gecko rack system...w/pic

silent_truth · 04-06-04, 11:50 PM

Hey, just wanted to share a picture of my rack system for various types of terrestrial geckos. It is located in my closet. The closet is kept at about 80 F during the day via a small space heater w/thermostat. The rack itself is heated with heat rope. I had to drill holes in each "runner" for the trays in order to pass the heat rope under without it catching on the tray when it is pulled out. The rope turned out to be the perfect length too. It's so nice when things go as planned! This type of rack would not work for small snakes as they would escape through a small gap that surrounds the top of each bin, but for terrestrial geckos and probably even frogs, it's perfect. I plan to add at least another rack of the same kind in the near future.

Bartman · 04-06-04, 11:56 PM

I never understood how you heat a rack system like that..could you please explain, thanks!

mykee · 04-06-04, 11:59 PM

Very nice, and truly creative. Nice work.

silent_truth · 04-07-04, 12:39 AM

Thanks very much Mykee. I had been racking my brain trying to come up with a low cost alternative to buying a whole bunch of individual rubbermaids. At first, I thought this kind of system would not work well for my purposes because I couldn't see a way to provide belly heat. Heat rope was the key to the solution.

Bartman: Essentially all I've done is drill a hole on each side of each level near the back. It took about ten minutes to do. If you take a look at the rack, you'll notice the frame of it is a hard white plastic, sturdy enough to drill through quite easily. Here's a pic of one level at the back. The picture was taken from beside the rack.
I hope this helps.

-Adam

ChristinaM · 04-07-04, 08:13 AM

Hi Adam.....very nice work.

The heat rope, it is positioned under each drawer, yes?
Which heat rope did you use?

Thanks

silent_truth · 04-07-04, 10:34 AM

Yep, the heat rope is run under each drawer. I used the rope I got from PCPC, it works great.

-Adam

Reptile Kings · 04-07-04, 11:24 AM

I used this exact same idea for a year up untill a month ago until Phil "Retic" made me amazing looking breeding racks.
Here's some pics of the racks i used to use:

I ran 11" flexwatt heat tape along the back, and it worked great! Very inexpensive to buy and build.
You can buy these storage racks anywhere...WalMart, Canadian Tire, Zellers, Loblaws etc.

Can't house hatchling leos in them, they escape quite easily, great for adult leos though, and they have lots of space to roam around.
-Sam

silent_truth · 04-07-04, 11:36 AM

Sam, those look great! You say you couldn't house your hatchling leos because they would escape. Is that due to the space at the top of each bin? I was fortunate to find a model that has a very small gap at the top and the rim is kept close to the white frame. I guess I'll be buying the same brand again to keep the gaps to a minimum. Thanks for the pics!

sketchy4 · 04-07-04, 06:08 PM

those are some great looking racks!

Reptile Kings · 04-12-04, 04:22 PM

I apologize for the delay in response Adam, busy working crazy hours.
But ya, hatchling to 2 month old leos, escape extremely easy from these racks, because of the gap that you were mentioning, adult leos are absolutely fine though. I even have the same rack used strictly for keeping feeders in, such as mealies crickets etc. and large crix seem to escape easily from them as well.
However they can house adult leos comfortably I find, and can be used as breeding enclosures as well. 1/2 of my females eggs were laid in those successfully this year. (The other half are being laid in their new breeding racks).
I'd recommend these racks to anyone, they look great, work great, and are cost efficient

-Sam