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Best racks and vivariums?

Jadie.Glitch

Jadie.Glitch

:) colubridstudios.com :)
Who, in your opinion, makes the best racks/vivariums? I've been looking at Rhino& RhinoRaXX, Vision, Boaphile, Reptilebasics, etc... and I just can't decide, or I'm not sure if I'm making the right decision, etc.

I think the best deal I can find is directly on Vision's website. I'm thinking about getting this:

"Sterilite 32qt. | Clearview Model # 1756 | 23" X 16" X 6" tall | 10 high- $339.00 | w/ heat | no tubs"
6post_10highco.jpg


and two of these (to start):
"Model # 211 | 24" wide - 22" deep - 14" high | $145.00 ea."
211.JPG


but I feel unsure as to whether I'm getting the best deal/product. Any suggestions/comments/testimonials will be very helpful. This is a LOT of money for me to throw down right now, and I just really don't want to be disappointed, ya know?

Thanks a bunch!
 
Jadie.Glitch said:
Who, in your opinion, makes the best racks/vivariums? I've been looking at Rhino& RhinoRaXX, Vision, Boaphile, Reptilebasics, etc... and I just can't decide, or I'm not sure if I'm making the right decision, etc.

I think the best deal I can find is directly on Vision's website. I'm thinking about getting this:

"Sterilite 32qt. | Clearview Model # 1756 | 23" X 16" X 6" tall | 10 high- $339.00 | w/ heat | no tubs"
6post_10highco.jpg


and two of these (to start):
"Model # 211 | 24" wide - 22" deep - 14" high | $145.00 ea."
211.JPG


but I feel unsure as to whether I'm getting the best deal/product. Any suggestions/comments/testimonials will be very helpful. This is a LOT of money for me to throw down right now, and I just really don't want to be disappointed, ya know?

Thanks a bunch!
Click to expand...

Here is a video on how you can make your own snake rack its kind of similiar but a hell of a lot cheaper

You can do it the way he did or you can leave the lids on the tubs and then put a hinge on them and it will be cheaper then buying that white board he used.

I have thought of doing it like this my self
 
Hmm, that is actually pretty interesting! I really wish I could build something, and I've been in this whole "I CAN BUILD THIS!" kind of mood for a couple of years now (and actually have a project in the works right now for a big double viv, but that's another story), but I keep coming across the stumbling block of heating.

I live in southern Washington, where it gets very cold, so flexwatt or something similar is a must. However, every time I go quote some flexwatt prices on say, Big Apple Herps or something of the like, I always get discouraged because it's so expensive, and I figure that for just a tad over the price it would take to build it myself, I can just buy a pre-wired one and be done with it.

If I do decide to build, then I'll have to wire the rack myself (which is doable, since my husband knows about that stuff), but the whole thermostat thing has me confused. I know people have told me that with tall racks you'll need to have multiple thermostats because the temps change from the ceiling to the floor, etc, and those things are super expensive too.

I dunno, I guess I'm just afraid to throw out almost the same amount of cash as if I were to buy a pre-made one, and then make a bunch of mistakes while I'm building it myself and have wasted my time/money/effort.

I did build a rat rack almost completely by myself, and while it looks nice, I made a pretty big mistake (having a slightly too large bit when pre-drilling the holes) that messed with the whole structural integrity of the thing. It stands up, but if you push it to move it somewhere, the whole thing lists to the side pretty terribly and you have to shove it back the other way to line everything back up again. Also, I stapled too large of a grade of wire to it and the rats occasionally get out.

I guess I'm afraid that I'm going to make some other dumb mistake with the racks and have to live with this half-butted(lol) eyesore.

Any advice is greatly appreciated :eek: :eek: :eek:
 
A suggestion for the rat rack.

Remove the screws for one screened panel and slide it out. You can then either replace the screen or you can just staple the smaller screen over the existing one. Replace it in the rack. Do one panel at a time.

For the screws - buy new screws that are the same length as the old screws but a size (or two) bigger. For example, if you used a three inch #10 screw originally replace it with a three inch #12 screw. Should make the hole rack tight.

