ExoTerra Jungle Vine

I just bought the medium size ExoTerra jungle vine and so far my BP loves it. I have it wrapped up and situated almost as if it was a tree. I was wondering if anyone here has any experinece with this product and if so, how have you set it up? I'm just looking for creative ideas that will not only allow the snake to crawl/climb through it but also improve the aestetics of the cage.

Thanks!

A hatchling ball python might get moderate use out of something like this, but once the snake grows older, it will not climb. Ball pythons are terrestrial snakes and are actually quite clumsy climbers. There is a possibility of the snake hurting itself from falling. Also, that vine will not support a heavier ball pythons weight.

If you want to have it in the tank just to look nice then go for it. Just one more thing you have to clean :P

She does like to kind of hide in it though, and at very least it does look cool.

Thanks for the advice. :)

I've seen them used to create a sort of hiding spot for the snake if it decides it doesn't like its hides. I thought it was a nice idea but as Kaorte said its one more thing to clean :D

If it has little nooks from the way you arranged it Im sure she will like it for hiding. Only once did I have something like that in a BP enclosure but it was a twisty piece of driftwood on a base. Ive seen what your talking about and they are pretty cool. When your snake gets bigger you will be looking for something else like a small lizard or frogs so you can keep using it lol!

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

A hatchling ball python might get moderate use out of something like this, but once the snake grows older, it will not climb. Ball pythons are terrestrial snakes and are actually quite clumsy climbers. There is a possibility of the snake hurting itself from falling.

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Interestingly, most of my hatchlings are too busy eating and digesting, while all my 2007 and 2008 sub-adults seem like to climb. Some of them of them are better at it than others. But all of them do it--of the six sub-adults, I usually I see two or three clambering around on any given evening. And the more space I give them, and the more junk I put in there, the more they climb. I'll be interested to see if they keep doing it when they're all 2500 gram breeders.

I admit, it certainly does take more time to clean a big cluttered tank than a tub. But even in my big "tall" arboreal 60 gallon tank there isn't room for them to hurt themselves falling.

I do like the Jungle vines. I've got two of the large ones and one medium one wrapped in a complicated figure-eight thing, which I then wrapped with an additional piece of plastic foliage for a little privacy. I perch it on hides or hang it from pieces of cholla. It's a pretty popular climbing ladder.

My one complaint is that it sheds little bits of rubbery powder. So I keep it away from the water bowls, because I doubt it's made of anything the snakes should be drinking.

I am planning to get some for my BRB - it looks really nice.

I had a question about it - how do you secure it to the sides of the enclosure?

We have a bunch of them and they are all still in the package! Never broke them out yet. Humphrey, our BP at night is always in his dried grapvine wood. He seems to favor being aloft. A few times in the morning before I go to work I check on them in their room and Hump is still there up there with his head resting on a branch either resting or fell asleep there! 95% of the time though he's back in his hide. I imagine he wouldn't mind even more stuff to climb about on if I put the vines in also.

So far as attaching them to the enclosure itself I'm stumped unless you ran wire through the ends or something to tie it off to the top somehow. I dunno though, like I said I haven't used them yet.

It looks like a great product I noticed there is a water proof version that may be easier to deal with cleaning. Just a thought there. Mine also climbs a lot, many nights he is on top of something I have a branch thing he like a lot also a fake skull he often will be on top of that too. His favorite spot is on top of the the area where the doors slide. I wonder if 'ball pythons don't climb' is not really accurate. Philippe de Vosjoli has said that they often climb low branches, it seems like they will climb if given the chance.

mrmertz what kind of enclosure do you have? It is hard to try to solve how to secure the vine without knowing.

I got beads hanging in my bedroom doorway. My bp's will jump back and forth between hanging in the beads to my neck. They arent really able to climb but they sure like to "hang out"