will this work

i'm building a rack and i was wondering why i never see them with those white metal wire type of shelves people put in closets or pantries....would this work? b/c those types of shelves are light and cheap.... i was considering building a wooden frame and then putting those kind of shelves in it. i wa going to back heat it and as long as i don't let the heat tape touch any of the metal, i don't suppoe there will be a problem with overheating or melting. does this all sound plausible or am i overlooking something? any opinions at all would be greatly appreciated. thanks. ed

Yes, those wire shelves work great! I have the 24" deep pantry shelves holding up a bunch of 3' Neodesha cages. With their slant front sliding glass doors, it was the only way I could think of to stack them. I attached the wire shelving directly to the walls using their upright standards and their top hanging rail, but I also made a monster wooden rack using 12" deep shelving that is free standing to hold my 2' Neodeshas. I just run heat tape right on top of the wire shelves toward the back...place the cages on top of that...no problem. Just remember to use a thermostat for the heat tape. I doubt you will melt the plastic coating off of the wire shelving. Think of it as added insulation against electrical shock...lol.

Scott Nellis

what about the shelves heating up too much and melting part of the rubbermaid tubs? is that a legitimate concern or is it impossible.....and silly as is seem, is there any electricity risk? i do't know much about wiring and would hate to do something stupid

The only problem you may have with those shelves is that you may have a difficult time getting a secure enough fit.

Like I said, if you use a quality thermostat made for the reptile industry (ie, Herpastat, Johnson controls, Ranco, or Helix), you won't have a problem. You shouldn't run the heat tape at full power anyway. I won't say it's impossible, but it would be very unlikely that the Rubbermaids would start melting if the tape overheats. Heat tape (ie, Flexwatt) is very safe....heat cable, on the other hand, can operate at higher temps, so there's more of a risk with it.

If you wire the heat tape properly (per manufacturers instructions...insulating the cut ends, etc.), there won't be any electrical problems. The only thing you may want to watch for is if you're constantly moving your cages/totes on and off the heat tape. If that's the case, you don't want to be in direct contact with the heat tape. The constant friction of moving cages/totes over the tape will eventually wear through the thin plastic coating of the tape and then you have the possibility of electrical shock. If that's how you plan to set up your Rubbermaids, then weave the tape underneath each Rubbermaid (through the wire spaces in the shelving). It won't be as efficient heating, but you will have no risk of wearing through the heat tape.

Harald brings up the point of securing the Rubbermaid lids. That would be difficult to do with wire shelving. Wire shelving is great for cages (or totes) where the lids or doors are secured by some other means....such as those new totes with the snap over handles. Ain't no way a critter is going to push off that lid....lol.

Scott Nellis

if i space the shelve precisely to the heights of the sterilites, shouldn't it work? b/c the shelf above each layer would, theoretically hold the lid on, right? since each shelf will also be bearing the weight of the bins on it, wouldn't the combination of the shelf placement and the weight of the tubs do the trick? i mean even if the snake manages to pop the lid off the tubs, it still couldn'tbend the helf or break the drywall, could it? i'm thinking that it should be as secure a commercial racks, especially for ball pythons, b/c that's all i keep, no retics or anacondas or anything. also all of the sterilite bins seem to have at least on dimension that measures 16.5", so there will be absolutely no overlap if i go with the 20" shelves. what do you guys think?

Take a good look at the shelves, and you will understand - there is a lip on the front of most of them that would necessitate raising each (upper) shelf to allow the one below it to accommodate sliding the bin into place. (you could cut it off, but that would be a hassle)

but that lip on the ones i was looking at was only another one of the bars placed perpendicular, could that be a problem? b/c it can't be more than a few milimieters

there are different brands of shelving that vary somewhat...the stuff I have around here has about a 1 inch lip, that's why I didn't use it. If the stuff available to you is as you describe, it should work fine for BPs

Scott Nellis