Question about Racks vs Enclosures

[purplemuffin]

Personally I prefer custom enclosures over racks and aquariums. I like to give my animals a little extra room and larger areas of thermal gradients. More areas for them to choose what temps they want to be at, and they will utilize that space if they are given adequate cover and appropriate hides IME. It's a lot more work for sure, but it's what I'd like. Right now my BP is in a tub, and since he moved into the tub from a large tank..well, I have mixed feelings. The tub is easier. He definitely feels secure. But he's also gotten more skittish. He is more prone to hiss and ball up than he used to be. The amount he is on and off feed makes no difference if he is in a large area with hides or a small tub, so the small space for sure didn't help us there. If it's live, he'll eat it, be he in a tub or a 55 gallon tank. If it's frozen, he'll struggle either way as well. When he was in the large tank he would roam--not that panicked "I must escape and find a place to hide" way of wandering, but at night he would travel to one end of the tank, hide amongst the fake plants and occasionally periscope out of the top of the 'bush' to check out what I was doing. Then he'd go into a hide and chill out, occasionally poking his face out with a searching tongue, checking to see if any prey had wandered by. It was very cool, very wild looking. Now he sits completely still in his tub. When a shadow goes over his face, he flinches and hisses. His muscle tone for sure doesn't seem as strong as before. He's healthy though.

I don't know. Part of me tries to tell myself 'no, the tub is perfect for him. He is just being a ball python', but I'm really starting to feel like it's just not working out for him. He was a wild caught adult, I don't know if that makes a difference. He just doesn't seem to be thriving. I've seen ball pythons thrive in tubs before. It just doesn't seem to be working out that way for maru.

I'll give my animal what he or she needs. Right now I feel like I will be building maru a nice large enclosure (not quite 55 gallon large, but bigger than the tub) that will be front opening and easy enough for me to clean. I have some plans I'm working out that should make it pretty quick and easy to do substrate changes and all, and I'm willing to do all that work involved.


I think most ball pythons do well in tubs. I think most ball pythons do poorly in aquarium set ups. I think there is nothing wrong with a custom enclosure if you are willing to do the work--They can only see out the front, and you can cover that with a blanket if they seem very stressed. It's easy to make it as sterile as a tub if need be, and you can put in as many hides as you want/your snake needs.


I dunno. Mixed feelings going on in my head right now. I only have one ball python. I do plan to have more. I also like being able to see my snakes when I walk in the room. I sort of would like my small group of pets/breeders to have a 'rack' of custom built enclosures, and I would have a regular rack to raise up the young babies until they are sold. I don't think it's necessary, but it's what I'd like to do.