Hi all - a soon to be ball python owner here, who is currently planning out how to decorate my viv. I've seen some advice suggesting to avoid putting complex decor or 'interesting' items into vivs, and I was wondering if a few more experienced owners could weigh in on that.

Any items would obviously be appropriately cleaned and nothing my snake could hurt themselves on, but I'm talking about the kind of decorative structures you can buy for a fish tank, or those fake skulls, or, heck, a tea pot or something. Would these items distress a snake?

I do want my viv to be decorative to some degree (that's why I'm going for a viv and not a rub), so my question comes in part from a selfish place, but one which I'd never allow to weight out over actually upsetting my animal. I'm just a little confused - rub and rack set ups aren't 'natural', yet when they provide all the biological requirements for a snake they're obviously fine. Is there truly a problem in including non-naturalistic decor in a viv, in addition to all other necessities?