What do you use for housing your reptiles & why?

JungleHabitats · Feb 11, 2004

scurvy!

Heil to the third reich

JungleHabitats · Feb 11, 2004

what I use & why

Well I voted plastic & wooden Cages

Personally for me these both work fine.I have scaled down my collection to under 10 boas for the purpose of focusing on other things and to not let my snakes lack attention, So rack systems are not needed here ( for now )

I like the ability of the plastic cage to be light enough to move easily with myself and no one else around.There easily moved to clean out side if needed and they hold heat & humidity very very well.

I also have on large wooden cage that i have a old breeder male in and i like the fact that i can stack the world on it with out any ill repercussions for the weight . Its finished off very nicely and makes for something that looks like it belongs in the room VS something that begs im out of place.

I would say each of the options listed can be made to suit anyone but depending on your animal count / available space and budget. Rack systems are great if you have alot of animals and limited space to house them.Cages are great because you it allows you to view the animals at any given time by a simple glance to the cage & you can also house multiple animals in a series of cages .Glass aquariums to me are not the best options for reptiles other then a limited few due to the hassle of cleaning them depending on the species housed in them , its not fun if youhave to lug a 55gal or larger cage outside once a week to clean out ... well theres a lil of my feeling lets hear others on this subject.

jenn_jeffery · Feb 11, 2004

I have a custom wooden cage for my two larger snakes--thanks Clay!!--a glass tank for my kingsnake, and a glass tank for my leo.

I use the glass tanks since I already had them for one, and they fit nicely on top of the custom cage. I if ever decide to replace them, I'll possibly build more wooden cages for them, to match the one I have, and they look better than the plastic cages to me.

Clay Davenport · Feb 11, 2004

I voted for racks and wooden cages. I do have several cages made of HDPE, but I no longer build them out of that material.
It depends on the individual snake as to what caging I use.
Adult boas for instance are always in large wooden cages, while colubrids and young ball pythons are in racks.
Snakes I particularly want to view, jungle carpets, womas etc, are also in display cages.

I build all my cages and racks generally to suit a certain type of animal. I would like the uniformity and ease of some of the plastic caging on the market but there are none that are close to economical when compared with what it costs me to build one. Many of the commercial cages are of poor design as well, having way too much depth, or not enough height, but it really boils down to price.

Glad you're still enjoying that big cage Jennifer. I replaced it with three of these.
http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/4x2.jpg

jenn_jeffery · Feb 11, 2004

I really like having the two doors that swing open. I did one modification to the cage, which was putting a locking latch on both doors to keep my son out of them--which is a good thing, since the barrel bolts on the bottom two doors are unlocked about half the time now!!

I'm currently working on setting them up as display type cages, since it's in my living room, I figured I may as well make the cages look really nice, instead of just functional.

My boa is tons happier in the larger cage. I'm not sure if he feels more secure in there, or just likes having the extra room.

http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/dc031.jpg

In case anyone is wondering, that's the cage I bought from Clay.

I like the ones you replaced it with, the size seems to be a bit better--shallower--which would make it a lot easier for me to reach the back corner, on the side I can't open the door all the way, from the placement of the cage...and I HATE leaning in over a snake if I can help it...

The only other recommendation I would have for a paneled cage like the one I bought, is don't out sand in it unless you fill in the cracks first!! Stupid me didn't even think of that until I already had over 50 pounds of sand in....so I spent forever vacuuming sand from the carpet!!! Seriously, if I ever have dragons again, I'll fill the cracks with a clear caulkin or something similar before even thinking of such a fine substrate.

Darin Chappell · Feb 11, 2004

Homemade racks constructed of melamine and sterilite containers for me. The simplicity of use and efficacy for cornsnakes is just too much to overlook.

Sasheena · Feb 11, 2004

I have an eclectic collection of cages. This coming summer vacation, if I have the funds available, I plan on building a snake rack for all those snakes that are going to be growing up and outgrowing their sterilite bins. Other than the plastic caging, I also have a 40 gallon, 29 gallon, six 20 gallon, ten 10 gallon and one 5-gallon aquariums. a few of those were going to be thrown out at the high school when they moved from the old building to the new building (easier to throw them out than to move them) so hubby snagged them. Just wish there was someone local who needed a steady supply of mice or rats, was handy with tools, and would take trades in rodentia for creating racks. I hate how tool-challenged I am! But I guess I can only dream.

