Ball python that thinks its a tree snake! :)

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Originally Posted by anatess

I'm not sure I would agree that "they climb because they like to". I'm more into the thinking of "they climb because they want to get out".

I believe that a hiding bp is a content and safe bp. An exploring bp... is either stressed out/hungry/looking for the escape route.

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No, mine climb because they like to. I've only had them 2 years, but I have a dozen of them. If you put them on a bookshelf, some will go up, and some will go down. They don't always go the same way every time, but the same snakes will tend to climb up time after time. And I have one or two that are actually surprisingly good at it.

And the one time I had a mass escape (the lock on my Black Sand tank was broken, and the black pastel girl figured out how to slide open the screen) they all did exactly what they usually do: The black pastel climbed the buffet in the other room and went cruising through our booze collection, and my 2007 girl who likes to climb ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING actually climbed out of her tank, CLIMBED THE STAIRS, and then started climbing bookshelves up there.

And my pied female, who's competing for the World's Laziest Snake, stayed in her hide the whole time.

Also, I wonder if exercise maybe isn't something we should think about more. Sure they spend 22 hours a day hiding, and they need that to be happy, but they do come out in the middle of the night and cruise. On days 4-7 (if I feed on day 1) they usually cruise quite a bit.

I've heard that corn snake females need exercise to avoid becoming egg bound. But we're mostly interested in the size of our ball python girls, not their musculature. Sometimes I wonder if that's a mistake.

I also wonder iif some of the things we believe are "good" for ball pythons aren't because they're the most convenient for us. It's pretty much impossible to maintain a collection larger than 20 snakes without using tubs, right? And once they're safely in the tubs, and we don't visit them every day, we don't really notice that they're all coming out and moving around for 2 hours every night.

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Originally Posted by loonunit

And my pied female, who's competing for the World's Laziest Snake, stayed in her hide the whole time.

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AWESOME LOL my girl does this

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w121/91-3kgt/034.jpg

and it scares the crap outa me its a good 8 or 9 inch drop from there

My goal (eventually) is to move my BPs and adult corns into 61Q tub racks. These offer the same floor space as the usual sorts of tubs but more height, so I can offer something to climb on while maintaining the humidity & temp control tubs offer. My 2010 spider is a big stay-in-the-hide gal, while my adult normal likes to move around, and even lie ON TOP of his hides, and he likes to climb bookcases if placed on one, so I think he might like a climbing branch as well.

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Originally Posted by Austin236

This is true and i agree but once you have more than 4 or 5 snakes having them in tanks gets to be a pain to clean, etc etc. So tubs is usually what is used.

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I'm currently experimenting on a Tub-Tank. It's a tub decked out like a tank. It is 12" tall. It is definitely much easier to maintain - humidity, temps, cleaning. Very light, so I can carry it to the water spigot to hose it down without a problem. And the coolest part is that the lid is solid - so even if the snake decides to climb the branch, he can't push anything out/break the screen/break the lock/ etc.

Here's a picture:
http://i314.photobucket.com/albums/l...s/photo-36.jpg

http://i314.photobucket.com/albums/l...s/photo-37.jpg

It's too soon to tell if this works, of course - I've only had them for 2 days. But so far, so good.

It's probably still not an easy enough alternative for those with 50+ snakes...

Anatess - that's neat! Where'd you get it? Can you get them at home depot or lowe's?

Anatess - that's neat! Where'd you get it? Can you get them at home depot or lowe's? Oh, and how much were they?

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Originally Posted by anatess

I'm currently experimenting on a Tub-Tank. It's a tub decked out like a tank.

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Ditto, that is neat! Did you make it?

This is difinately a great comprimise and also would address some of the arguements about ball pythons climbing and the use of tubs over tanks for husbandry reasons, mentioned a few posts back. I certainly would have looked into getting one of those over by exo terra tank,.

If any one finds out if you can get them in Europe, it would be great to know:D

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Originally Posted by ms381

This is difinately a great comprimise and also would address some of the arguements about ball pythons climbing and the use of tubs over tanks for husbandry reasons, mentioned a few posts back. I certainly would have looked into getting one of those over by exo terra tank,.

If any one finds out if you can get them in Europe, it would be great to know:D

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Hah! It's EASIER to get it in the UK than here in the States actually!

You're probably familiar with it already. It's called a RUB... which is short for Really Useful Box.

I like it over sterilite/rubbermaid/iris/etc because it is made of thicker plastic so it is more rigid. A snake cannot bend that lid unlike sterilites that you have to tie down with bungee or something.

Basically, I got the 64L size RUB because it is 12" tall... the 50L size is the same floor-space but it is only 8" tall. The 33L size is also the same floor space but 5" tall.

I carved out a square piece out of one side with a dremmel and screwed in an 18"x10" sheet of plexiglass. I could have glued it in instead, but I wanted to be able to take out the sheet if I need to deep clean the tub.

Unfortunately, the RUB is a European product so it is not readily available in the States. They sell them in Staples and Office Depot but the stores by my house don't carry the 64L nor the 50L. So, I had to order them online.

The snake hasn't tried climbing that tree at all. Not even once. I know because the leaves are still where they were when I put them in. If he climbed that tree, those leaves will be flattened out and falling off the branch...

P.S. The lid on the 64L size has a small gap in the design. So, it's not a good idea to use for a bp under 100 grams (it's not a good idea anyway because it is too big). I got the 4L size for my hatchlings.