Caved a little.

As most of you know, i usually keep a pretty minimalist set up. Well i decided to spice it up a little and see how the little cages would looks with silk vines plus the live plants. Looks decent imo. So now i need to get get a few for the big cages although i probably will be making a mistake with giving Caesar stuff although he has been a fairly good boy with his real plant.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...3a01c7a5_h.jpg

Also broke down and got Dottie new XL hides on order. And if you look at the third cage down, you can see Dottie sneaking herself into the pic. She is such an explorer if you open the doors lol.

much improved! :gj:

beautiful! a little green never hurts. ;)

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Originally Posted by tttaylorrr

beautiful! a little green never hurts. ;)

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Lol actually it can hurt. Last time i gave Caesar a vine, he got stuck in a circular link in it. I had to cut it off him with scissors. That was an ordeal for both of us. He was so scared, he curled up between my arm and chest for about 20 mins and then finally started looking around. Poor guy had an indentation of the ring on his body for a day.

So i learned that you should NEVER use ANYTHING with a closed loop inside the cage even if you think it is too small for them to get into. I'm using solid stem silk vines now. They are more expensive but from checking them out in the store for about 30 mins, they look like they are Caesarproof and if they are, then i know they will be boaproof as the boas arent nearly as gung ho or forceful as Caesar haha.

But i do like the added color, wont lie :) Might put in 1 more real potted plant in the little cages and for sure need to add a second one for the big cages.

And here I decided to put all my snakes in one cardboard box and heat them with an electric blanket. Now I feel guilty for going too minimalist.

Lol thats pretty much what i had. I mean i kept it OCD clean and had the live plants but that was about it. Now i decided to give them some greenery. Let's pray they dont destroy it as it cost me about $150 to add vines to their cages lol. If Caesar or Dottie break these vines, I'm going to nerdrage. Dottie has broken like 3 vines over the past 4.5 years and Caesar.....I'm speechless.

On a side note, I'm missing seeing Gina, Pat and Vic. They are all in shed and being antisocial. So used to seeing them outside at night especially Pat who has found a new hobby instead of playing scuba steve in the water bowl. He tries to caudal lure me or anything else lol. Hopefully they shed in the next week or so so i can bug them again.

Looks really nice - I've been thinking about adding natural plants....suggestions as to what is not toxic to the snakes?

Dottie is the cutest little photo bomber ever😊 love the new set up hope your sweet noodles appreciate all your hard work and cost your lavish on them and don't go all Bob the builder on them lol Ceased would need a nice cuddle from his dad after tangling with the wrong vine :P bet he would have liked a little kiss to make it better too silly handsome fella gotta love him :D

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Originally Posted by BR8080

Looks really nice - I've been thinking about adding natural plants....suggestions as to what is not toxic to the snakes?

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Thanks. I use Pothos. So far the boas and Caesar havent managed to kill theirs yet but they have flattened it a few times but it kind of springs back. They pretty well killed off their Parlor Palm, that poor plant didnt stand a chance. And they almost did in the Prayer Plant but it is recovering. I would say Pothos or i have heard Snake Plant aka Mother in laws Tongue is another good plant for heavier bodied snakes.

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Originally Posted by C.Marie

Dottie is the cutest little photo bomber ever😊 love the new set up hope your sweet noodles appreciate all your hard work and cost your lavish on them and don't go all Bob the builder on them lol Ceased would need a nice cuddle from his dad after tangling with the wrong vine :P bet he would have liked a little kiss to make it better too silly handsome fella gotta love him :D

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Lol. Yeah Dottie is a weird snake. She had a really hard life as a baby but after 4.5 years with me, she has done a complete 180 and is now a pretty curious little snake.

And they seem to like it so far. Rango climbed all over the vine but at the end, he came back to the front and is perched on the litter dam again. Caesar checked out the vine for a bit but is back up front too and Dottie climbed around on it as well. Waiting to see how Louie likes it but he doesnt come out until later at night.

Haha, yeah that was Caesar's first mishap. He was fine the next day like nothing happened. The worst was the snagged upper lip. He was mad at me for about 4 days after that fiasco but he went back to being his attention needing self lol.

Pothos is great because you can root it easily.... Very easily. Just let some of the vines get pretty long, snip off a few and stick in a jar of water where it will get sunlight. In about a week you should start seeing roots. This is how I get about 95% of my pothos for terrariums, I just cut and root portions.

Wondering Jew is also good, but I've only had it in terrariums with geckos, not with large snakes. It is a good ground cover and roots very easily also.

Mother-in-law's tongue is great. Very hardy. One thing to look for though, is that some varieties have sharper spines on the ends of the leaves. I'd avoid those. I once got a scratch on my eye while potting one due to this and I'm sure that could also happen to a snake if there was enough force involved. Some varieties don't have the spines or they are softer.

Sorry about your parlor palm. :/ They are beutiful plants, but need a TON of light. I have 2 in large pots under windows and they get moved to the back porch in the summer. They are about 3'x3' now. They seem sensitive to water as well (either get too dry or too wet easily).