Converting from glass tanks to bins

[Maris]

So when I started I only had a Leo, I'm now up to eight geckos of six different species. I have them all in appropriate glass aquarium style tanks at the moment but my Cresties and gargs at being moved into more vertically oriented front opening setups (exo-terra and zoomed). However I have three species of ground geckos that do not utilize the vertical aspects of their tanks. My question is can I get short plastic bins with the same square inch footprint but are half the height of the aquariums? Since these are not climbing species I don't see any downfall to doing this and it would allow me to use a metal rack that I already have to house them in and save a ton of space, but all the care sheets I read give gallon measurement of appropriate tanks that end up so tall they seem to take up far more room than is needed. Any advice on bin setups would be greatly helpful!

Thanks
Marissa

 

[acpart]

Many people use racks where they essentially build a shelf structure that accommodates bins tightly, so you don't need covers on the bins. They are heated with flexwatt heat tape usually on the bottom of each shelf, but also sometimes on the back. To get more info about that, google "reptile racks". There are commercially available racks and also individuals who build and sell them (and you can make you own, I'm sure there are plans). There are other alternatives, as well, which I think are more attractive:
a. look into the exo-terra low enclosures. They are usually 12" high instead of 18" and are front opening, in which case you can put them on shelf units.
b. check out glasscages.com. They have half height tanks, which means you can put them on a shelf and can have enough room to lift off the tops to deal with the inhabitants. They used to have half-height front opening enclosures (for really good prices) but I don't think they're making them anymore, and if they are I think the price has gone up.

Aliza