Rules of allowing snakes to Roam

Hello Everyone.

I am curious what is everyones take on letting your BP Pet roam around a room, or house?

If I am chilling on xbox or something, am I cool to let my BP roam - obviously when older. But my house is victorian, and not the best at keeping heat.

Again just curious. I wouldnt let my snake roam freely, only maybe in the room im in.

If you are gaming, I would say no. You have to be paying attention, and I know when the health gets down to about 20, there is nothing else in the room, right?

I would keep in mind how fast snakes can move when they want to, and how quickly they can disappear before you know it.

I knew it was relevent to the situation and why i asked :D. My partners main concern was about a snake living in a vivarium its whole life, with minimul handeling is not fair on the snake, but I have showed her relentlessly about How BP are ok with chilling and I will be handeling alot.

I am just curious of the boundries as far as a roaming snake goes. Thanks for the heads up! and I guess it is commensense, like you said below 20% health... :D

You may want to explain to your partner that what they consider roaming and exercise, can be pretty stressful to the snake. Roaming tends to evolve open areas in the middle of a room. All of which goes against a BP's natural instinct to hide from predators and wait to ambush prey.

If you turn a BP loose in the middle of a room, 99 times out of 100 they'll make for a wall or the nearest thing they can get under. There's a reason they do that...

I would say stay away from unsupervised roaming. Like stated they can move fast and squeeze into pretty much anything. An old victorian would have tons of nooks and crannys to move into and a snake lodged in a small crack or hole is not going to be fun for either of you. Lol and like stated before at 20% health the house could be burning down and your eyes are still gonna be glued to the tv :P

Gaming? No.

I hang out with mine while making coffee, or sitting at the computer watching videos (lately, fish and aquaponics DIY vids). The corn "roams" with me while I'm in the kitchen, and I've even stepped outside with him for the dogs, but he hangs on very well. Other times, he curls up inside a sleeve. The tiny kings stay in one hand. These sessions are daily, but brief. Maybe 15 min max. My main focus is on them while they are out.

Mostly, I make sure I know at all times where the main part of the body is for a firm grasp, and re-direction incase the snake starts to wander.

I live in an old house too. Way too many escape opportunities here. They would be hopelessly lost fast.
Just don't think snakes (esp. the reclusive BP) benefit from unsupervised roaming.

I can't find the post, but somewhere on Tumblr was a (very sad) post about a tegu, I believe it was, whose owner had let it roam around the house very often. To the owner's dismay, vet results showed a lot of long-term damage to the body from a lack of proper humidity as well as some other things. It was an eye-opener to me because I wasn't aware of how much humidity affects reptile health INternally, not just externally (ie: skin health and shedding process). Obviously it's not completely analogous because lizards are different than snakes, but in my mind that makes it even more apparent that BPs should stay inside- tegus don't live in burrows to my knowledge.

So if you can find that post somehow or explain the importance of them being in their controlled environments, as well as the fact that they evolved over millions of years to be very sedentary animals that purposely spend their lives in small, insulated burrows and termite mounds, maybe your partner will understand a little bit better why your BP is happier, healthier, and safer in her enclosure more often than not.

I explained that post to my brother, who lies on the extreme end of the spectrum regarding pet owning, saying that no pets should be held captive other than dogs, and even he had to agree that it makes sense for certain reptiles like these, a sheltered and sedentary lifestyle benefits the animal more than having free range of a house.

I would try to find the post but I'm about to head off to class. If I have time today, I will find it and link it here.

I have a "snake blanket", just an old sheet that I only use for the snake. Once a week, I spread out the sheet and set up some rocks, some thick branches, some boxes with holes cut in them, and hang an extra heat lamp over the "playground" area, just for some added warmth (keeps that area around 75-76*F). He can then crawl all over that for about 20 min, or until he curls up inside one of the boxes like he's done. Some days he's really active, some days, he does not seem interested in exploring. I sit on the floor with him the whole time and make sure that he does not get into trouble. Most nights (except for the two after eating) I take him out and hold him, let him curl up on my neck and such while watching tv, but only for 10 to 15 min.

The only snakes I trust with leaving them out unattended for hours are my 2 BCI girls. My big one will crawl up a shelf above the headboard of the bed and sit there for as long as I let her. My little BCI girl likes to sit with me or if I leave her alone, she will curl up between the pillows on the bed and sleep. My BP girl though is a terror and LOVES to explore. I left her alone for about 2 mins and when I came back, she was on the floor heading for the computer table lol. Anything I put her on, she will make it to the floor and periscope and explore. And like another person said, you would be surprised how fast a determined snake can move.

