Making a rack (hatchling)

DeesBalls · 02-29-12, 12:11 PM

i am going to be making a hatchling rack..

right now im thinking 48'' high, x 27'' wide and 14'' deep.

this is give me room for 3 rows of 9 tubs... 27 slots.

as said, this will be a hatchling rack, i will be using this for the babies i just got until they get bigger to move up a tub...

it will house 27 6qt tubs with back heat provided by either 3'' or 4'' flexwatt, with a thermostat.

my thing is, i know the shelves need to be melamine, i dont want to use lids so that will help with humidity..

is there any other materials i can use for back and sides, like 2x4's or ply wood... even maybe aspen wood i used for my 1st rack. just throwing around some ideas here guys. let me konw what you all think.

DeesBalls · 02-29-12, 12:32 PM

actually, i dont think i need it to be THIS big now.. i will only have about 14 babies now to start raising to breed, so scratch that idea... lol

only will need to be lik 7x2, or 4x5 (tubs)

Norm66 · 02-29-12, 12:41 PM

If your herp room is heated to about 80 then I'd say you could do 2x4s for the sides and the Flexwatt would keep your warm spot at 90 no problem. I opted for melamine sides because my house isn't that warm. But when I build in my closet for a herp area (small herp room) I'll probably heat it and use open sided racks.

DeesBalls · 02-29-12, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Norm66

If your herp room is heated to about 80 then I'd say you could do 2x4s for the sides and the Flexwatt would keep your warm spot at 90 no problem. I opted for melamine sides because my house isn't that warm. But when I build in my closet for a herp area (small herp room) I'll probably heat it and use open sided racks.

my room is usually around 80... once i get my room built in the basement, it will be at a consistant 82-83. im leaning towards melamine sides, or aspen wood sides, just since i think it looks nicer.

Norm66 · 02-29-12, 01:03 PM

Yea, I agree that solid sides will look better. If you use melamime sides the whole thing will match. It depends on your application. I wanted mine to look as neat as possible so I went all melamime. If it was in a dedicated herp room that probably wouldn't have been as large a factor in my reasoning.

DeesBalls · 02-29-12, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Norm66

Yea, I agree that solid sides will look better. If you use melamime sides the whole thing will match. It depends on your application. I wanted mine to look as neat as possible so I went all melamime. If it was in a dedicated herp room that probably wouldn't have been as large a factor in my reasoning.

mine will be in a room just for snakes... ill be the only one in there so appearance isnt really important.

right now im leaning towards 2x4 sides and back, melemine shelves.

Norm66 · 02-29-12, 01:30 PM

Actually, you could make the frame out of 2x4s, install the shelves using the tubs plus 3 cds for clearance then skin the sides in some thin plywood and paint it. It wouldn't look too bad IMO.

DeesBalls · 02-29-12, 01:33 PM

i just ordered 15 foot of 3'' heat tape, so hopfully i can get this built soon.