DIY Rack Questions

[mbenjamin1692]

I have seen these be used as racks before. they are made using sterilite containers. my question is can i uses these with heat cable if i drill holes in the side for belly heat?


I was also thinking of maybe using these as racks. one is 4 selves and the other one is 3 shelves.


I dont mind buying the wood i need and building myself but was looking into other options also. I will be getting 16-6qt tubes, 7-16qt tubes and 4-28qt tubes if i cant use the first option mentioned in the post. i want to make sure i have enough space for hatchlings and i could even get the 32qt tubes if i needed to.

 

[mbenjamin1692]

27 views and no comments to help me out?

 

[JoulesBurn]

The shelves look like they might be adjustable enough. I've heard of people using the sterilite bins for a rack, but I just don't imagine it working well. They're pretty rickety and there aren't floors between the shelves, so your best bet might be taping the heat cable down to the bottom of the shelf. I just don't think it's worth the hassle for how flimsy it is.

Only problem I see with those shelves is that they're less than ten inches deep. That's a bit short.

 

[mbenjamin1692]

thank you for the advice

 

[Ravana's_Reptiles]

i used a 3 drawer steralite thing as a rack for maybe 2 weeks after all the geckos I had escaping 2 or more times each and having to deal with crazy temperature and humidity issues I realized that these things are best used as storage than racks so now i use a C serpents rack you can get one for 8 geckos for about 240$ while it sounds like alot its really not since they give you tubs& heat tape with the rack so its a professional style rack with everything for a hobbyist price

 

[warhawk]

Would you put the heat cable inside with the geckos or under the bin?

I would think inside would risk burning the geckos, while under if you attached them to the bin it would move ever time you open the drawer. If you had a flat bottom you could attack the heat cable to that and allow the bin to rest on top.

 

[stager]

Would you put the heat cable inside with the geckos or under the bin?

I would think inside would risk burning the geckos, while under if you attached them to the bin it would move ever time you open the drawer. If you had a flat bottom you could attack the heat cable to that and allow the bin to rest on top.

Definitely not inside it could cause serious burn

 

[warhawk]

Definitely not inside it could cause serious burn

I would think it would also but I don't know how get the tape to stay with out a bottom.

 

[Densen]

what i did last night is take aluminum tape and cover the holes in the floors of my plastic rack. i only cover about half, where my heat tape it. The aluminum tape will heat up as well, like a lot, and you dont want it running the entire length of the tub otherwise there is not cold side or region in their habitat. It worked really well. The tubs I have are less than 10in deep. I really don think they need to be that deep. I can post some photos later. All the geckos i have had for a while are completely fine and enjoying their new homes. the newer geckos are still going through their escape phase, not eating too. I will monitor them more but the others are just fine so i think its just them being new and having traveled in a plastic container for a day. Again dont cover the entire bottom with aluminum tape, use some other kind of tape that will resist high temps. or maybe lay down some plastic. I paid about $40 for the rack. putting in bottoms will cost around $10 at most. still a better deal than anything ive seen if you are tight on money. I am in college so this is perfect for me. If you have the money, get a 200+ rack. it seems like a lot, but after all the issues you have with a diy rack and buying materials to fix it you wont be too far off. that ebing said, if you do your research you wont have many issues.