I have officially been bitten by the snake bug!

[JodanOrNoDan]

Snakes need mental stimuli. Snakes need a suitable environment. (Meaning size as well)
In fact, if you are doing anything else other than trying to match the animals native environment as best you can, you are the one attempting to assign human needs. You need it in a small cage, you need it on a substrate easier for you to clean, you need it to eat f/t, etc etc.

Snakes need mental stimuli

Define and quantify please.

in a small cage

What is the magic formula?

you are the one attempting to assign human needs

Not really. I personally will only keep animals where my needs and theirs do not collide.

What experiences are you applying to your assessments?

Good discussion if you can provide me with data I do not have. Not everything I have read has proved out to be true. Have you ever done experiments where you have kept animals in natural settings vs clinical ones and determined if it affected eating habits, growth rates, longevity, general health, or mental state?