Can anyone give me a detailed guide on racks?

[QuartzYellowjacket]

Right now I feel kinda stupid, so I came here from Tegutalk. Because I had a gecko when I was 10, and until now I wanted to get a gecko again. So I looked up some information on racks, but only found ads for racks. But my question is: Are racks permanent homes for geckos? And if so how do they get heat and uvb?

 

[LeoLover1]

Welcome! I am not an expert, but I can help you some! Most gecko species are nocturnal and do not need UVB. Heat is provided by some form of heat tape (similar to an UTH) that runs along the back of the rack, and under all the cages. But only under part of each cage, so the animals can have a heat gradient.

Racks are considered permanent housing. Personally, I don't like not being able to watch my geckos, so I've stuck to having way too many tanks! What kind of geckos are you interested in?

 

[Caleb C]

Yeah, I think it depends on the species. For terrestrial species, racks are fine, i'm not sure about arboreal. Animalplastics, boaphileplastics, vision products, freedom breeders, and some other companies sell them. Heat is usually provided by flexwatt, which is heat tape. You connect it to a thermostat, which controls the temps, and run for around 100 dollars.

 

[QuartzYellowjacket]

Welcome! I am not an expert, but I can help you some! Most gecko species are nocturnal and do not need UVB. Heat is provided by some form of heat tape (similar to an UTH) that runs along the back of the rack, and under all the cages. But only under part of each cage, so the animals can have a heat gradient.

Racks are considered permanent housing. Personally, I don't like not being able to watch my geckos, so I've stuck to having way too many tanks! What kind of geckos are you interested in?

Well when I was 10 I had a leopard gecko, and I want to get back into them along with some other kinds.

 

[Caleb C]

If you're not looking to be a large scale breeder, and have some extra space, just get a 10-20 gallon tank.

 

[Geckomaster743]

Yeah Caleb and Leo-lover topped it up. Besides that I do have to say that Im probably not going to get Racks because i heard of an Incident of some one accidentally set the heat too high and some Geckos got seriously BURNED. Just stick to 10 - 20 Gallons.

 

[QuartzYellowjacket]

If you're not looking to be a large scale breeder, and have some extra space, just get a 10-20 gallon tank.

Well not a large scale breeder, but I want to start a collection of different morphs.

 

[Caleb C]

Racks can get pricey, what about stackable cages? And the temp wont get too high as long as you have a good thermostat.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[QuartzYellowjacket]

Racks can get pricey, what about stackable cages? And the temp wont get too high as long as you have a good thermostat.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

yeah a lot of stores sell 20 gallons, so i'll start with that. I still gotta set up my dubia colony, so I don't want to get that far ahead.

 

[Caleb C]

I havent been giving my dubia heat, so im hoping to use the summer heat to let them breed, lol. The only thing that smells in the dubia bin is the cat food :/


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[QuartzYellowjacket]

Screw it, I'm making my own rack.

 

[Caleb C]

okay, post pics of progress

 

[LeoLover1]

I havent been giving my dubia heat, so im hoping to use the summer heat to let them breed, lol. The only thing that smells in the dubia bin is the cat food :/

I've been keeping my dubias on a wire shelf above a heat bulb for my leos. How is that for efficiency?! And I've recently seen my first babies, so it seems to be working. Yeah!

 

[Geckomaster743]

I was going to Try breeding crickets but my geckos always have problems catching them. It normally ends with them hitting there faces on the wall and if they do catch the cricket they spit it out or they make a mess out of it like its legs break off and Insect fluids make a mess. It sucks. Meal Worms I can't breed because its So Much to manage. They change to so many stages. Speaking of Mealworms I recently Found a Beetle which is really rare inside those freezer mealworms cup.

 

[QuartzYellowjacket]

I was going to Try breeding crickets but my geckos always have problems catching them. It normally ends with them hitting there faces on the wall and if they do catch the cricket they spit it out or they make a mess out of it like its legs break off and Insect fluids make a mess. It sucks. Meal Worms I can't breed because its So Much to manage. They change to so many stages. Speaking of Mealworms I recently Found a Beetle which is really rare inside those freezer mealworms cup.

Well superworms aren't too hard to breed, but unlike mealworms superworms pupa alone so you'd need to get a slotted tackle box or something. After my Dubia colony starts up I'll probably make a superworm colony, and I'll be easier since they don't need heat.

 

[Caleb C]

Yeah, I haven't had success with mealworm colonies. If you find a beetle in a refrigerated cup, it's probably been there for months, so lots of them would probably be dead. I just put my leo tank on a table, but the wire shelf heat thing sounds smart. Does it give off enough heat though? I put a small container of crickets and fruit flies near my leo light, to use the heat.

 

[LeoLover1]

Fortunately the superworm adults live fairly long, like 4-5 months. So I just pupate a dozen or so roughly every 3 months to keep my colony going.

The heat lamp below the dubias does seem to give off enough heat. But it helps that I keep the room up near 80 degrees to begin with. I think its a 60 watt red bulb in there.

 

[Caleb C]

oh, haha. You have a reptile room
I guess that's why it works so well. I'm turning on my human heating pad for a week or so, to see if they breed.

 

[LeoLover1]

Yeah, I use an attic room with no windows and a double blanket door. Its been great for the winter, but not sure how summer is going to work. At least its been cool so far. In fact, we have a frost warning for tonight... weird...

 

[Josh2]

QuartzYellowjacket, have you started your custom racks yet?