wall where I can see them all the time and admire them - I wouldn't have them. Simple as that. 
However, I do realise and accept that we are all individuals and we all prefer to do our own thing but I just can't get my head around having beautiful, live snakes stashed away in those shoe boxes. My apologies if my comments are not your liking, just my opinion.
So here is a photo of one of my racks.


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## wokka (Jul 21, 2010)

shaye said:


> wow thats some awesome rack right there wokka :shock: lol wen u guys started this thread i got the motivation to actually try build one and it worked out lol just put all my snakes in there for now
> 
> nice wokka did u build it urself or pay for them?


I biuld them myself , then rebiuld and rebiuld. You can see the racks with the larger tubs are secondhand material. I originally made them 6 tubs wide x 10 tubs high but the racks were too unmanageable so I broke them into three racks.


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## shaye (Jul 21, 2010)

wokka said:


> I biuld them myself , then rebiuld and rebiuld. You can see the racks with the larger tubs are secondhand material. I originally made them 6 tubs wide x 10 tubs high but the racks were too unmanageable so I broke them into three racks.


nice yeh haha i just starting out small and if i want more il just make them to stack on top of each other  well the herp world is gonna start for me now 


waterrat i know where your coming from but i just wanna keep upsizing my collection and i get all my snakes out everyday lol im upsessed with them if i dont grab them out i sit there for ages looking at them all anyways il just pull the tub out and have a squizz in then change over  but tubs are gonna do it for me for a while 

nice rack too


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## mungus (Jul 21, 2010)

do all these racks meet the min. space allowable by NPWS ?


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## scottyo998 (Jul 21, 2010)

I can see where you are coming from waterrat, but for me the main reason for a rack is to save space. For example, if i were to want display snakes for 12 adult carpets, that would mean a 4x2x2 tank per snake, so stacked in the most economical way that takes up a space of 12x8x2, which is absolutely massive and there is nowhere i could find that space. However this rack only takes up 4x4x3, so it is a massive space saver, and money saver. 
But based on that photo of your shotguns (nice by the way) space doesnt look like much of an issue, as to display like that you would have to deck out a room into a giant safe with security system and heavy lockable door. Just an observation, no offense meant


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## Waterrat (Jul 21, 2010)

No offence taken.
I guess one (me) has to consider the purpose of keeping / breeding. For example, an extensive snake farm has to be utilised economically and practically. I understand that but at the same time I am glad I am not a snake farmer. lol


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## wokka (Jul 21, 2010)

mungus said:


> do all these racks meet the min. space allowable by NPWS ?


 
At the moment NPWS dont have minimum sizes. There were recommended sizes in the exhibited draft code and my racks comply but that depends upon the size animal you put in them. I prefer not to keep adult animals in racks although the largest tub I have, which is 120cm x 60 cm x 20 cm is larger than many cages. I bought 20 of these tubs but haven't got around to building the racks.


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## shaye (Jul 21, 2010)

yeh


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## Guest (Jul 21, 2010)

how much room does a adult carpet python have in one of these racks?
what are the largest tubs that people use?


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## jack (Jul 21, 2010)

only rack posted so far that i am jealous of waterrat. very nice.


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## Waterrat (Jul 21, 2010)

Thanks Jack, I have a talent to throw the spanner into ...
Those things could come handy you know, burglars, officers without warrant, ...

cheers mate


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## shaye (Jul 21, 2010)

lol waterrat


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## Guest (Jul 21, 2010)

under the exhibiting specs for NSW it states that (*L* refers to the SVL of the largest specimen housed in the enclosure)
*
for lizards*
minimum floor area= 20cm x 30cm *or *6.25_*L*_(squared) eg 2.5*L* x 2.5*L* whichever is greater, with no dimension less than 2_*L
*_*
for terrestrial snakes* (single specimen up to 4m)
minimum floor area= 20cm x30cm *or *0.3_*L*_(squared) eg 0.6_*L*_x 0.5_*L *_which ever is greater, with no dimension less than 0.3_*L*_, minimum height is the larger of either 0.3_*L *_*or *40cmwhichever is greater*[ NOTE. *e.g a single tigersnake with an *L* of 100cm, the minimum floor area is 3000cm(squared) and can be of any shape as long as no dimension is shorter than 30cm eg 60cm x 50cm *or *100cm x 30cm etc. if the enclosure is to hold more than one specimen then a 20% increase to the area required for the largest specimens size is required per extra individual* ] *

*for arboreal snakes *(single specimen up to 4m)
minimum floor space= same as terrestrial snakes but *must* also be provided with sufficient height for the expression of climbing habits. minimum height is the larger of either 0.5_*L*_ *or *60cm which ever is greater


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## Choco (Jul 22, 2010)

wokka said:


> View attachment 155727
> View attachment 155728
> View attachment 155729


 Fantastic Wokka. Do you heat those? If so how? Can't see heat cords or anything.

Cheers,
Allan


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## shaye (Jul 22, 2010)

the whole room might be on a thermostated heater maybe ??? :S lol like in snake bytes how the room temp is set so no need for heating ??


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## MDSTIM (Jul 22, 2010)

*Show us your rack*



wokka said:


> At the moment NPWS dont have minimum sizes. There were recommended sizes in the exhibited draft code and my racks comply but that depends upon the size animal you put in them. I prefer not to keep adult animals in racks although the largest tub I have, which is 120cm x 60 cm x 20 cm is larger than many cages. I bought 20 of these tubs but haven't got around to building the racks.


