Quote Originally Posted by Skiploder View Post
Melissa, I think there are some unintended generalities in your post. I think that real practitioners of herpetoculture probably maintain their naturalistic enclosures far better than any member of Clan Tupperware. Bioactive substrate is really fairly easy to get going and provides innumerable benefits beyond being almost self cleaning.

Additionally, while cleaning is more involved, it is certainly easily achieved with practice and dedication to the goal...the goal being replicating the environment as close as possible for the benefit of the animal. Sacrificing a bit of time and care to provide a detailed set up is extremely rewarding...and the process of researching it tends to make us better keepers.

Which is in stark contrast to providing an environment that caters to the keeper.

Tubs and racks are wonderful inventions. finding new and easy ways to simplify husbandry for the benefit of the keeper is not inherently wrong...but let's not delude ourselves that what is good for the keeper is always good for the kept.

I'd like to encourage new keeper to not only research the natural history of their animals, but to also provide an environment that allows the snake to do what it was programmed to do. While such environments may take more effort and care to maintain and set up, the rewards of actually being able to watch your animals display it's full complement of behaviors is worth the payoff.

Antaeresia are not ball pythons. They thrive in environments that allow them space to move and climb. They are prone to lifestyle diseases if fed the "appropriate sized meal every 7 to 10 days" diet and not allowed to move. If the OP would like to take a shot at replicating.
I agree with and understand your points. I'm not disputing that. Also, as stated in my username, my name is Marissa, not Melissa.

I was simply stating what works for me and my animals. My Antaresia get handled the most out of any of my animals. While there are a select few keepers who properly maintain naturalistic enclosures, for the majority of people who want "pretty" or "natural" or "realistic" don't keep their enclosures and habitats as clean as they should be.

I also like how you just assume that because I keep my animals in racks/tubs/PVC enclosures that I don't take the time to learn as much as I possibly can about every species that I can.

The OP was asking for opinions. I told him what works well for me. Your post came across very condescending and that isn't something I'm used to encountering on this site. Try respecting other opinions, it might do you some good.