Cheryl Marchek AKA JM · Feb 11, 2004

I use a few glass tanks, but I have moved just about everyone into melamine racks with sterilite tubs. I hate the melamine, (too heavy) but I am not confident enough to work with plastic (and it is pricey here) so I used melamine again to build my most recent racks a few weeks ago. I've now built 5 melamine racks, (2 ~10 adult BP racks, 2~5 sub afult BP or adult corn racks and 1~ juvie 27 juvie rack)

I very much like the convenience of being able to pull the tubs like a drawer and not fuss with a lid. I use foil insulation on the backs and it hold the heat well, making it energy efficient, and they are not un-attractive (I wouldn't call them nice furniture, but they are not ugly crap either!)

Clay Davenport · Feb 12, 2004

Two thoughts on the racks.
First, I had need for a rack rather quickly recently. I too have gotten tired of the weight of melamine, as well as the expense. I decided to just build the rack out of 1/2" plywood and didn't bother to stain it.
It's a single stack rack that holds 7 blanket boxes. Heated with 4" flexwatt. I am using it to house some ball pythons I am raising.
I didn't finish it with stain, because I didn't want to wait for it to cure before putting it in use. Even unfinished it doesn't look bad at all.
I'll try to snap a picture of it so others can see it. I built it in a hurry and didn't take the normal series of pictures I usually do.
It's far superior weight wise though, I can pick it up and move it by myself. Total cost for the rack not including the boxes was around $35.

My next rack however will be a radical departure from the design I have always used. It will hang the tubs like a rodent rack and be built from 2x2s. They will be very similar to the racks used by Sean Bradley at Exotics by Nature. Photos can be seen here http://www.ballpythonmorphs.com/pfac.html
I have a couple of minor modifications I will incorporate into the design to better suit my preferances, but they will be largly similar to those.
These racks will be very light, not expensive to build, and have superior ventilation.

Either of these options are in my opinion superior to melamine racks.

Clay Davenport · Feb 12, 2004

jenn_jeffery said:
The only other recommendation I would have for a paneled cage like the one I bought, is don't out sand in it unless you fill in the cracks first!! Stupid me didn't even think of that until I already had over 50 pounds of sand in....so I spent forever vacuuming sand from the carpet!!! Seriously, if I ever have dragons again, I'll fill the cracks with a clear caulkin or something similar before even thinking of such a fine substrate.

That is correct Jennifer. I built that cage because I had it in my mind and really just wanted to see what it would look like finished. I learned a bit in the process.
A cage built that way should really be constructed using a biscuit joiner. Unfortunately I didn't have one available so I built it without joining the panels.
I used a cypress mulch substrate when I had the cage in service, so there was no problem, but with fine substrate like sand it definately needs to be tighter.
I used cypress even when I housed dragons in the cage and used a large tub filled with soil as a laying box.

jenn_jeffery · Feb 12, 2004

I have aspen in the cage now, and haven't had any problems. I'm probably going to try the cypress mulch for both snakes next time--or when I run out of aspen I should say.

I may get my dad to build a seriously scaled down cage for my kingsnake and leopard gecko, he has all of the necessary tools, which I have very few of!

Cheryl Marchek AKA JM · Feb 12, 2004

Clay~
I've seen the pics of the hanging rack before, and I thought about trying that myself for the advantages of the wieght and ventilation. But I got hung up on the heat. How do you heat it? And being SO open, can it be energy efficient? The pic I posted is the Juvie rack, so it is built long side out and loses quite a bit of heat, but the adult racks are built short side out creating a pocket in the back of the rack that is dark and enclosed. Ventilation sucks, but it holds the heat well. I use foil insultaion and one strip of 11" heat tape down the back panel and I can get a 90F hot spot in the back of the rack even if the room that it's in is only at 70F ambient.

I live in California, so electricity is a big concern here!

Clay Davenport · Feb 12, 2004

Here is a series of pictures of how Sean heats those racks. I plan to use a similar method.

http://exoticsbynature.com/ksf/cb70rack01.jpg
http://exoticsbynature.com/ksf/cb70rack02.jpg
http://exoticsbynature.com/ksf/cb70rack03.jpg http://exoticsbynature.com/ksf/cb70rack04.jpg

I also plan on using pegboard for the ventilation instead of the screen material. If heat effeciency was a concern, the front half of the tub could be under pegboard and the rear half under a solid top and the ventilation would still be better than drilling holes in the tub.

kenchat046 · Feb 12, 2004

My .02 cents on the topic

I currently use rack systems I built myself. These hold a variety of rubbermaid/sterilite containers. When I started in this hobby I used various glass tanks but the combination of bulkiness, space usage, and inefficiency led me to racks. I have carpentry skills so it seemed natural to build racks. I love the Freedom Breeder style racks but like a lot of other small scale breeders, price and shipping costs keep them out of my reach. I am currently designing a new different type of rack based on the Freedom style. Hopefully I can bring this idea to production and offer a new alternative( or at least another product) to other keepers/breeders Ken

By the way, I currently keep and breed ball pythons,sand/rosy boas, brooksi ,and chain kings in my racks. I have no problems with humidity or heat with any of my snakes.

