Discussion time - Boredom and "enrichment" in snakes

[Skiploder]

somehow i dont think they just hide all the time and sit around to ambush rhodents.

there is this ball python temple in Benin that a few hundred ball pythons use as a hiding place during the day. and each night they all move out, all of them leave the temple behind and go hunting in the surrounding areas. in the morning they all return. farmers that have ball pythons on their farm say the same thing, they have their hiding place for the day, but at night they are all on the move. some BP breeding farms operate the same way, the pythons need to get their own rhodents, all that the humans do is to provide the right hiding place at the right location and to seperate out and lock up the gravid females for egg laying.

so i dont think they are as sluggish as some of these posts characterize them. they have a hiding place for the day and a hunting area for the night, and they move quite a distance each night, and some exploration has to be involved because they are not born with a hiding place and a hunting ground, they need to figure it out and find the right places.

i dont think they are interested in toys or anything like that, but im sure that when you give a BP more room to roam around it will be appreciated and used by the BP.

Ball pythons are hunters. They climb trees and hunt birds. They hunt on the ground. We ignore science in favor of Youtube clips of people cutting eggs and caresheets outlining what suits OUR needs in terms of husbandry. Then we spread our "Ball Pythons for Dummies" knowledge like a plague.

What you stated in your quote is apostasy. Ball pythons are fragile things that require exact temperature ranges, an exact humidity range and a snug fitting hide. They should not ingest anything but rodent prey fed f/t on a lace doily. Do not give them branches or they will hurt themselves.

The idea that nature created a creature that can survive changes in temperature, changes in humidity, the ingestion of dirt and plant material and eat a somewhat varied diet is inconceivable. The idea that these creatures can tolerate each other given room is laughable. We have espoused a doctrine of husbandry based on what is convenient and economical for us. Anything that is exists outside of what we deem convenient is frowned upon.

Enrichment is a human ideal. If you want to create a habitat for a ball python that allows it to hide, hunt and explore - by all means ignore the forum dogma and do so. You may feel that you are doing the snake a favor. If the snake thrives, then maybe you are.

I can keep a russian tortoise in a large aquarium/tortoise table with the correct heat lamp and feed it the right greens every day.

Or I can keep it in a 8'x16' planted enclosure in the back yard.

In both instances, I am meeting it's needs. In the former, I'm meeting them in a manner convenient to me.

In the latter, I'm meeting them better.