If you are looking for a more affordable way to house larger snakes, I built a rack from stuff I found at the major home improvement stores. You can use the 41qt tubs or even the 19x5x43x6.6" underbed bins that will house a 10lb boa with ease.. It's been a while since I purchased the shelving units, so I can't recall the brand but they were purchased at Home Depot.. You will need 2 packages of the plastic shelving units to complete a 9 stack rack that will hold 9 adult boas in a 24x36" foot print. You will also need pegboard if you want to make it a lidless rack, the stuff you hang hooks in to hold hardware items.. I purchased the "premium" stuff because it has a sealed coating to keep moisture out.. Now that you have your shelves and pegboard, you're going to need a chop saw, a drill, tape measure and some screws. The object is to cut the seperation polls so once the shelving unit is assembled and the pegboard is mounted, you have perfect gapping for the tubs to slide in and out while using the pegboard as the lids.. I will not give you the measurements, some models may vary and I don't want to waste your hard earned money.. I will give you a hint, assemble the legs on the bottom shelf, put your first level of polls into the bottom shelf, grab your bin and lay it on the bottom shelf, grab the 2nd shelf and make a mark where it meets the top of the tub.. Now, you have to get the tap measure and stick it into the 2nd shelf's slot, add that measurement to your mark and that should be your cut.. Cut 4 of them, no need to remeasure, use your first cut as the template.. I must STRESS, use the same template to make each of your cuts, don't change templates or you will have a bunch of different length poles.. Oh, install the first 4 poles and make sure everything fits well, you can make your adjustments at this point.. Cut every poll and install every shelf, if you went with lids, you're done.. If you decide to go lidless, I'd only do so if your actual boa room has high humidity and is heated well or you will have cold/dry tubs... You will see what I did with the pegboard to make the lidless racks and you can also see I've made neonate racks out of the same system.. My neonate racks will hold thirty six 6qt tubs and can be adjust to use twenty seven 12qt tubs.. I used flexwatt to heat my cages but I will not give any advice in this department, I don't want to start a fire in anyone's home so you'll have to figure it out on your own.. Here's a few pictures to help illustrate what I'm talking about and it should help you identify the shelf units at Home Depot, they are in a collapsed package, wrapped in clear plastic. You need the 24x36" shelf units for the larger tubs and the 18x36" shelf units for the babies...
Here's one of the 18" units, it shows how long the poles are made in the bottom shelf and how I cut them down...
Underneath picture of the shelves
The corners cut out pegboard to be installed underneath each shelf.
Together..
Getting there...
Strong too!
Not for real short people!
Finished with 2 neonate racks back to back and the 41qt rack used as an end cap... So that's 9 adult boas and 72 neonates in a 3ftx5ft footprint..
Close up of the neonate rack with tubs in it..
I hope this helps someone out!! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!
Take care
Linear Mode
