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will this work

B

blackula19

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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...

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.
 
shouldn't be a problem...

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
 
Here's what I have set up...



Scott Nellis
 
ok, that didn't work...

Can someone tell me how to post a pic?

Yeah, I guess I don't understand how you can use the wire shelving to hold down the Rubbermaids below them. There's a 90 degree lip on every wire shelf I've seen. It's there to give the shelf lateral strength. I tried to post a pic of my set-up, but it didn't work.

Scott Nellis
 
were you trying to load the pic directly from your computer (manage attachments), or post from another site (website or photobucket). If the latter, you probably have to delete the http:// (one shows up automatically, another will come with the URL)
 
computer

I was trying to upload an image from my own computer. I clicked on the "insert image" at the top of this reply page and a box saying "explorer user prompt" and "script prompt" came up. Ok, I'm a computer idiot...what does scirpt have to do with photos? I tried writting in the numbers associated with my pic, but that didn't work. Sorry to get off topic, but I thought my photo would help show how I'm using wire shelving.

Scott Nellis
 
Scott Nellis said:
I was trying to upload an image from my own computer. I clicked on the "insert image" at the top of this reply page and a box saying "explorer user prompt" and "script prompt" came up. Ok, I'm a computer idiot...what does scirpt have to do with photos? I tried writting in the numbers associated with my pic, but that didn't work. Sorry to get off topic, but I thought my photo would help show how I'm using wire shelving.

Scott Nellis
Click to expand...

If you scroll down on the reply page you can add the pic as an attachment. At the section that says "manage attachments".
 
Ah.....ok, thanks

Thanks Bill and Amy. Ok, here's a couple of photos of how I'm using wire shelving...

Scott Nellis
 

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Scott, I see you got your response before I could get back (roadrunner issues). The insert image icon is used if you have the photos somewhere online, manage attachments is if they are saved on your 'puter. No need for a long explanation of the hows, since you got them up. Back on topic:
I used to load cages with sterilites when I kept hots...I had 8x3x2 ft cages - 2 stacks had big pythons, the other one had venomous. (I also had a bunch of Neodesha cages )
 
Then, I'm not the only one....lol

Harald....Yeah, until my carpet pythons and Argentine boas get big enough (among others), I thought it would be more efficient to put shoe and sweater boxes inside the 3' Neodeshas. No hots here. I can see that this system of "double caging" would be very advantageous with hots...double safety, so to speak. I also have a free standing rack that I made that will hold 48 of the 2' Neodeshas. It will go in the middle of the room. I'm waiting for my next week of vacation, because it will be a project and a half putting it in, wiring the heat tape and thermostats, and moving everyone to their new quarters...lol.

It took me several months to figure out what type of rack/shelf system would work best with those slant front Neodeshas....I think the wire shelf is the best solution....certainly a lot cheaper than the 3/6 high rack that Neodesha sold to stack them! Remember those...lol?

Scott Nellis
 
I sure do. I'm still kicking myself for selling off a bunch of my 2 & 3 ft cages...esp since people that offer them for sale (used) want more than I paid for them new.
 
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