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Posted by chris_harper2 on March 07, 2003 at 10:52:38:
I've been getting a lot of e-mails about the lidless rack system I built to quarantine a group of wild-caught Gonyosoma oyxcephala so I thought I'd snap a picture and post it.
Picture taking is not my strong point - sorry for the low quality.
This rack system is built around a Rubbermaid box that is about 34" x 16" x 13". I've found that Gonyosoma will use horizontal space more than vertical, so I thought this box was a good comprimise for quarantine purposes.
The rack is 6' tall on it's casters (not included in the total price).
The rack was built entirely from one full sheet of birch-laminated plywood and a small piece of melamine shelving. The lid side of each shelf is coated with rubberized contact paper. With more time I would have first put on several coats of water-based polyurethane. But since I won't have snakes in it all year round it's not a problem. I would have used the rubberized contact paper anyways for it's moisture resistance.
The main benefit of polyurethane is less surface area for mites. But since snakes will not be in here long-term it is not big deal to take the rack when it is empty and either treat it for mites or take it outside and freeze it. In fact I did that after this group's first treatment for mites (while they were soaking indoors, of course).
I had the shelves cut at Home Depot as I cannot fit a full sheet of plywood in my vehicle. The side supports are ripped plywood that I cut from the leftover on a friends table saw. This rack could have been built with a circular saw, a straight edge, and a drill, but I chose to use Home Depot and my friends table saw.
The total cost was well below $75. Probably a lot less but I had a lot of the "extras" lying around so I'm not sure.
For perches I used PVC pipe held together with a plastic cable ties. The strategy was to have everything easily cleanable during quarantine. I've found that Gonyosoma do not use PVC perches as readily as Morelia viridis, for example, and with hindsight would use something else for future quarantine specimens.
