The "Enchiched Rack" Experiment

[Lizardlicks]

Some advice since I have been here done some of this:
- Cut your PVC pipes lengthwise for the tunnels, otherwise you BP will get in and you won't get it out easily if needed.
- Nix the driftwood idea, it molds quickly in higher-humidity environments and is almost impossible to clean and disinfect when your BP makes a mess on it. There are PVC/plastic options, or you could make your own PVC pipe "jungle gym" instead for climbing options. I have a few that disassemble for cleaning, so they fit easily in the dishwasher.

I might have to consider Some pvc climbs! Part of the reason I had my eye on the Malaysian drift wood is because it's a hard wood that's usually used in aquascaping. I figured if it was fine being totally submerged, it should be pretty resistant to rot and mold in a beeps tub. For sterilizing I can wash them then "bake" them on a low temp in the oven. I don't (yet, it's there but not hooked up) have a dish washer in this place so everything is going to be hand washing for the moment anyway.

I hope everything works out for you and you find out something new about your animals. It is good to see someone try to experiment and think outside the box and think for themselves. I was going to write a long detailed response but I am feeling lazy, so here are a couple bullet points. Please don't take this as a negative response, I think its good what you are doing.

-Most people who have been keeping snakes for a while have done this.
-Racks have not always been popular.
-The fancy lights, hides and bedding has not always been around either. But experimenting like this has brought all this new stuff to the hobby.
-In the 20+ years of keeping snakes, I have used a rack system for maybe the last 9-10 years.
-I personally did not see a difference in my snakes health, granted I have changed various husbandry practices over the years but as long as they felt secure they would eat and thrive.
-I was a slow starter to the forums (06') and had to figure a lot of stuff out for myself trying different things.
-I still keep some snakes in melamine caging, I have had more success with breeding in racks though.
-I like the bio-active bedding a lot of the monitor guys keep their animals on, not sure it will work in racks but maybe people will start going back to larger caging for their animals.


As for the activity and feeding of the snakes, there are a lot of factors that make it difficult to compare a wild snake to a captive bred. Most of the wild caught animals are thinner depending on the season they were caught, they might have just laid, they have parasites inside and out, food is not always available on a weekly or monthly basis. From my experience thinner males are more aggressive breeders, females with a little more size will have the extra nutrition to lay bigger clutches but an obese snake does neither. I think power feeding at certain times for females for a short amount of time is fine. I think ball pythons do this in the wild, they gorge themselves as often as they can when food is abundant which is I assume is right during the breeding season. This is just my 2 cents though, keep us up to date on how this works out for you and your animals.

I wish I had the budget for stacked pvc or melamine like the boaphile or ap stuff. I may at some point say to heck with it and build my own customs, or I might go back to the standard rack set ups. Who knows! That's what this experiment is for, figuring out what works best for me and my snakes, and sharing the results.