Plants worth choosing for a Ball Python only Terrarium/Vivarium

[Nick Shades]

Very quick background:

After a childhood of owning snakes, and about 30 years between then and now, my son took an interest in having a snake of his own. I purchased him a ball-python, and started with my old standard of Hide, Paper Towels, Water Dish, basking and heating, and that was it. Now, after 10 years of fish hobby, both in freshwater and saltwater, my brain desires having a full style vivarium.

What plants are best for Ball Pythons to have in their enclosure?

I have never been a fan of any substrate besides dirt/gravel, but have chosen to use coco fiber for the ball python. It seems to be pretty good, it is very inexpensive, and it smells great. Because I feed the ball python in a separate container, i am not at all concerned about particulate interference. I am thinking of sectioning off some portions and putting in plant friendly soil style substrates and putting in some plants.

What plants do best with Ball Pythons? I haven't done a whole lot of research, but when I headed to the nursery today to get Pothos plants, the guy sold me a philodendron Brasil, instead, without me eve realizing that it was not the same as pothos, which I should have purchased.

In addition to that, after researchign everythign about philodendron, I have read that it is considered toxic to most herps. Because Ball Pythons are carnivores, does this still apply to them? Or is the sap and dripping dangerous to them as well?

I understand that this topic about live plants comes and goes day after day, but I am really most concerned with learning what makes a plant dangerous to a ball python if there is no worry for ingestion.

So:

What plants are specifically poisonous to ball pythons?

What makes the best substrate for ball pythons which is capable of growing plants? (instead of putting them in pots)

What regional plants from Central and Western Africa are best to use in the vivarium?

[Nick Shades]

Anything?

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[Booper]

In my novice opinion, I would recommend sticking to fake plants as you don't have to worry about them being toxic, they're easy to clean if they get dirty (You'd think they won't, but I've had Wanda do a nice poo right on top of some leaves before), they won't need replacing or watering and they won't be crushed by your beep as they get bigger. Apart from that though I have no idea about what plants would be best for them if you did choose the natural route

[JodanOrNoDan]

I am doubting you are going to get much help. Plants with balls is pretty much a lost cause in my opinion. They will pretty much bulldoze anything you do. Plants need light. Balls don't. I don't think anyone has researched this subject much.

[Nick Shades]

I am doubting you are going to get much help. Plants with balls is pretty much a lost cause in my opinion. They will pretty much bulldoze anything you do. Plants need light. Balls don't. I don't think anyone has researched this subject much.

Well, true, ball pythons do not need light, and plants do, however, plants do not need white light, and neither do BPs.

My angle is to use reds and blues which most tropical plants use beneath canopies, and ball pythons are accustomed to better.

As BPs are mostly nocturnal animals, we alread have decided to use a shifted lighting schedule so that her plant lighting will occur when she is at "daytime" and her night time will be when we spend more time handling her.



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[Nick Shades]

In my novice opinion, I would recommend sticking to fake plants as you don't have to worry about them being toxic, they're easy to clean if they get dirty (You'd think they won't, but I've had Wanda do a nice poo right on top of some leaves before), they won't need replacing or watering and they won't be crushed by your beep as they get bigger. Apart from that though I have no idea about what plants would be best for them if you did choose the natural route

While this is an option, I prefer vivarium style displays, as this approach runs parallel to my existing craft of hobbywork in freshwater planted tanks, and saltwater reefs.

I enjoy full aqua/landscapes, and am already used to clean up.

Building substrata that involve similar ecosystems to what are found in nature encourage checks and balances for what make a desirable habitat in kept specimen, hence, my desire for learning what plants or trees are found in central and western Africa where BPs are found in the wild.

Currently, I do not have room for a tree in my tank, but I do plan on ordering leaves and/or branches to what they have in the wild as foliage, and supplementing that with as similar flora that I can in order to allow that vivascape to occur somewhat naturally, and perhaps eventually, create a greenhouse room with an identical, walkable scape, similar to a zoo's reptile enclosure found, at say, the Los Angeles Zoo.

That being said, I might be able to find my answers there...

*I stand corrected, I checked with the LA zoo, and they do not have BPs in the LAIR.

But I would still appreciate input here!

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[Regius_049]

Very quick background:
What plants are best for Ball Pythons to have in their enclosure?

I have never been a fan of any substrate besides dirt/gravel, but have chosen to use coco fiber for the ball python. It seems to be pretty good, it is very inexpensive, and it smells great. Because I feed the ball python in a separate container, i am not at all concerned about particulate interference. I am thinking of sectioning off some portions and putting in plant friendly soil style substrates and putting in some plants.

What plants do best with Ball Pythons? I haven't done a whole lot of research, but when I headed to the nursery today to get Pothos plants, the guy sold me a philodendron Brasil, instead, without me eve realizing that it was not the same as pothos, which I should have purchased.

In addition to that, after researching everything about philodendron, I have read that it is considered toxic to most herps. Because Ball Pythons are carnivores, does this still apply to them? Or is the sap and dripping dangerous to them as well?

