Convert a Shelving Unit to a Rack System

I am raising a small collection of Green Tree Pythons and will only acquire 2 or 3 more animals over the next year. After doing my research, I quickly learned that rack-tub systems are ideal for keeping the neonate and small juvenile snakes until they are large enough for their display cages. The plastic tubs retain moisture and temperature much better than glass or acrylic aquariums, are very easy to clean, and are economically heated by the rack. For me the only downside to racks is that they tend to too big (10 tub minimum) and the custom built one’s were quite expensive and would take weeks to deliver.

I am not a carpenter, nor do I have access to good carpentry tools, nor do I have the carpentry skills to operate those tools. So rather than building my own rack-system, I opted to convert an Ikea shelving unit into a custom snake rack. I chose Ikea because it sells shelving units that measure 15 ¾” deep, perfect for 3 gallon tubs!


All in all, I spent about 3 hours of labor and less than $80 on the rack and tubs.




MATERIALS

• 1x BESTA shelving unit (23 5/8 " x 15 3/4 " x 15”) - $50(Ikea)
• 4x SAMLA clear plastic box ( 11 " x 15 ¼ " x 5 ½ ", 3 gallon) - $2.99
• 4x SAMLA clear plastic lid - $1.00
• 4x SAMLA locking clips for lid (pack of 4) - $ .50
• 8’ of 3” wide, 10 watt, Flexwatt Heat Tape – $16.80 (BeanFarm.com)
• Herp Power Proportional Thermostat – $119.00 (bigappleherp.com)
• 16x Plastic Hangers - $3.99 (CVS)
• 1 regular extension cord - $2.99 (CVS)

TOOLS & BUILDING MATERIALS

• Small handsaw
• Drill
• Soldering Iron
• Solder
• Wire Cutter/Stripper
• Duck tape
• Electrical tape

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Assemble the shelving unit following the manufacturer instructions. The BESTA unit I purchased was very easy to assemble and took me roughly 20 minutes. These backs of these units come with a board that slides into pre-made grooves. I did not put the backboard into these grooves. Instead I nailed it to the back edges of the unit adding another ½” of depth to the unit to allow room for wires and cables.

2. Cut the flexwatt heat tape into four 23 inch strips, and wire the flexwatt as shown in the diagram. General information on wiring flexwatt can be found here. This link provides instruction on wiring flexwat in parallel. I chose to solder my connections and insulate with electrical tape.

I put two strips side-by-side on the base and two strips on the shelf. I keep my house relatively cool (68° - 70° F), the two rows of the 3"/10 watt flexwatt provides enough wattage to heat the back 6 inches of each tub up to an ambient basking temp of 88° F while the front half stays at 79°F. There is plenty of extra wattage so the thermostat can easily maintain the temperatures.


3. Secure the flexwatt to the shelving unit. I used the hand saw to cut a "v" shaped notch in the shelf to allow the wiring to pass to the base and secured the heat tape to the shelving unit using duct tape (foil tape would work well too). At this stage, the rack is complete.

4. Prep the tubs: Ventilation. There are two considerations that must be taken for converting the tubs into suitable habitats for GTPs: 1. ventilation, 2. perches. I used the soldering iron to melt ventilation holes into the plastic tubs along the rim spaced about 1" apart. I also made appropriate sized holes for the thermostat probe and thermometer/hygrometer probes.

I found that soldering holes is a fast and smooth process that does not leave jagged or sharp edges as can happen when the rpm of the drill used is not high enough. I also found that melted plastic smells like shit. Do this in a well ventilated area!


5. Prep the tubs: Perches. For perches I used plastic hangers I bought from CVS. With the handsaw, I cut the long ends off and then sized them so as to provide one long perch running down the depth of the container and two smaller perches cutting across. I made small perch-holes along the tub walls to secure the perches. This setup is stable enough to provide a secure perch for juvenile GTPs, while making the perches easily removable for cleaning and other husbandry needs.

That is pretty much it. Plug the flexwatt into the thermostat, set up your probes, and add substrate, decoration, and a water bowl and your set.

Cage Requirements

The "ideal" cage size for captive Green Tree Pythons is hotly debated (see this posting in the morelia viridis forum). Most breeders opt for 24 x 24 x 24 inch cube cages for adults, and rack systems with 12-16 liter tubs for juveniles and 6 liter tubs for neonates. Each animal should be housed individually, chondros are not social creatures. The tub-rack system is an ideal way to keep younger snakes as it is easy to clean, easy to keep temperature and humidity, and very cost effective. I believe that for adult snakes the more room you can afford the better. They key is to give the animal a clean and stimulating environment to explore with enough stretching room to provide exercise.

Homemade Tub-rack sytem for 4 juvenile Chondros

Glass or acrylic aquariums and vivariums work well when properly modified to meet the heating and humidity requirements. I prefer custom cages as they can be optimally designed for chondros. If you are carpentry inclined you can build your own from wood or melamine board(Greg Maxwell provides plans to his cages here), or you can have one made for you from various cage manufacturers.

Greg Maxwell "style" cage. From finegtps.com

The cage should be furnished with plenty of well-secured perches and decorated with silk or live plants that allow the snake some coverage and a general feeling of security. Chondros are cautious animals and when given the choice between a high perch and proper temperature, they will almost always choose the safety of the high perch. This is why, contrary to popular beliefs, Chondros fare better in horizontally oriented cages as opposed to vertical “arboreal” cages. By placing the heating source off to one of the sides, we create a horizontal heat gradient that allows the snake to thermo-regulate along the perch while not having to sacrifice health and comfort for safety.

A water bowl with clean fresh water should be placed inside the cage. Despite chondros prefering to drink water droplets from their coils after a rain (or in captivity, a misting),they should be given the option of a constant clean fresh water source. To Maxwell’s point, give your snake the same water you would like to drink.The size of the bowl is inconsequential, note that a larger bowl can be useful if maintaing high humidity becomes a problem.

Newspaper and Paper towels work well for substrate as they are easy to clean and retain moisture. If you want a more natural look, I suggest Cypress mulch which smells great, looks great, retains humidity, and is easy to clean. Substrate should be replaced every 4-6 weeks and spot cleaned as needed.