Getting a ball python tomorrow!! Advice??

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Originally Posted by dillymann

I'd rather my snake live in a glass box than a plastic tub and i try to replicate the wild the best i can i understand your point about residual ground heat but the sun does it in the wild not heat pads.


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Well, a glass enclosure is not a replica of the wild ethier, a tub would be closer. Ball pythons live most of their life in other animals burrows which are dark and snug like a tub. All my picky eaters eat WAY better since I have moved them to a rack system in tubs from a blacked out tank. Ball pythons will "bask" from warmth on substrate that was heated from the sun and that will be from their belly because they avoid the hot Aftican sun all day. Which a heat pad controlled by a thermostat mimics best.

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Originally Posted by ROACH

Whats a snake cave? Im not being rude here, but I dont think Ive ever seen one. Is it just a hide?

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Originally Posted by mikoh4792

It's not about replicating the wild dillyman. Maybe for you, but not for everyone. For me it's about providing the conditions your snake needs to thrive and allowing enough room to observe natural behavior.

Doesn't matter whether it's done with a heat lamp or not but i find a heat pad to be more efficient in retaining humidity and not creating frequent dry spots in the cage. That said I keep mostly semi-arboreal snakes so I use radiant heat panels for overhead heat and heat pads for supplemental heating in the winter.


EDIT: do you give your ball pythons burrows like the ones they inhabit in the wild? Or do you just give them hides on top of substrate?

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Snakes thrive in the wild therefore replicating their wild environment provides the conditions they need to thrive


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Originally Posted by DSpythons

Well, a glass enclosure is not a replica of the wild ethier, a tub would be closer. Ball pythons live most of their life in other animals burrows which are dark and snug like a tub. All my picky eaters eat WAY better since I have moved them to a rack system in tubs from a blacked out tank. Ball pythons will "bask" from warmth on substrate that was heated from the sun and that will be from their belly because they avoid the hot Aftican sun all day. Which a heat pad controlled by a thermostat mimics best.

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Tubs and glass tanks are basically the same but the reason i would rather a glass tank is for display... :)


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Originally Posted by dillymann

Snakes thrive in the wild therefore replicating their wild environment provides the conditions they need to thrive


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Ball pythons thrive in captivity too, maybe even better than the wild since we cut out all the negative factors that the wild bring such as predators. A snake can thrive in a box with paper towels, two plastic hides and a warm and cold side. Is this replicating the wild?

Humans once thrived in the wild too, some civilizations still do to this day.

I would like to see what your enclosures look like. I doubt they resemble the "wild" that ball pythons come from.

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Originally Posted by dillymann

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/17/8egyhupe.jpg


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That is not the wild sorry. Nor does it accurately represent the burrows that ball pythons inhabit.

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Originally Posted by mikoh4792

Ball pythons thrive in captivity too, maybe even better than the wild since we cut out all the negative factors that the wild bring such as predators. A snake can thrive in a box with paper towels, two plastic hides and a warm and cold side. Is this replicating the wild?

Humans once thrived in the wild too, some civilizations still do to this day.

I would like to see what your enclosures look like. I doubt they resemble the "wild" that ball pythons come from.

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That is not the wild sorry. Nor does it accurately represent the burrows that ball pythons inhabit.

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I never said it was the wild and it is more accurate than any other thing I've been able to find


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Originally Posted by dillymann

I never said it was the wild and it is more accurate than any other thing I've been able to find


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Are you just playing with semantics here? Dictionary definition of Replicate: make an exact copy of; reproduce. To replicate the wild is to create it elsewhere.

And I don't mean to be rude but a man made burrow in a deep layer of substrate would be more accurate than that. Maybe with a top soil mix of sand or shredded cocohusk. With a glass tank there should be more than enough room for that amount of substrate.

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Originally Posted by mikoh4792

Are you just playing with semantics here? Dictionary definition of Replicate: make an exact copy of; reproduce. To replicate the wild is to create it elsewhere.

And I don't mean to be rude but a man made burrow in a deep layer of substrate would be more accurate than that. Maybe with a top soil mix of sand or shredded cocohusk. With a glass tank there should be more than enough room for that amount of substrate.

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Or do what many people do with monitor lizards; put 2-3' of dirt as a substrate so they can actually live in burrows. But cleaning and checking the well-being of your pet becomes EXTREMELY difficult at this point.


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I agree checking on your animal would be difficult but not the cleaning part. If you're going to have that much substrate might as well go bio-active and have small critters cleaning up after the snake.

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Originally Posted by mikoh4792

I agree checking on your animal would be difficult but not the cleaning part. If you're going to have that much substrate might as well go bio-active and have small critters cleaning up after the snake.

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That would be really cool actually. Like beneficial bacteria in an aquarium.


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