Noob Rack Question

[SourDiesel]

I'm sorry if this is a dumb questions. Is the racks with geckos in them that are the size of shoe bins too small? I have kinda just got interested in gecko breeding and I was watching videos on youtube and the bins they were being housed in wasnt that big to look like it would have an enjoyable life. I know I will find all the answers on this site but I have an expo coming near me this weekend and I wanna go to get a bunch of dubia roaches and I'm thinking about picking up a few geckos. I just wanna make sure I have them in something that they aren't just cramped and miserable in. Also any suggestions on what to buy?

 

[Enigmatic_Reptiles]

If your getting into racks I LOVE Animal Plastic racks. I use Iris 330 for adults and Iris 335 for hatchlings. As far as the quality of life...that is debatable no matter how big of a tub/cage you have.

 

[Russellm0704]

I personally house my adults individually in 28/32 quart tubs. Though i do not have as many geckos as the big scale breeders so this is possible. The 15/16 quart tubs are fine for individual adults. I use 6 quart for my hatchlings and 12 quarts for my juvies.

 

[SourDiesel]

Thanks for the info. I'll try to set mine up like yours.

 

[AZdale]

What I have read is that the shoe box size is ok for hatchlings, so it would depend on how what age of geckos you are buying. I am building a rack system that will contain 25 shoe box size containers for hatchlings and 4 28/32 quart size containers for females. I am debating between if the larger size can hold two females, but since I do not plan on having more than three females this year and I have a 20 long show aquarium I am not too worried about it yet. By the time I have to worry about it I might have built a second rack.

 

[SourDiesel]

Can you build your rack out of any wood? With the heaters on the shelves do you have to worry about a chance of fire if not set up right?

 

[Russellm0704]

Can you build your rack out of any wood? With the heaters on the shelves do you have to worry about a chance of fire if not set up right?

Plywood works great but melamine is my first choice when building a rack. As long as you have a good quality thermostat then fire should not be an issue.

 

[SourDiesel]

Alright thanks. Any suggestions on which geckos to be on the look out to get?

 

[AZdale]

The plywood will be painted in an enamel with the 3-4" strips of a heat proof paint (like BBQ grill paint) on the areas with heat cording.