First, I would like to applaud you for taking up this endeavor. I believe it can be extremely rewarding, but I will warn you in advance that it can be quite a bit more challenging than providing a bioactive vivarium for say a dart frog or williamsi gecko. Smaller inhabitants tend to make everything much easier due to the fact they they rarely, if at all, demolish plants or decide to "re-lanscape" their dwelling. There is a reason that more keepers tend to use, what Vosjoli calls, the LAM method (Labratory Animal Method). By LAM, I mean a "bare bones" enclosure consisting of: paper substrate, water bowl, cool and warm hide, and a heating element. I myself use the LAM method for snakes, but bioactive vivaria for my lizards and frogs due to the issues mentioned above, but I have flirted with the idea of moving my snakes over to bioactive. The major things holding me back are two-fold: (1) throwing a wet rodent into a bioactive vivarium tends to "bread" it in substrate while I simply don't like. I have not tested it to a point where I can say that is caused problems or not. When dealing with insectivores, it is easy to feed them mealworms or roaches in a bowl to mitigate any impaction related concerns. (2) Other keepers have noted to me that fine substrate, such as dirt, peat, or coconut coir, has a tendency to get stuck around the edges of snake's eyes and cause conjunctivitis. If I was going to try to create a bioactive enclosure for a snake, I admit that a ball python would certainly not be my first choice. Something arboreal would be a more ideal candidate, such as a green tree python. As far as terrestrials go, perhaps I would try a kingsnake due to their seemingly indestructible nature.

All that said, if you wish to give it a shot, I will tell you how I would go about it. Alternatively, you could purchase "The Art of Keeping Snakes" by Philippe de Vosjoli referenced above which discusses this very topic in detail. Also as a disclaimer, you will greatly benefit from providing a larger enclosure when using a bioactive / natural setup. Additional height in particular is needed for deep substrate and additional room for plants.

What plants are specifically poisonous to ball pythons?

As you mention above, pothos plants are noted to be toxic to reptiles and other animals such as dogs and cats. However, many keepers use pothos all the time to no ill effect. Pothos specifically is toxic due to insoluble calcium oxalates according to the ASPCA, which is mainly a concern if ingested, not if a reptile brushes up against it. If you are concerned about the toxicity of plants, as deserves consideration, you can look at the ASPCA website as a guide (I should note this is only tested with dogs, cats and horses) or others have compiled lists of plants noted to be potentially toxic to reptiles. There is also a list compiled/quoted on this very site. There is some level of inaccurate information often prevalent in such lists and some plants that are debatably good and bad choices. This is due to the fact that a plant may be used by 100 keepers and only 2 of them observed any problems. Some easy choices for non-toxic plants are anything in the bromeliad or orchid family. Hoya, Peperomia, and ferns are also often good choices. That said, many of these will be too fragile to be kept with ball pythons and would be better suited for use as an epipphytic plant (mounted against a backround such as cork) or in elevated pots that can trail downward. Ferns and palms are more robust and could likely take the beating of a ball python, but they will require trimming if they are to fit in the enclosure.

What makes the best substrate for ball pythons which is capable of growing plants? (instead of putting them in pots)

I'll start by saying wih any large or thick snake species, I doubt you will be able to get away with planting anything directly in the enclosure without some form of protection. Pots are the most obvious choice, but I have also heard of people wrapping them in cheese cloth to keep them from getting uprooted. Unless you have very, very thick substrate that allows from a deep root system I think you are going to have to use buried pots. They are both heavy and make a barrier around the root of the plant. You can however acheive the same appearance with buried pots, which may be amenable to you. Many people who take the natural / bioactive approach. I personally do not like pure coconut coir, but it can serve nicely in a mixture. Pure coconut coir, while quite resistant to mold and fungus, is the main culprit of anecdotal conjunctivitis cases I mentioned above. Without making it bioactive, it also is not self-cleaning and seems to easily get stuck to inhabitants.

I realize I have thrown around the term "bioactive" quite a bit in this post. What I mean by this is a natural substrate that plants can be planted into and be sustained by. This usually also consists of "cleaner" microfauna such as springtails and isopods to clean up waste matter and any mold growth. Plants will not do well in pure coconut coir or many other commercially available substrates. Most of the best performing substrates consist of a mixture of some of the following: peat moss, potting soil, sand, clay, orchid or cypress bark, and lava rock. Tailoring these ingredients allows one to create an environment for many different species. A substrate known as "ABG mix" has proven extremely popular for tropical species. There is a plethora of information you can research around the internet. As "ready made" substrates, you can look at places such as NEherp, Arcadia, or "The Biodude" offer reasonable mixes for many species. I have however personally only used NEherp.

What regional plants from Central and Western Africa are best to use in the vivarium?

You'll have to cross-reference some of the lists given above with plants known to be native to ball pythons native habitat in Africa, assuming that is what you are going for. While I do not know if these are native to Africa, I suspect you will have the best luck with ferns, palms, and potentially spider plants.

Good luck!