indyana
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 2,336
- Location
- Massachusetts, United States
Getting ready to breed a pair of leopard geckos for the first time next year, so I invested in a couple racks to provide baby housing. These are Five Drawer Sideways Blanket RhinoRaXX from Boaphile Plastics, purchased with the divider option to convert them to 10 sweater boxes (15-quart #1753 Sterilite bins).
I have them hooked up to my HerpStat 4 today to make certain all the heating is working. Stage one in preparing them for next year was to install a bit of cat security! We all know cats + small animals is a bad combination, so I wanted a way to make sure nobody played with the drawers while I was at work...
After a bit of brainstorming and searching hardware on Amazon, I came up with the idea of using some screen clips to retain the drawers.
The screen clips are flush, black metal with a 1/2" reach (about 3/4" total length), and they attach using #10 screws. [link] I experimented a bit with how to drill the holes for the screws before I got the sizing right. I ended up needing a 9/64" pilot hole size to get the screws to go in. The rack material was hard enough to necessitate drilling in three stages - 7/64", 1/8", and 9/64". Then, I could screw in the clips on the lowest torque setting. I screwed them in sideways, with the clips lying against the edge of the shelf, so that they would be able to be turned back and forth.
I think this is going to work very well, and it makes me feel a bit better about gecko safety!
Next, I have to figure out how much ventilation I need to drill in each bin...
I have them hooked up to my HerpStat 4 today to make certain all the heating is working. Stage one in preparing them for next year was to install a bit of cat security! We all know cats + small animals is a bad combination, so I wanted a way to make sure nobody played with the drawers while I was at work...
After a bit of brainstorming and searching hardware on Amazon, I came up with the idea of using some screen clips to retain the drawers.
The screen clips are flush, black metal with a 1/2" reach (about 3/4" total length), and they attach using #10 screws. [link] I experimented a bit with how to drill the holes for the screws before I got the sizing right. I ended up needing a 9/64" pilot hole size to get the screws to go in. The rack material was hard enough to necessitate drilling in three stages - 7/64", 1/8", and 9/64". Then, I could screw in the clips on the lowest torque setting. I screwed them in sideways, with the clips lying against the edge of the shelf, so that they would be able to be turned back and forth.
I think this is going to work very well, and it makes me feel a bit better about gecko safety!
Next, I have to figure out how much ventilation I need to drill in each bin...