I am currently saving and looking for the best rack for hatchling leopard geckos. I might have 1 breeding female this year and then 3-4 the next year. So I’m assuming I’ll have a max of 12 eggs per female (up to 12 this year and 48 next year). I’m looking for racks and I have it down to either Reptile Basics VE-6 or C Serpents 45 Tub Hatchling 6 qt Rack.
I have pros and cons of each.
Reptile Basics:
Pros: More surface area in the tubs (but is it better since it’s narrower?), easily movable and I can buy them little by little, I have separate control over each section.
Cons: The tubs aren’t completely see through (I personally like to see in and my geckos often look out), there is a higher cost ($1281, but I get 54 tubs instead of 45).
C Serpents:
Pros: The tubs are transparent, the rack is smaller (in floorspace) and uses space better, the tubs are easy to find and replace if needed, there is a lower cost ($675).
Cons: It uses flexwatt heat tape (I don’t know if the reptile basics are any different), less surface area in the tubs (but it might be a better layout), and the main one, will the highest levels be hot and the lower levels cool?
So my main questions are if anyone has any recommendations on which rack works better. Also, is it necessary to be able to separate the heights so they all stay the same temperature?
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I have some C-serpents hatchling racks and they work very well and look good too. I also replaced some of my clear tubs with the grey freedom breeder tubs which is nice to be able to mix and match different tub sizes and makes to fit your needs
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I’m also looking at the VE I-10. This is $825 total for 60 tubs. I will likely go with either this or the C Serpents, I’m still deciding. I like that the Reptile Basics have a wide range of racks and interchangeable tubs. Does anybody know if the reptile basics racks of different models can be stacked interchangeably?
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I’m not sure about interchanging and stacking different brands but I do know CSerpents has holes for dowl rods to sit in to stack another rack. You could possibly stack different brands but they may not fasten together
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I have 6 Reptile Basics racks and 1 C Serpents rack. I’ll try to cover all the differences here. It should be noted that the Reptile Basics colubrid hatchling rack is an exception to many of the things I mention here, but is still an excellent quality rack.
The RB rack is made of thicker xpvc, which I’d imagine makes them less likely to warp over time. There’s a few nice touches like edges being rounded over. I probably wouldn’t mind the edges not being rounded over on the C Serpents rack if I hadn’t already been spoiled to the RB racks.
Both brands use flex watt style heat tape. The Reptile Basics rack has channels for the probe cord, and a slot that locks the probe into place. For the C Serpents rack you have to drill a hole in the back of the rack yourself, and tape the probe to the heat tape.
For the stacking system, the RB racks have 6 interlocking tabs to keep them in place. There’s 2 on each side running front to back, and 2 on the back running side to side. Since they are cut on a CNC, they always fit well.
The C Serpents rack uses dowels to hold multiple racks together. The dowels are inserted so close to the edge that they look like they would bust out through the side of the pvc pretty easily. The rack came with a note saying that “due to tolerances” the holes for pins in one rack may not line up with the holes in another rack.
The RB rack has a small hole in front of each tub to insert a small plastic pin. This is to keep snakes from pushing the tubs open. If you’re not worried about this happening, you simply don’t use the pins, and forget that the holes exist.
The C Serpent rack doesn’t have anything like this. I rigged up my own system using a long dowel and brackets made for holding electrical conduit.
The C Serpents rack came preassembled, as did my RB colubrid hatchling rack. The other RB racks came shipped flat, and I had to assemble them myself. It’s not a difficult processes. I’d say it’s less complicated to assemble than most lego sets.
With one order, FedEx crushed a box and broke several of the tubs inside. On another occasion, FedEx delivered my rack to some other address and refused to retrieve it. In both instances I contacted Reptile Basics, and they shipped replacements quickly without any hassle. I couldn’t be happier with their customer service. I haven’t had to contact C Serpents customer service, so I have no comparison there.
Overall I feel like Reptile Basics is better quality, and will last longer, and their customer service would be hard to beat. I’m sticking with RB until I make the switch to ARS in a few years hopefully.
One last note, you won’t really be able to see your snakes in either rack. While the C Serpents tubs are closer to clear than RB, they are not clear like glass. If the snake is at the very front of the tub, you will be able to see a colored blur. You’ll still have to open the tub if you really want to see them
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@blacksmokereptiles I contacted C Serpents about how their racks stack. If different tub sizes can stack together I will consider C Serpents. For now I’m still leaning towards Reptile Basics due to their range of tubs that can fit in the same rack.
@roberts_reptile_room This is very helpful. I will likely go with Reptile Basics unless the C Serpents can stack interchangeably and turn out to be a better fit, in which I’ll consider C Serpents.
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I think I’m going to use Reptile Basics for most of the racks and maybe use C Serpents for specialized things (like their colubrid hatchling rack).
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I use C Serpents cuz, to me at least, they’re a really good middle-ground between quality and price. I’m building up my breeders slowly since I moved into my first house, so CS is probably gonna be my go-to place for racks and incubators for a while.
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I have owned or own reptile basics, c serpent, and vision racks. And I personally think reptile basics are THE nicest! The ve racks are incredibly versatile as well.
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