Brian Barczyk's Open Forum on Snake Rack Systems

[tttaylorrr]

Since this is racks vs tanks I was wondering how they feel about enrichment items (in tubs), and what should be used for Bloods, Balls, Boas, and Retics. I had someone argue with me about enrichment items for snakes, and I was wondering what those items could be for these different species. I had someone who doesn't keep snakes asked me about this, and I didn't really have an answer.

this is an excellent question!!! personally, i feel enrichment items (fake leaves, wood, etc) are more "important" than a huge enclosure for ball pythons.

on the flip side: a colubrid absolutely needs a larger enclosure as they like to rooooaaammm. do you think they need enrichment too?

So I guess my question would be how much would be too much? Orlike Brian said how many time in the wild will you see a snake in a nadditional “hide” when they are under a hollowed tree trunk or rock… and I seein a lot of peoples racks online and all over, there are no hides in theirtubes. How important is having 2 hides if some breeders or collectors do notgive their animals any hides? So would the rack system eliminate the need forit? I mean I have 1 hide in my 3 snake’s tubes with some fake leaves around. Theyare all well and well-mannered and now that my females are back on food (thankyou baby Jesus) ... I mean I have a loco in my Hollow but he’s always been weirdbut NEVER misses a meal... like I just hope that these new “regulations” oradvice as the new standards address these subjects.

another good question. something that kinda sucks about the hobby is that we almost have to police ourselves lest our governments try to do it for us (and do they try...). so where do we draw the line regarding enrichment and enclosure height/size? how would something like that apply to baby beeps or an established adult set in their ways?

thanks for your post!