OK I keep getting flack for keeping my snakes in a rack system

[Crotalids]

That's the problem, you can't be right and it be your opinion. Either it's your opinion, and that's how you choose to do things, or it's fact and you're right. Not both,

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Sure, i think my way of keeping is right - that's my opinion. I'm not saying it's a fact.

I do this for my ferrets. I offer them a variety of prey - mice, rats, rabbits, chicks, quail, ducklings, and so on.

But my balls refuse other types of prey and only take rats and possibly mice. I've tried rabbits and chicks. I even scented them with their normal food. But no go. Balls are a lot more picky than other species. And you have to be careful about them getting hooked to an unwanted prey source like gerbils or hamsters(at least here in the states). Certain individuals can get 'addicted' to gerbils(example) and never take another prey item without great efforts to get them switched back. Feeding a gerbil isn't really economical in the long run and can be difficult to find(illegal in certain states).
If I had a boa or a more vigorous feeding species, I would probably mix it up. I wouldn't have to worry about them being picky ... But for my balls, I think I will stick with rats.



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Of course, hence why i said dependent on species, as i imagine most of you keep more than just Royal's.

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I think if Crotalids had just made his statement and not insulted everyone who uses bare bones setup this "discussion" wouldn't have turned into BP.net vs Crotalids. What has upset me (and I imagine a majority of BP.net) was the insinuation that because we use racks it is automatically assumed that the tubs are too small, we lack passion for our animals, are too lazy to maintain the naturalistic setup or any of the various other insults that were said.

I do believe that sometimes we become set in our ways, this isn't the first time I've seen a majority of BP.net turn against someone who posts something different from what they do, but again I don't think this would have turned into the utter chaos it has if Crotalids had phrased his opinion in a less insulting way.



As has already been stated, ball pythons have this annoying tendency to imprint on a certain food source which is why many keepers try to stick to rats. I personally am not willing to risk one or more of my snakes getting stuck on $8 gerbils or hamsters. I won't even feed ASF because I don't want to have to breed rodents in my 2 bedroom apartment.

As for keeping snakes on a feeding regime, ball pythons are prone to hunger strikes which is why I believe a lot of keepers feed once a week. My snakes don't always get fed on the same day, but I try to do it every 7-10 days. I would rather my snakes have some weight to them when they randomly decide to stop feeding, but hey maybe that's just me.

Maybe you can post pictures of your racking set ups, and i will be able to see whether it's too small or not...

Many of you have stated that you don't do a naturalistic set up because of the time to maintain them, and the cost involved. Neither which is true, as they don't take long to maintain, and the cost is next to nothing. Obviously when they're youngsters they need to be fed on a more frequent basis in case they do go on a hunger strike. But adults can go a very long time without food, people just panic far too much.