New Racks from Animal Plastics!

[kkigs]

I can't think of a better gift on Christmas Eve than to receive perfect new housing for the geckos! These are Animal Plastics Economy racks, model 1753, for either 6 1755 32qt. tubs, or 12 1753 15qt. tubs. These are the snap-lock Sterilite tubs found at Target, and used in both Rhino Raxx and Vision rack systems. Simply remove the plastic locks, wash and add geckos! I have the racks set up with just a little space in the back and sides to provide some airflow, but the true test will be to determine how well they maintain temperatures and humidity. After building several racks of my own, and now seeing these, I've decided that I cannot get anywhere close to the precision and quality. And the weight savings alone are a huge selling point over melamine or other wood racks.

My "old" rack, built the weekend of Thanksgiving. Although I'm proud of it, the 3/4" particle board is super heavy, and the shelves are too long, resulting in little shifts in spacing. Sometimes a box that was really loose yesterday would be really tight today. It's functional, built with dual Zoo-med heat ropes running parrallel to one another and controlled by a Rheostat. It takes the 12qt. and 28qt. Sterilite boxes from Walmart. It will still be used for hatchlings during the upcoming season.

New AP racks; these will be my breeder racks for years to come.

 

[gixxer3420]

Congrats on the new racks.

 

[leopardgeckos96]

hello how did you install the heat cable? a router? or did you just set it down and put foil tape over it?

 

[kkigs]

hello how did you install the heat cable? a router? or did you just set it down and put foil tape over it?

Neither... I used my table saw. Set the blade depth to 1/4", and the rip fence to 4". Make one cut for each shelf, then adjust the rip fence by 1/8" or so, to create a 1/4" slot. The second heat rope is then 1" inside of that, towards the front of the shelf, so the rip fence is set to 5" and then 5 1/8". I then used foil tape to cover it as you can see in the picture. The same slots are cut into the sides. I used a 1/2" drill bit and drilled out the end of each slot to allow for access for the end of the heat cable, as it's too big to thread through the slots. The entire rack took the better part of two days to complete; it's finished with iron-on trim on the front and an oak finishing panel on the sides and back. The thing weighs well more than both of my new racks combined.

 

[Retribution Reptiles]

Very nice and those are the Economy Racks right? They have the open sides?

 

[kkigs]

Very nice and those are the Economy Racks right? They have the open sides?

Yep, they have the open sides and back. I think you could easily tape a good, heavy plastic over the open areas if you really needed to, but I decided to just give them a go as is.

 

[Enigmatic_Reptiles]

Congrats on the racks. I love AP racks

 

[UnicornSpirit]

Nice new racks I have the AP economy rack as well and I love it. So far- they seem to retain heat just fine with my hot spots being at a fairly consistent 90-91˚
These racks were cheaper but still look sleek and polished!

 

[Retribution Reptiles]

The way you have them pretty tight in an enclosed space that should assist in heat retention. If you look at the vision racks they are open as well and I haven't heard any horror stories of alot of heat loss. Good pick up for sure. We have 6 AP racks and 1 we still haven't built yet. lol

 

[toph427]

How much were the ones you have in your picture? When it says (With heat) that entails heat tape already installed?? And you would just need a thermostat or....
Sorry im interested in getting a new rack system and have no experience with them. Thanks

 

[kkigs]

How much were the ones you have in your picture? When it says (With heat) that entails heat tape already installed?? And you would just need a thermostat or....
Sorry im interested in getting a new rack system and have no experience with them. Thanks

The AP racks are shipped disassembled, so you have to put them together. If you're mildly handy, it's not a big deal, you just want to make sure the first screw goes in perfectly, and then the rest of the rack is pretty much fool-proof, as the shelves and uprights all lock together, and then are secured with drywall screws. You will thread the heat tape through the rack from bottom to top, then snap it into the routed channels from top to bottom, which is probably the hardest part of the entire process. It took me less than 2 hours to have both racks up and running. They are $270 each; I bought a Spyder Robotics Herpstat for $117.

 

[toph427]

Are the tubs on top too small to fit an adult? Will the bottom fit 2 females? Just wondering...

 

[UnicornSpirit]

Those smaller bins shown will hold one adult each as the dimensions are close but still not even as large as an average 10 gal tank. While the large tubs on the bottom could hold 3-4 adults each.

Are the tubs on top too small to fit an adult? Will the bottom fit 2 females? Just wondering...

 

[UnicornSpirit]

Each piece/board is also labeled with a handy arrow (pointing to the front) and labeled with it's name (ie. Side Panel 1, back). Even someone who literally has not constructed something since middle school tech-ed class can figure it out! The costumer service for AP was great, they initially sent me the wrong size heat tape (it was way too short) and no problem: mailed me out a new one right away! I was even missing a few screws from my set so I mentioned it and they sent those out with the heat tape, even with some spares. Thinking afterwards, I could have done the company a favor and bought the needed screws myself at Lowes or something for a quarter or two. Very good and simple! Just remember if you order a AP rack to give them a couple months time before it arrives at your door. :]

Will I order from AP again? You bet!

The AP racks are shipped disassembled, so you have to put them together. If you're mildly handy, it's not a big deal, you just want to make sure the first screw goes in perfectly, and then the rest of the rack is pretty much fool-proof, as the shelves and uprights all lock together, and then are secured with drywall screws. You will thread the heat tape through the rack from bottom to top, then snap it into the routed channels from top to bottom, which is probably the hardest part of the entire process. It took me less than 2 hours to have both racks up and running. They are $270 each; I bought a Spyder Robotics Herpstat for $117.

 

[toph427]

A couple of months for shipping??!!?!!?

 

[ajveachster]

A couple of months for shipping??!!?!!?

Yes. You do need to order a couple months in advance. Pretty much they build to order. They tend not to keep a large quantity on hand. After building 6 of them we've become pretty efficient at it. I can build a 375 10 shelf unit and move it by myself, but a second person makes it a lot easier.

 

[Retribution Reptiles]

We have perfected the art of building them. We can do an entire rack in about 15-30 min with 2 people. That's taking it out of the box, cleaning it, and building it.

 

[kkigs]

A couple of months for shipping??!!?!!?

Actually, about 6 days... These particular racks are the first in their "Quick Ship Item" category, so they already have cuts made and racks pretty much ready to ship. They estimated 4 weeks for other models, which is not that bad. Boaphile estimated 3 weeks.

Another tip... I found the tubs today at Big Lots for significant savings over what I paid at Target. The small tubs are plenty big enough for an adult, while the sweater boxes are pretty much the standard in leopard gecko breeding boxes, and can easily house 4-6 geckos.