Crowley progression thread

So I was sitting with Crowley on the couch, he looked like he was chillin' in his cave with the tail sticking out as he likes to do. I got up to discover his head was sticking out the other end (which has no entrance there). He is such a cute sneaky little guy. I think he wants to be a turtle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpOgxJS4k0c

Crowley "hugs" his hide when he wants to stay in there, he often does this to show me he wants to stay, he'll do that or slowly reverse back a little to tell me he doesn't want to come out. My snake has such good communication skills for something without vocal chords. 100% of the time when he hugs his hide like that he doesn't want to come out till maybe later. This time he did it on the couch in his hide, I think he liked that I put a heat pad under there.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/lAsebQj.jpg

This entire thread is so wholesome, finally got around to reading through every post and I love this so much. I love Crowleyland, wish I could set up something that nice for my BP! Having a snake safe room for my Noodle would be a dream. Also, I adore that "Crowley selfie" photo and the Crowley turtle video. So cute!

Crowley is such a well-loved and healthy looking BP, I'm sure that all that climbing around is great enrichment for him. He's very lucky to have such a devoted keeper. You two have a wonderful bond and it's always so nice to see your photos and videos. Crowley is definitely one of my favourite snakes on BP.net!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Luvyna

This entire thread is so wholesome, finally got around to reading through every post and I love this so much. I love Crowleyland, wish I could set up something that nice for my BP! Having a snake safe room for my Noodle would be a dream. Also, I adore that "Crowley selfie" photo and the Crowley turtle video. So cute!

Crowley is such a well-loved and healthy looking BP, I'm sure that all that climbing around is great enrichment for him. He's very lucky to have such a devoted keeper. You two have a wonderful bond and it's always so nice to see your photos and videos. Crowley is definitely one of my favourite snakes on BP.net!

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Aww, thanks, I love my little Crowley so much and spoiling him makes me as happy as him. He's a male and is 4'4", I'm sure all that exercise he gets has to do with it. Hope Crowley's room can give everyone ideas, a scratching post is pretty cheap for the amount of climbing space, I recommend one with the ladders though as I had to had perches for him to climb everything. :)

Crowley looks happy. Snake hugs are the best.

Thanks to some advice on these forums I decided to move Crowley's enclosure to his room so he is away from my macaw. I will leave him be till he adjusts but he seems to be doing just fine.

Here's a picture of his new setup in his room:
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/LZK9fPJ.jpg

Crowley has been doing great since his move, I changed his hides to ones that don't require a bed for him to like it. They are a bit small and he lifts them sometimes (he still fits and loves them though) but my parents are in the process if figuring out the best materials and making him a couple new hides that will be specially made for him. My father does model train stuff and is really good at making things that are very similar to how to make a homemade hide. His room stays nice and warm and I made sure his temperatures and humidity in his enclosure were still right, I take temperatures all the time, can never be too sure.

After letting Crowley adjust to his new setup I finally took him out for some missions in his room. I fixed a few things that made it easy for him to go somewhere he shouldn't. He rarely does a "bad" mission now but I'm always watching him full time, glancing over every 10 seconds. I also have a nanny cam I watch right under my main monitor in the room (I always glance over too, never risk trusting something that can crash). He was asking to come out for days (riding the glass) but I got him to wait and get used to his new surroundings first. I first let him out for a short period, gradually giving him more time out each day. He is now averaging 2 hours out a day and seems to enjoy doing his missions very much. Here is a video of him doing missions in his room. This is the nanny cam's video and it is in night vision.
https://youtu.be/0fJnBv-dIdE

He hasn't eaten yet, he may be on his winter fast as he does this every year, maybe he is still adjusting. I try feeding him every 10 days. He doesn't come out of his room, if I'm to try doing couch missions with him again it won't be at least for another month. The bird would be sleeping upstairs when Crowley would go to the couch. Crowley is the type of snake that grew up having a few missions in a small area gradually getting more time out and bigger spaces. Now he has a whole room that never stresses him out, he was raised as an explorer and it is what he loves to do. He's a strong snake, an avid climber that got used to climbing from a small area gradually getting to a bigger climbing area when he became an expert at it, he is 4'4" long which I hear is big for a male.

I love him so much and I am so glad to see he is doing much better in his own personal room. Here he is in his hide on his heated blanket in his room, it is at around 87 degrees and he loves to take ~10 minute breaks in some of his hides once in a while then continues his missions, he has another hide at 80 degrees, the room is usually 77 degrees but he roam around on a heated blanket most of the time and doesn't really get cold, he also has a humidifier in the room. I only turned the lights up for the picture, I always have them dim for Crowley as he is nocturnal and I want to simulate night time while still being able to see him of course.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/rQR3bgq.jpg

In before the lock

So aside from the hides and the bird, nothing seems to have changed. The snake isn't eating, yet you continue to have him out for hours a day on these "missions" you've made up.
You claim to love him so much, but you refuse to take advice that will help the animal thrive. He's surviving, not thriving.
The way you keep that snake is selfish and in no way shows you love him. Love means sacrificing and doing what's best for the person/pet you love. Until you sacrifice your own needs to believe your snake is something he's not your snake (reminder, he's a SNAKE) will never thrive...because YOU CHOOSE to steal that from him.

You've been given tons of great advice, yet you pick and choose what to listen to...you refuse to accept anything that doesn't benefit YOU. And who suffers? Yup, Crowley who you "love" so much.

For your snakes sake, you really need to listen, otherwise the poor animal will never get the life he deserves.

Look, we're here to help. Taking time out of our days because we care. Please understand it's not about you, it's about the animal. And until YOU change, your animal will never thrive. We want to help you get there. Please, for your snake, start listening.

Please try to keep this thread positive, if you don't believe in my methods that's fine but don't bash me for it. Crowley is doing great, sure he's on his winter fast, ball pythons do that, not eating at this time of year is very normal for him. I am posting his progress on here as I like to have a thread with his life that I can keep forever, this thread is the easiest way to be able to tell stories while still being able to post pictures and videos. This is the only place I post now due to all the hatred I've gotten and all I ask is to keep it nice as I will be looking at the thread for years even after Crowley passes as a way to remember him.

He grew up gradually getting more and more missions, slowly getting more over the years, from having just a chair with him in my arms to a small table with his little Crowleyland to having a double bed with his little and medium Crowleyland on it and then his finally his room which gradually got more stuff over time. He's the type of snake that likes to be out and explore. He'll ride the glass of his enclosure most of the night asking to come out. He no longer spazzes and loves to climb me and come to my face and say hi. Whenever my husband and I sit on the floor he'll gladly come over and climb us. His room is heated and humidified to suit his needs, I come out of his room sweating as it's hot and humid just for him. I never take him out if he doesn't want to, which is very rare. He would probably get depressed if I didn't give him his missions, he's so used to it and loves coming out.

My methods are different yes but I raised this snake not in a tub, but with love and affection and with lots of enrichment to keep him happy and healthy. If you don't like how I do things and think my snake is stressed I'd rather you just sit back and watch this thread and see how Crowley does rather than attacking me for something you don't believe in. I've seen many times where people have said they have affectionate snakes and that they love to come out just like Crowley and they do fine. It is just not seen often as people usually dismiss it and attack people for thinking so. I've had many people come to me saying their snake is like Crowley but just don't like to post publicly about it. I've even had an expert with over 30 years of experience that has thousands of snakes (he has the staff to take care of everything) say he believes snakes can show affection. This expert raises snakes in tubs and also glass enclosures and has experienced so much in his life and knows so very much about snakes and the different ways of keeping them.