NEWReptiles · Mar 7, 2004

Homemade racks constructed of melamine and sterilite containers for me.

Same here, I also have about 2 dozen rubbermaids as well.

I just ordered about $1200 in supplies for my new rack made of HDPE. I will post progress pics as well as pics of the completed rack.

These are the melamine racks I am using right now, I too hate the weight of the melamine racks, and after only 18 months, 1 of the racks is starting to bubble from moisture. This is the reason I am switching to plastic.

JungleHabitats · Mar 7, 2004

nice Albert ... lol

post pics when ur done

WingedWolf · Mar 10, 2004

& Why

I have a big 30 gallon tank that I have a leopard gecko breeding colony in. It's for display, because I want to enjoy them, not just keep them.

I also have a rack, and I use sterilite tubs, for other animals. The reason is very simple...I'm poor, and these caging systems are inexpensive, easy to clean, and safe. I'd rather spend more on setting up proper heating devices and controls than on fancy cages. (I use mainly products made for humans--heating pads, thermometers, etc, purchased at Wal-Mart. They are quite reliable and safe).

I suppose I'm the queen of improvisation at this point--finding the least expensive way to give the best quality care. (The country-crock laying box/humid hide. <g>)

This way, I'm able to keep the animals I want--I wouldn't be able to do so if I used more expensive caging. The animals have everything they need to thrive, without breaking the bank.

Otter_23 · Apr 4, 2004

Cassandra,

I would like to know more of your money saving techniques. I also can not afford expensive cages etc... I buy water bowls at Walmart for cheap etc...
What do you do for humidity. I bought thermometer strips for aquariums and place them on the bottom of my cages and they work great up to this point and close to a tenth the price of "reptile" one's. What do you do for humidity? I thought of buying hermit crab heating pads for my sterilite containers and found them on the web for about 12.95 a piece but now I will look at human heat pads at walmart. Any other suggestions would be great.
Mark

Clay Davenport · Apr 4, 2004

Human heating pads

I just wanted to interject a word about the use of human heat pads to heat reptiles.
I know there are at least more than a few people that use them, so there is apparently some types that are acceptable to use, not all of them are.
Some brands have a built in safety feature that shuts the pad off automatically after a certain time, something like 2-3 hours. I have one like this myself, for my use not the herps.
The reason for this feature is these heat pads are not designed to operate 24 hours a day indefinately.
While I have used a human pad for emergency overnight heating on occasion, I personally wold not use them as a permanent heat source. I don't trust them for that use, nor do I consider them a truly adequate heat source.

As for the price, you can wire a 1 foot length of 11" flexwatt for a grand total of about $4.50
I just don't see where the savings are in using human heat pads.

Concerning the thermometer strips, you're better off taking that dollar and buying a Pepsi and a pack of crackers. They are made to read fish aquarium temps (and not particularly well), not air temperature, and they are completely incapable of monitoring basking temperature on the surface of the substrate or other basking site.
The same goes for those dial type thermometers from ZooMed.
You can buy little mini temp guns now for $25-30 and instantly check the temperature anywhere in the cage accurately.

Sasheena · Apr 4, 2004

As for the price, you[/b[ can wire a 1 foot length of 11" flexwatt for a grand total of about $4.50
I just don't see where the savings are in using human heat pads.

Oh how I wish this was true. I can't wire those, hubby can't, urgh!

BUT, I found someone who could. So now I just have to afford the flexwatt. Luckily it's warming up here in AZ... no heating pads until October.

What do you use for housing your reptiles & why?

Let people know what we use

Racks Systems

Plastic Caging

Melamine Caging

Wooden Cages

Rubbermaid Tubs

Sterilite Tubs

Glass Tanks

Other ...?

New member

New member

New member

Cerebral Nomad

New member

Senior Hillbilly Member

Imperfect

New member

Attachments

Cerebral Nomad

Cerebral Nomad

New member

New member

Cerebral Nomad

Kenyan sand boa lover

New member

Attachments

New member

New member

New member

Cerebral Nomad

Imperfect