You can also add side supports which should help eliminate the bending too.

Good luck.
 
Look into animal plastics. They have a very nice economy line of racks, I have two of them. Come with either heat cable or flexwatt. Very sturdy. I dont have any experience with vision, but I love my AP racks!
 
I'm also a fan of the Animal Plastics products. I have a 10-slot Sterilite economy rack. It only needs one thermostat for the whole thing. I do keep thermometer probes on the top and bottom shelves, though, because there is a little bit of temp difference but I've only noticed 3*F variation at the most from top to bottom.

My other rack is one that I built myself. I am very pleased with how it turned out, and it was certainly much cheaper. However, the design on the AP rack is just SO much better! No wires hanging out all over the place from the Flexwatt, which is an issue I deal with on my homemade rack. Plus, my 10-slot AP rack probably weighs the same as my 4-slot homemade rack. :shrugs: Not that weight is a real issue, but I thought I'd throw that out there.

I've also found AP's customer service to be superb, I had a boatload of questions to ask because I have two evil-genius cats and was paranoid about how secure they are. Let me tell you, I haven't had a single doubt about it's security since it arrived! (That said, I am still paranoid enough that I put binder clips on the shelves to keep anything from sliding out, but I will admit that this is completely unnecessary.)
 
Nice! Thank you for all the advice! I have looked at all of the suggestions and I think I'm going to check out Animal Plastics a little more closely. They seem to have pretty fair shipping and their products look really nice. I'm still shopping around, but this gives me a much more clear direction. Thank you again!

Also, rep sent to JohnNJ; thanks for the advice on the rat rack! I think I'm going to cut some lattice to fit on the left and right sides of it, and screw it on there. That should stabilize it pretty solidly, but before I do that I'm going to be overlaying some more wire in order to keep the littler suckers in.

Thanks again, all! :)
 
The thing I like about Animal Plastics Economy Plastic racks, (the more open model) is that they don't look so industrial. I have actually convinced myself that a "normal" person might have furniture such as this in their living room. Unfortunately, I need to squeeze in three more, and I am out of room for expansion!
 

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I see nothing wrong with having a few snake racks in the living room ;) It's not that much different than book shelves.
 
Best Racks

hands down are the ARS Racks -not cheap,but you get what you pay for - molded in water bowl holders are fantastic :dancer:
 
Im not a huge fan of the molded water bowls, mostly because my snakes like to use the underside of their bowls for a hide. But those are nice looking racks! I think Ive seen them at expos a few times.
 
Nanci said:
The thing I like about Animal Plastics Economy Plastic racks, (the more open model) is that they don't look so industrial. I have actually convinced myself that a "normal" person might have furniture such as this in their living room. Unfortunately, I need to squeeze in three more, and I am out of room for expansion!
Click to expand...

I really like those racks because of the extra head room. Are those reptile hammocks that i see inside them? Do your snakes make good use of them, climbing branches, and the extra head room in general? Those racks seem like a happy medium between a cage and a normal rack.
 
For that price the least they can do is include the tubs. It might be worth it then. Flexwatt is a pain to set up no matter what anyone says. It's not particularly difficult, just very tedious. I guess that's why the ones that include heat are so expensive. I'm not sure if they use flexwatt though.
 
ratsncorns said:
Im not a huge fan of the molded water bowls, mostly because my snakes like to use the underside of their bowls for a hide. But those are nice looking racks! I think Ive seen them at expos a few times.
Click to expand...

That's funny. Mine did that too. The first time it happened I was freaking out because I thought she got out somehow and she was inside the ceramic water dish. I guess I don't blame them. It's a good hide for babies. It's hard to get them out sometimes. Especially when they are in shed and grumpy.
 
Jadie,

I have the Vision rack and I absolutely love it! I bought it used and have taken it apart several times and it's still very sturdy and looks awesome. The casters work well enough that you can slide it over carpet without any wobble, I'm actually planning on buying a second one soon.

I've had a few DIY racks and they don't hold a candle to my Vision. I'm also looking into one of the AP Economy racks, especially since I found out you can add casters to them as well.
 
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