Are ball pythons naturally "curious"?

I found a bit of information on a care sheet for corn snakes that says the following:

"Corn snakes are very inquisitive animals and like to explore new surroundings. Once in a while change the layout of the vivarium, as this will keep your Corn Snake from becoming bored. You will notice once you put your Corn Snake back in the tank it will start to re-explore its new surroundings."

Can the same be said of ball pythons? Do they prefer a constant environment, or might there be benefit in changing things up every now and again? Before I really found a proper balance in my guy's enclosure, I'd occasionally switch some things around, add some new things, take out others. And every time I did, once I would place him back in the tank, he'd (of course) go straight to his hide, but after a couple of minutes, he'd poke his head out and take a lap around the enclosure to explore the new placement of things before going back to the hide.

So, is that a good and normal thing for balls, like it allegedly is for corn snakes?

I disagree with that care sheet. I changed my corn snakes bedding from Aspen to Paper towels and she was super stressed out JUST from that for about a week. She's very sensitive to change. Perhaps she's not the same as other Corn snakes, but that's untrue, imo.

People put that stuff because they believe it, but that doesn't make it true. If anything some snakes may look around because it's a new smell, but they don't need it in any kind of a way and they won't become bored. The person writing that care sheet is a moron.

Snakes do not feel boredom. Boredom is an emotion, and if they felt boredom, how could they spend the majority of their lives in their hide spaces? Dependent on how sensitive your individual snake is to environment change, he/she may not mind, or really mind and get very stressed.

Lol, that movement they are referring to as "re-exploring" is probably a hyper stressed snake. Don't listen to the idiot that wrote that. Corns can be hyper stressed quite easily.

too many people attach human emotions and characteristics to reptiles. they are simply incapable of it. snakes do not 'like' to be handled for the most part, they tolerate it...I think some of my retics 'want out' and explore...but they are very active snakes and that is just what they do, I don't think they 'are having fun'....most people do not understand their reptiles. reptiles, snakes especially, function in modes. resting mode, feeding mode, defense mode, exploring or 'thinking' mode, ect. this is why a lot of people screw up and get nailed by their retics in my opinion...because a retic has one of the strongest food responses of any snake. while in resting mode, they have a natural hair trigger food response, so if you surprise them and not let they know it is you....you may just be the one surprised. I think most snakes do best when they have a stable environment and have settled in. I do think some snakes are more inquisitive and explore more, but this is only due to them being a more active snake in general. I think ball pythons stress a little easier than some other species...so I would try to get their enclosure perameters set correctly then leave them alone as much as possible. lets be honest, if you are shooting for a nice display enclosure, that very closely resembles their natural habitat, and is set up correctly for a ball python, you will almost never see it. ball pythons live almost all of their lives under ground, deep inside rodent burrows and termite mounds....they are almost never seen above ground in the day light hours unless somebody digs them out. If you want a good naturalistic set up, with an animal that displays well, a ball python is a very poor choice. I would go with a carpet python, super dwarf retic, rat snake, or other species that lays in the open or is active during the day. carpet pythons are awesome display animals, they hang out in the open during the day, and are active in the early morning and evenings...which is great for having in a nice naturalistic enclosure. I wish balls were better display animals, because without a doubt, they come in the best and most colorful mutations....but they just do not make good display animals if you set the enclosure up properly for them.

edit* 'let THEM know it is you' ....not let 'they' know. I edited this, twice....but for some reason it is not correcting it in my post???

The only time my ball 'explores' his cage is when I put him back in it after I've handled him. Even then he'll do a lap at best and then right back into the hide. My cal king on the other hand is a very active snake who 'enjoys' moving absolutely everything around in his tank he can. He's also the only one of my snakes who seems to prefer being out of the cage, but that's probably because he's a more active species. I've read A LOT of care sheets that said that changing things up is 'good' for the snake, but my experience says otherwise. My ball broke one of the branches I had in the tank so I took it out and he refused food for the next two weeks. That being said it was probably more the stress of suddenly falling rather than removing the branch, but you never really know. Now he's back on feed and hits ANYTHING with fur so hard I swear he kills prey on impact. Just my two cents, I'm no expert.

Interesting thread! Of course, human emotions don't apply to snakes, but I think the question of whether or not captive reptiles benefit from "enrichment" like zoos provide to their animals, usually mammals, is a good one. (Here's a link to the description of the National Zoo's program: http://nationalzoo.si.edu/SCBI/Anima...nt/default.cfm. Obviously exposing a snake to the sounds and smells of either predators or prey when it's not feeding time is an incredibly bad idea!)

I'm still a newbie, but my incredibly mellow ball python does seem to "enjoy" exploring when we bring her out of her enclosure. Her body language is very relaxed and not defensive, her tongue is constantly going and she shows even more interest in her surroundings when I take her outside on the patio.

When I put her back in her house, she tries to climb back up my arm so she can stay out. Once it's closed, though, she does head directly for her warm hide, probably because she needs to recover from being outside her habitat with ideal heat and humidity. I think that even if she does enjoy coming out, handling can be stressful, just because she's out in cooler, drier air.

