How do you all feel about utilarian housing of snakes

[EyeLashViper]

Hello all,
I was wondering on what you all think about housing snakes in a strictly utilarian fashion, that is instead of having them in a fancy tank with all sorts of stuff for display purposes - I have been mulling over going to a perhaps a "rack system" where I could have my collection of Ball Pythons and my other snakes neatly tucked away in my room. As it is now they are taking up a lot of space and to be honest they are too visible which makes me somewhat nervous because I am living in an apartment and I am not sure how delighted the management would be to discover that I am the neighborhood snake nut right under their nose. Not that they really ever come into my apartment but you really never know what may happen when you are renting.

As far as being housed in a simpler fashion, does it really matter all that much to the snake ? I have been noticing at the reptile store that I frequent that they even keep Green Tree Pythons in this manner. Just a sterile enclosure and a perch. Does this sound acceptable for Ball Pythons??? I do not want to stress the animals by putting them in an unnatural enviroment but it sure would make things easier.

EyelashViper

[green_man]

Just the opposite acctually.
I think that Ball pythons especially love the privacy of steralites.
I wouldnt go so far as to put nothing but a perch in there, you gotta have hides. But I think they work great for ball pythons. As far as I can tell my two dont get stressed out in their steralites at all.

I have been there with the apartment thing (but I got busted) so I think that is a very good idea.

[JLC]

Many folks on this forum keep their animals in rubbermaid/sterelite containers with newspaper substrate, plain hides, and nothing else. BP's in particular seem to thrive in simplistic enclosures.

[Wizill]

i agree with what green man said. my bp's love their little plastic homes.

[hhw]

Personally, I think utilitarian is the way to go. Anything beyond that is usually more for us than for them. This is especially the case with ball pythons, who have simplistic requirements. Perhaps arboreal species may benefit from a lot of decoration in their enclosures, but that is in line with their necessities (i.e. climbing) and just happen to be visually stimulating. Especially if you plan to keep a large collection relative to the amount of time you have available, it would make more sense to keep your herps in well-maintained simple enclosures than seldom cleaned fancy ones.

[Ginevive]

I don't like putting a bunch of stuff in my snake cages. It only makes cleaning more difficult, and therefore less appealing to me (like it ever Is appealing, lol.) But I look at people's naturalistic tanks, with elaborate plants and stuff, and think of how many germs must be lurking around in them. Sure, there are bacteria and such in nature. But when they are boxed up in a tank with your snake, I'd imagine that infections would be much more likely. I house my snakes in utilitarian cages with newspaper substrate. With loose subs, feces and urate are often overlooked in a corner or underneath the top layer, which is bad.