rainbowsnakes:moth–ball:wheremyscalesslither:This is the standard of keeping ball pythons. Its the m
rainbowsnakes:moth–ball:wheremyscalesslither:This is the standard of keeping ball pythons. Its the most common technique, and it IS widly spread.We can do better than this. This kind of stuff doesnt allow for a range of natural behaviors. It makes us look like animal abusers. Yes, the animals survive, but they cannot thrive in this setting. There’s literally not enough room for even one of them to stretch all the way out.We can do better. We have to do better because this isn’t good for the animals health wise, or even mentally. It also gives HSUS and PETA more grounds to ban reptiles as pets.Enrichment provides animals with an outlet for natural behaviors and promotes healthy animals. There are tons of studies on the benefits of enrichment- it’s not an extra step- it’s necessary for the good of the animal and is part of proper husbandry.Dont be like this picture; dare to do more.(image source purposely withheld)Do remember that ball pythons in particular are largely sedentary and would prefer to be holed up in a small, closed, dark place. I don’t think size is the issue here. I’ve never used newspaper as substrate but I have used paper towel and I feel like it’s more of a pain than something like reptichip. Odors/soils quickly. I can’t give an input on whether it’s actually harmful though because I’ve never used it but I notice my reptichip always smelling much more fresh. Idk sitting in ammonia can’t be good! Even if you change the newspaper daily, chances are you’re not going to get to it as soon as the snake urinates… I would assume that might cause health issues. Again though, I’m not certain, just speculating lol.Other species, like carpet pythons, I really don’t like tubs for. Using carpets as an example, those guys are active and move a lot and will make full use of the space provided to them. Balls really won’t.IMO it’s subjective like that. I’d like to see more enrichment in tubs overall (substrate, perhaps a hide just in case, maybe foliage) and I’ve been doing that myself but I wonder if it’s more for me than it is for the BP lol. I dunno! I like this conversation though, so please do interject, we all might learn something.Ball pythons have got themselves this reputationas being “pet rocks” in the hobby partly because of the persistentmyths that they only live in termite burrows which they never leave in thewild. However, they are quite active at certain times of the year (breedingseason) and males in particular are documented climbers, feeding off avianprey and even having very different parasite burdens in the wild compared tofemales because of this. Of course, ballpythons are also nocturnal. So even given the opportunity to make use of space andclimbing things in captivity they often won’t be doing it at when the keeper iswatching them. Reinforcing this idea that they “don’t do anything”. Rack systems like the one in the picture are popular becausethey save money, time and space for the keeper when compared to setting themall up in fully furnished vivariums or large tubs. Giving them more space would address the concerns with them sitting in ammonia… If an animal does not have the ability to move away from its own waste that should be alarm bells that the enclosure is definatly not big enough (Though I know snakes love to sit ontop of it for no reason sometimes but at least they should have the option to be sensible). But the issue is not JUST space because ball pythons are such a shy secretive species givingthem more space also means they need proportionally more hides and visualbarriers ect to feel secure… just scaling this tub up and saying “ta da- now youhave more space” won’t work. So if you have a larger number of snakes…. That juststarts to add up to a LOT of cleaning, a lot of space required and a largeexpense. The ball python industry wants to hold on to the outdated opinion thatball pythons “are scared of space, never move, and thrive in tiny barren tubs - Just add water!” because it’show they turn profits…They also promote it to new people getting in to the hobby because otherwise that would be admitting they are not doing the best they can…This is also why its not something thats disscussed rationally in facebook groups either. It angers/upsets people that are in too deep to change their ways without going to huge extra costs or dramatically reducing the numbers of animals they have to make room for fewer better enclosures… So they would rather deny any is wrong to avoid that ..The argument also gets wrapped up with irrelavent details or oversimplified to “tanks vs tubs”… or “vivs vs tubs”.. or “naturalistic looking vs non naturalistic looking”… At the end of the day this is an issue about good husbandy, good enclosure design and good animal welfare..which is not always cheap, nor is it always good for“productivity”. The truth of it is that there is NO scientific studies confirming that small barrentubs allow snakes to thrive and PLENTY of evidence that environmental enrichment is beneficial for their welfare. Restricting stimulicaptive animals are exposed to is not good for their physical and psychologicalwell-being and can negativly impact behavioural expression,neural development, learning ability, activity levels and even lead to chornic stress, immunosuppression and thus increased disease susceptibility. Ball pythons are victims of their own hardiness and adaptability…they may not show stress or appear to suffer when kept like this as much as a more active colubrid might…. But that still doesn’t make it an acceptable standard. They still eat, shed, poop and breed, which is all well and good, but not necessarily an indicator of good welfare.It also sets a worrying trend for how the hobby itself measures and assesses reptile welfare and quality of life…. Already the model of “ if it eats, poops, sheds and breeds then its thriving” has spread and is applied to keeping other more active species… I’ve seen arboreal asian colubrids in the same 6″ high tubs with no climbing stuff, even etbs, gtps, atbs, kept in similar barren set ups…..retics and other large constrictors in boxes they can not even stretch out half their length in ect ect…unless they drop dead or rub their faces off in stress the individual animal or even the whole species, will get the stamp of approval for “doing fine in a tub!”. This is not how animal welfare scientistis assess welfare. And as @wheremyscalesslither mentioned when our hobby is under attack from animal rights groups we have GOT to do better… and promote husbandry based on science. TL: DR, You said you made the effort to provide some enrichment yourself. Rest assured it is not just for you, and will absolutley benefit your animals! If you are interested to read more about it I also have an article on it here https://rainbowsnakes.tumblr.com/post/119229812584/environmental-enrichment-for-reptiles-what-whyAll good stuff as usual! And I can attest that ball pythons will absolutely make full use of a larger enclosure when it is designed to their needs. -- source link