Carpentry Question

[JC86]

Alright I've got my monthly quota of questions coming up, I think I'll make seperate posts for the seperate topics so that I don't confuse myself.


First up...I'm not good with wood...the tree kind. However as I look at 2 of my snake cages on the floor..with heat mats touching the carpts...I realize that I'm prolly not the smartest crayon in the box right now. I've had the heat mats running for like six months and no problems...but I have a feeling that this could be a potential fire hazard.


So, to try to lower the threat of burning down my apartment...and to make more room (mabey for *gasp* more snakes!) I want to build a little shelf like thing out of wood. Just a simple four leg table type thing where I can put my 25 gallon glass aquarium on the "table top" and then my 38 gallon (equivolent) nylon mesh cage on the bottom. What I'm thinking is rectangular piece of wood on the bottom, then the four corner posts nailed to that and then nail an equal size rectangular piece of wood on top.

Now, i live in an apartement at college and have no place to do any woodworking...so I'm going to need to make this thing just with an old fashion hammer and nails and the wood precut at Lowes. So I guess my question comes down to: What type of wood can I use that's inexpensive but won't start on fire from being in contact with a heat mat, that I can use just a simple hammer and nails, and will support a 25 gallon glass vivarium on the top? Or am I going about this completely wrong. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]


~Scott
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[ChriZR2]

Scott,
I had the same problem as you. I too am a college student and needed some way to keep my tanks off the ground, and in somewhat orderly fashion. So, instead of spending a lot of money and time, I went to Wal-Mart and bought this rack system from Sterylite. It comes with 5 shelves, and I've got a 50 gallon sitting on the top of one, a 20 Long on the onter.....here's a pic.....Good luck.

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[captainmorgan]

Nice setup Chriz....did you draw and shade those black and white drawings? If so you're a good artist. How do those pots work? I've been debating getting a couple because the hides I got my snakes are outgrowing. I'm in the midst of building my own setup for my 2 boas and give my 2 kings the boa cages. You know what that means? I'll have 2 empty cages needing to be filled. I might just try to use one for breeding rats and the other to keep the bigger rats in. We'll see
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