I am looking to get feedback from people who already own racks. I’m looking for information on why you chose the rack you have, if you did it yourself, any pics of your setup, etc. Thought it would be an interesting topic since I know there are now a lot of rack companies popping up now.
Who do you like?
What racks do you have from them?
How is their pricing?
Anything you don’t like about them?
What about tubs? Do you like a certain tub? Why?
Did you build your own rack? Was it easy, fun?
If you have pics please share them!
Best rack company for beginners on a budget? CSerpents. I say this as a previous fan of Animal Plastics, but I was turned off by their economy sweaterbox racks because the tubs they build the racks for didn’t exist and I ended up having a rack that didn’t work great. It was a disappointment.
I avoid racks that have excessive wasted space. I won’t name names, but in general some of the floating-style tub racks are flimsy, don’t heat well, and aren’t efficient in terms of number of tubs per unit volume of rack.
The best advanced racks that also are prohibitively expensive for most folks? ARS and Freedom Breeder. I don’t own any Freedom Breeders but I love my ARS. Everything about it is built like a tank, and the economy versions allow easy transport because the levels come apart.
Style of rack and type of tub depends on the species you’re working with. I prefer Vision, ARS, or Freedom Breeder tubs. The Sterilite-type tubs are flimpsy in comparison.
This is my setup. I have vision and reptile basics. I prefer the reptile basics. They are stackable and hold heat better. Both are nice but pricey. The reptile basics also can hold different size tubes in the v2 racks.
My rack was actually just a DIY I bought off a guy who was selling it for cheap. I did replace the backing, but it’s just good old wood and screws! He had it for ten years and it’s still sturdy. The only downside is that it’s pretty heavy and not the best for a quick “I wanna move everything in this room around.” It’s paired with sterilite tubs and a HerpStat 2 as there are two zones to compensate for the temperature shift in height. I might move to a shorter cluster of racks instead of one tall one some day (I’m a bit short, haha) but for now this works.
Does anyone more experienced with racks know what rack systems are compatible with Freedom Breeder tubs, aside from FB racks, and I believe Dragonhaus? I’ve done quite a bit of searching, and I find I prefer their style of tubs, between sizing and features like the water dish holders, I’m looking for PVC racks and liked what I saw from VE, but I don’t like the sizing or the tubs as much. And perhaps my preference in general is misguided, maybe someone with some experience with these might have some pros and cons regarding them?
The ve racks are personally my favorite. They hold temps and humidity very well! I run into issues with my vision racks in this department. I find for me the versatility of being able to use 3 different tubs is the selling point. I don’t ever have hundreds of hatchlings at one time so being able to hold adult males, yearling holdbacks, and hatchlings in the same rack is huge for me. The only con i see with the ve racks would be your presence for freedom breeder tubs which unfortunately don’t fit. I wish they did lol
I’ve used numerous rack systems in the past from various PVC manufacturers. When you consider cost per tub Freedom Breeder and ARS are not all that much more expensive than PVC racks, especially if you are able to eliminate shipping costs by having them deliver to a nearby show. Their tubs with water bowl inserts are unbeatable.
There is a company that ships producing PVC racks utilizing Freedom Breeder tubs called “Next Level Displays”, they also make some of the best display cases in the industry. I have one rack from them, a 16 tub FB10, and it is great. It is fully enclosed with recessed heat tape.
I have adult females in the 41 qt tub with a hide on the hot side If they use them. Some of my females dont use them at all. And a water dish on the cool side. Same thing for the males only in the 32 qt tubs. And I have a couple especially big males in 41qt tubs as well.
