Ethan Allen
Rubbermaid has recently introduced a new line of plastic tubs called, “The All Access Organizer“.
These tubs come with a built-in clear, front opening door making them near perfect for an easy conversion to use as herp housing. Inexpensive pricing ($12.99-$16.99 depending on size) and availability in 3 different sizes makes them even better! They are light weight and easy to clean as well as stackable; there’s a million reasons to like these things.
That’s not to say that these don’t have some issues that will need to be addressed for them to be suitable, but the potential is there for these to make great enclosures for a variety of species. Some of the issues that I can see right off the bat include upgrading the latching system to insure there are no escapees and dealing with a somewhat flexible “gap” just below the door. I’ve found quick, easy solutions to both of these issues myself, but since the point of this article is to get others’ ideas and input, I’ll refrain from spoiling it with the modifications that I’ve already made.
I can see some serious potential for both arboreal and terrestrial animals of many sizes. There’s already been some successful attempts at putting two of them together to make a double tall arboreal enclosure out of them!
Modifications like using “great stuff” foam to make various backgrounds and whatnot are certain to show up on the scene quickly. Drilling holes for ventilation, addition of screened openings for lights, etc. are all things that people can address for their specific need. So I guess that the purpose of this article is simply to try to bring some attention to this new product and see what ideas the readers can bring to the table. I encourage everyone to go to Walmart, Target, Home Depot, etc and buy a couple of these to play with. Whether you work with leopard geckos or Uroplatus, corn snakes or tree boas, skinks, frogs, or toads, I bet you can find a use for them if you get creative. So show us what you can come up with.
Use the submission box below to send us information about what you’ve come up with. Step by step instructions and pictures are encouraged. Take some time to play around with this — we’ll remind you in a month or so to submit something. We hope to publish all the results in July or August.
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Ethan, great article. Thanks for pointing us to this product. I can see this working out for smaller arboreals like Oeduras perhaps. Very cool.
Thanks again!
I have been looking for some of these to play with but so far I haven’t found any local. But I’ll keep looking..
For Terry and any other folks that may be finding it hard to locate these, they should be available at most Walmart, Target, and Home Depot stores. I had a hard time finding the Large size and ended up ordering mine directly from the Rubbermaid site. The shipping was surprisingly cheap and they had them to my door in a matter of 2 or 3 days. So don’t be afraid to just order some.
Also, just an FYI 10% off promo code for rubbermaid website KM10 valid for MAY
Excellent article Ethan!!!
ong i would so use that for my geckos
I bought these for new temporary caging for two yearling corn snakes, and while they are visually appealing when set up, they were kinda hard to set up so that they would not escape. I got the largest size available.
For me, that included binder clipping the top, putting in a shower sealer plus a piece of foam in the gap beneath the door(hard to describe without pictures), taping said bottom with duct tape, and taping the top of the door part into place. That means that I have to remove all of the tape when I want to get in.
At first I only included the tape on the top of the door in one place(the middle), and my male corn figured out how to use his body to lift the side of the door up, which created a gap big enough to fit himself out of. So I put tape on that part and I’m still watching it.
Although in theory I like how they;re done, I don’t think I’ll be using them again unless I find someone who has done an easier way to make them escape proof.