To make her enclosure more interesting, I tightly wedged a group of cork logs together on one end of her enclosure so that she does have something to explore and some rougher texture for when she sheds. (They can be a bit of a pain, since I clean them in a 5% bleach solution and then bake them dry on the rare occasion they get soiled.) During the day she just treats them as additional hides, but I once in a while I'll find her moving around in them if I wake up in the middle of the night.

My sample size of one is too small to make any generalizations, but my snake does seem to respond well to some stimulation in her environment.

I absolutely agree one hundred percent that snakes do better with some 'enrichment', and I am a huge fan of very large, naturalistic enclosures. that is why I never have a huge collection...because I don't have room for a hundred large enclosures. I used to work at a custom cabinet and counter top business, and benefited hugely from that...as I learned how to build really high quality enclosures, and had access to tools and materials. some people argue that balls and other snakes do better in small secure 'enclosures', because they feel secure....my argument to that, is 'how big is the wild???' ...as long as you have plenty of small, secure hides in your enclosure...I don't think any species really gets stressed from too big of an enclosure. I also think it does snakes good to get out and excersize(sp?) and explore...I really do. but you have to pick between enough, and too much...and again, I also think it depends on the species and more so; the individual snake. just learn to read your snakes, and you will be fine. I have kept balls in big, naturalistic enclosures, with heated and filtered water features with waterfalls and all...and like I said earlier, I barely ever saw the snake....which was okay with me. I just like to have a nice, beautiful animal displayed in a really nice enclosure...not in a box. but I also realize that if and when I get about twenty balls, as a breeding project, that I will not be able to keep them all in big, naturalistic enclosures....and some will simply have to go into a rack system. I have also bred several species in big, naturalistic enclosures...but this does up the difficulty level several notches...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rickm

I absolutely agree one hundred percent that snakes do better with some 'enrichment', and I am a huge fan of very large, naturalistic enclosures.

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I agree 100%, here. One of the items that I have, in the past, moved around to see how it works in different spots would be the plastic plant that I have in his terrarium. And although he does have a climbing branch, I find him winding himself through the plant to reach up and explore the ceiling of the enclosure much more often than I find him using the branch for leverage. He really likes that plant, it seems.

But, yes, I love a natural environment for the keeping of reptiles. I prefer Eco-Earth and driftwood branches and plastic plants and faux-rock hides to tubs and bins and newspaper, but just as you mentioned, if and when I get more snakes, a simpler rack system would be much more convenient.

All in all, thank you everyone for the responses. I wasn't certain about that care sheet's degree of accuracy, which is why I was sure to use the word "alleged" when referring to it, haha. It didn't seem right to me that a snake could be "bored", but I do agree with all that's been said here about enrichment. I don't know a lot about corn snakes and don't plan on owning any, but I was just curious to know about their particular required husbandry.

I am going to put myself in the "enrichment is beneficial" camp, with the footnote that I believe this is totally dependent on the personality of the snake.

Out of the 7 snakes I own in total, 3 of them seem to actively seek adventure. The other 4 would usually rather hang out in their home. The thing I have seen that the "actively seeking adventure" snakes have in common is that they will all actively come out of their enclosure on their own whenever given the opportunity, and most of the time, they will hang out at the opening of their enclosure at night, waiting for their opportunity to come out. Also, I have noticed that these snakes will not actively seek shelter once out of their enclosure, but tend to try and investigate their entire surroundings.

I think it is indeed a good idea to pay attention to the stress level. I usually gauge this through two methods - how "tense" the snake is (detected through the stiffness of their muscles), and how heavy their breathing is. The snakes that I have noticed are the more curious and adventuresome, do not tend to show any stress whatsoever when out of their enclosure.

With Norman, my oldest BP, one of his "seemingly" favorite activities is what I call "yard patrol". I will put him around my neck - where he truly seems to be a super low stress way of holding him, and we will walk around the yard investigating all kinds of trees, flowers, plants. And by investigating, I mean, I usually let him get in a couple of sniffs (tongue flicks), but never let him interact with any wild plants. It is interesting to see how he seemingly reacts negatively to some plants, and others, he seems to make every effort possible to play on.

All of this "play time" is always highly supervised, and never for long periods of time. I have noticed that even Norman, the social butterfly of the group, can get tired and eventually starts seeking out shelter.

I have included some pictures of Norman and some of his favorite activities (Yard Patrol and DJing). He also seemed absolutely fascinated with the Guitar. I wish there was some scientific experiment to rely on, but it seemed quite obvious that he was aware of the vibrations coming from the guitar, and was seemingly intrigued at exploring every inch of the instrument.

I know there is a lot of controversial anthropomorphising in this post... but I feel strongly that given the chance, our seemingly shy little arm and legless friends, might actually benefit from the gift of exploration.

Checking out the camera after a short yard patrol adventure:
http://i.imgur.com/8Nccwvth.jpg

DJing:
http://i.imgur.com/WsVTlza.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/hIjYmmH.jpg

His fascination with the guitar:
http://i.imgur.com/6B9qzCA.jpg

Mine rarely hides,he never is in his hide..if he is anywhere its in the corner behind the plants,but he is always active crawling around the tank,especially if add some vines or a plant,something new,he will climb and slither around the tank for hours on end...he rarely hides. Very active and seems very content.