rack ventilation

[roger]

I'm having a rack made.Do I need to drill holes in the wood on the side of the rack for ventilation or is it best to keep the heat in.Im using 4" flex watt tape for belly heat.

 

[Halley]

you need some sort of ventilation, either via holes in the tub, or via holes in the wood that you use for the top.

 

[roger]

I will be drilling holes in the tub ,but do I also need holes in the side of the rack itself??Also I intend to have peg board in the back.I will be using 2221 rubbermaid tubs.Can I get away with 4" heat tape?.any feedback is welcome

 

[roger]

tubs are 14 1/4" wide 20 1/2" long and 6" high

 

[jakemyster44]

I use 4" FlexWatt on my 16qt tubs, it works fine. What I did for ventilation was drill a good number of holes in the sides of the tubs, and then leave a small (make sure the gecko can't sqeez out of this opening, I'm talking VERY small) opening between the tup on the tub, and the shelf above it. This has worked great for me.

 

[roger]

Hi

I know to drill holes in the sides of the tubs.Is 1/4" good enough of a space to leave between the top of the tub and the shelf.

 

[Halley]

1/16" is about as much as you want to leave between the top of the tub, and the shelf. Leave any more and the geckos will get out.

 

[MichaelJ]

You won't need any holes drilled into the wood, only the tubs themselves. We built our rack with too much space... they can crawl out of the smallest area (Houdini-style). So we ended up using the tub lids and drilling holes in the lids as well. More effort for feeding, but absolutely secure. We also live in Florida, so in case of a hurricane evacuation we can take our geckos with us easily, self-contained in their tubs with lids. Worked out well for us.

Helpful hint -- use a soldering iron for the holes rather than a drill. Cleaner and easier. Good luck!

 

[roger]

It was mentioned that I should leave 1/16" in between the top of the tub and the shelve in my racks.Can juveniles really get through a 1/8" space? I thought 1/8" was good enough.

 

[roger]

Also is it better to have peg board on the back or a solid piece of chip board..,or does it matter