 
Wokka, that's a great size tub and very hard to find with them dimensions.

Any chance you could let us know a brand name, who supplies/stocks them and a roughy price ?

Cheers


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## Gecko :) (Jul 22, 2010)

I agree Racks are practical for Young Snakes, however I disagree they are adequate for older/larger pythons,. particularly if the tubs dont have height to allow room for perches etc.

QUOTE=scottyo998;1749217]Carpets are only semi arboreal, so they dont need it, and the only some take the option to use them. Absolutely none of my carpets use any form of perch that they have at the moment, they all stick to ground level explore. However the majority of exercise my snakes get is from taking them out and letting them roam or holding them, other than that they are quite happy to just sit in their warm spots. Besides, i am not the only one who does it, and there are other species that i can see being kept in tubs that many would consider more arboreal than carpets, such as spotteds and stimsons. Snakes do perfectly well in rack systems, that is why they are used[/QUOTE



scottyo998 said:


> Carpets are only semi arboreal, so they dont need it, and the only some take the option to use them. Absolutely none of my carpets use any form of perch that they have at the moment, they all stick to ground level explore. However the majority of exercise my snakes get is from taking them out and letting them roam or holding them, other than that they are quite happy to just sit in their warm spots. Besides, i am not the only one who does it, and there are other species that i can see being kept in tubs that many would consider more arboreal than carpets, such as spotteds and stimsons. Snakes do perfectly well in rack systems, that is why they are used


 
Scotty, I am very surprised to read that NONE of your Carpets perch? we keep many Pythons including Several Carpet Pythons & they ALL perch at some time (Ours seem to perch about 80% of the time)
I think they should at least be given the option!?

Of course pythons will survive in Racks, but are they happy?
These days it seems that this is not taken into account, it is moreso about the breeder trying to fit as many snakes as possible into a small space.
Pythons need to be able to stretch & perch when they want to not when someone decides to pull them out of their box.

I dont have anything against racks for smaller/younger snakes, but the enclosure should suit the python your keeping,. 
Keeping Grown Carpets, Olives etc in them is not the right thing to do IMO.

You could survive in 1 small 4x4 room for your whole life,. but would you want to? I dont think so!


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## Wally (Jul 22, 2010)

It's all part of ' I must have as many species of everything that I possibly can regardless of my own circumstances ' that seems to be popular these days.


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## wokka (Jul 23, 2010)

Choco said:


> Fantastic Wokka. Do you heat those? If so how? Can't see heat cords or anything.
> 
> Cheers,
> Allan


 
No i dont heat them I heat the room as i only use racks for younger snakes which need heat 24/7. My baby room is 3.6 meters square and can confortably hold 500 plus juvenile snakes heated by a $70 heater with inbuilt thermostat. After that they go into "Trueblue" type cages with a hot end and a cold end seperated by a baffle wall.


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## Guest (Jul 25, 2010)

scottyo998 said:


> Carpets are only semi arboreal, so they dont need it, and the only some take the option to use them. Absolutely none of my carpets use any form of perch that they have at the moment, they all stick to ground level explore. However the majority of exercise my snakes get is from taking them out and letting them roam or holding them, other than that they are quite happy to just sit in their warm spots. Besides, i am not the only one who does it, and there are other species that i can see being kept in tubs that many would consider more arboreal than carpets, such as spotteds and stimsons. Snakes do perfectly well in rack systems, that is why they are used



Scottyo is it possible that the only warm spot for your carpet pythons to sit is on the floor and this is the reason they do not use a perch? I have dealt a few large snakes now that lack muscle tone from a life of sitting in a coiled position in a small tub and don't get enough exercise like climbing etc and why would a stimsons or spotted be classed as being more arboreal than a carpet python?


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## No-two (Jul 25, 2010)

Farma said:


> and why would a stimsons or spotted be classed as being more arboreal than a carpet python?


 
They wouldn't. Haa! What a load.


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## Waterrat (Jul 25, 2010)

No-two said:


> They wouldn't. Haa! What a load.


 

Of course not. They are about as arboreal as womas. In the wild, they may climb up little off the ground to catch the first or last bit of the sun and that's about it. I dare to say that wild carpets are not as arboreal as captive ones. Maybe it's because if they're confined to small area (average size cage), they explore every bit of the cage more often and also, many keepers create basking spots for them up high.
If you put thick enough branches or some sort of a shelf into a taipan enclosure, eastern taipans would climb too, even clumsy king browns.


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## cement (Jul 25, 2010)

I agree with WRat. I keep hatchlings in racks and they are a good size with a bit of height and perches and they use them. Almost every night they come out of their hide and perch, especially when hungry.
Anteresia are not very arboreal, and adult carpets need room and height. All my adult carpets, bredli, diamonds, coastal, RSP and darwins are hardly ever off their branches. The only carpet I have that doesn't have a penchant for climbing is a large female diamond I bought last year 6year old and never climbed in her life. She was fed live guinea pigs and was fat, she had a good size cage 2400 x 600 x 600 but no branches. When I got her I fed her an adult rabbit for lean energy and haven't fed her now for over 5 months. She is now looking a picture of health and is beginning to climb more and developing good strong muscle tone.

I will never forget a photo I was shown of a blokes woma that he was trying to breed at 18mths old. The poor thing looked like a death adder. Over fed under excercised and guess what ? he had no luck breeding, and it was a woma.


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## ghosts (Jul 18, 2012)

Under exercised, What does that mean?


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