Bottom line is unless you know the snake very well, I would watch it until you learn the snake. Then adjust as necessary.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cristacake

I can't find the post, but somewhere on Tumblr was a (very sad) post about a tegu, I believe it was, whose owner had let it roam around the house very often. To the owner's dismay, vet results showed a lot of long-term damage to the body from a lack of proper humidity as well as some other things. It was an eye-opener to me because I wasn't aware of how much humidity affects reptile health INternally, not just externally (ie: skin health and shedding process). Obviously it's not completely analogous because lizards are different than snakes, but in my mind that makes it even more apparent that BPs should stay inside- tegus don't live in burrows to my knowledge.

So if you can find that post somehow or explain the importance of them being in their controlled environments, as well as the fact that they evolved over millions of years to be very sedentary animals that purposely spend their lives in small, insulated burrows and termite mounds, maybe your partner will understand a little bit better why your BP is happier, healthier, and safer in her enclosure more often than not.

I explained that post to my brother, who lies on the extreme end of the spectrum regarding pet owning, saying that no pets should be held captive other than dogs, and even he had to agree that it makes sense for certain reptiles like these, a sheltered and sedentary lifestyle benefits the animal more than having free range of a house.

I would try to find the post but I'm about to head off to class. If I have time today, I will find it and link it here.

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I would be interested in seeing this post. Not doubting but as long as the animal has access to clean water all the time and isn't left out for 18 hours a day 7 days a week in winter style dry air, I don't see how a couple hours every 2-3 days would adversely affect the health of a reptile that much. I used to have a Nile Monitor which I got as a baby and she was puppy dog tame. I would let her roam around my apt for about 3 hours a night after I came home and she was fine.

Now this is strictly from a humidity standpoint. I'm not accounting for if your animal stresses from coming out or stuff. I know both my BCIs LOVE to come out and usually the minute I open the door on my big girls cage, she is ready to climb on me or just hangs out looking out the front of her cage or hanging there staring at the floor lol.

I would be very interested to hear more about that tegu as well. Fortunately my house humidity is fine for my beardie, he spends a few hours a day running around the house unsupervised and always makes it back to his cage when he's done.
My snakes on the other hand would be gone in a second if I left them unwatched.
Building a small climbing jungle gym for them when they are out would be a way you could allow them to roam without having to sit there and hold them

I don't let any of my snakes roam when I'm not watching them with 100% of my attention and within arm's reach. It's just too easy for them to disappear on you. I do let my box turtle roam around the reptile room while I'm feeding everyone else, but I know her quite well, and even if she did decide she wanted to hide... she's a turtle, so there aren't that many options for her lol.

Well I can't find that post again anywhere. It's possible that the original poster deleted it, I guess. Wish I had saved it.

I know that low humidity can have a bad impact on humans and their skin and respiratory system (something about the mucous membranes in the RS not being able to function properly, leaving us more susceptible to airborne viruses like the cold and flu) but I don't know any specifics about the tegu or any reptiles in that regard. I tried looking information up but I think I'm a terrible Googler. Maybe someone could disprove this whole thing and I'll feel silly for believing a Tumblr post, of all things :rolleyes:

Oh give me a home,
Where the ball pythons roam,
Where the rats and the ASF play....

:P

As for free roaming, none of my balls get to. My rtb doesnt get to either. Only time they are off of me and able to 'roam' im right there watching closely regardless of whats going on around me. Theyre always within arms reach. And even then Osirus and Ahri are the only two who get a little more freedom. Theyre the ones who dont 'seem' to want to explore farther away, but i still dont trust them entirely. They both have spent a lot of time sitting with me on my shoulder whilst im on my computer or playing assassins creed, but they tend to stay with me on my shoulders, osirus tries to help with the game and comp by slithering all over my hands or shoving her face in mine and flickin her tongue up my nose. If I tried with sirius, hed slither away. But, it helps that im hyper sensitive to feeling when it comes to that, I can feel instantly when theyre on the move.


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I vaguely recall that story about the tegu, but can't remember where I read it.
Could have been any one of countless sites.

There was a story awhile back about a woman who was in the habit of taking the T (boston subway) with her boa (don't know what kind) Penelope. One day Penelope slithered out of her jacket and the woman didn't notice. The T personnel helped her search the train, and they didn't find the snake. The happy ending is that a month later, Penelope was found unharmed, hiding somewhere in the same train, and reunited with her owner. The stupid part of the ending is that the T tried to charge the owner several hundred bucks for disinfecting the train because the snake had been living there, and the owner refused to pay it because she said the T personnel had been disrespectful.
The even stupider part is that she went right back to carrying her snake around on the train.

Apparently there isn't actually a rule against doing that, as long as it isn't rush hour. Actually, it's kind of amazing to me that the owner didn't get into more trouble, and that they actually let her have the animal back. I also wonder what kind of $650 cleanup was necessary after occupation by a snake who couldn't possibly have pooped *that* much. Also, while obviously going a month without eating would be no problem, I can't help but wonder whether Penelope actually did maybe catch herself an unwary critter that came out to scavenge for spilled french fries.