Enrichment for my 2 snakes

[MarkL1561]

The best enrichment is getting them out and letting them explore, supervised of course. This helps build muscle mass and keeps your animal tame As for enrichment within the enclosure personally I like doing naturalistic enclosures when possible. Boas will climb if you provide climbing material such as logs/branches. The blood isn’t going to climb at all. Although I could see creating tunnels using cork slabs and switch them up occasionally. I’ve seen people do this with skinks as a way to double floor space. If your blood is full grown you’d need a large enclosure and pretty big cork pieces to build your tunnels/maze.


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[Bogertophis]

Here is a quote from the document I read that suggested strawberries:

Scents I have been successful with include:
-different plants and fruits (flowers, leaves, strawberries, grapes, etc)
-a PINCH of rat bedding
-other snake’s sheds and bedding
-things with my smell on them
Pretty much any object is going to have a smell. It’s hard to go wrong unless you place something toxic in there.
\
Link: http://www.natureboxpetemporium.com/...aptive-snakes/

Let's just say I'm not impressed with their advice. I once helped an injured desert iguana recover, before finally releasing him. While in my care, I wanted to know
what native plants would appeal to his appetite (I wanted him to eat more), so I actually carried him gently outside & let him "tell me" which flowers & plants he liked,
& then I picked more for him to eat. But snakes don't eat plants & I've never seen a snake show any interest in fruits etc.

A pinch of rat bedding can actually encourage a hungry snake to try to CONSUME whatever the scent is on...so that's not too smart, is it?

As far as sharing snake shed's for other snakes to sniff: don't do this if snakes are in quarantine or if you aren't POSITIVE they are both healthy. Now if they are the
same species and opposite gender, & you want to know if they might be inclined to mate, that's one way to do it. Or you can just hold the female first...her scent will
transfer to you (your clothes) & when you handle the male snake, you may see him show a keen interest in the "scent" you're wearing.

Honestly, I think the occasional handling of your pet snake, including strolls outside in favorable weather & temperatures, is a much better way to enrich their days.

BTW, I just checked the available snakes on that site & found this: http://www.natureboxpetemporium.com/...-rosy-unsexed/
I've never before heard of a "melonistic" snake, but perhaps that is one that would be attracted to fruit...? Presumably cantaloupe or watermelon?

[sur3fir3]

The best enrichment is getting them out and letting them explore, supervised of course. This helps build muscle mass and keeps your animal tame As for enrichment within the enclosure personally I like doing naturalistic enclosures when possible. Boas will climb if you provide climbing material such as logs/branches. The blood isn’t going to climb at all. Although I could see creating tunnels using cork slabs and switch them up occasionally. I’ve seen people do this with skinks as a way to double floor space. If your blood is full grown you’d need a large enclosure and pretty big cork pieces to build your tunnels/maze.


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I take them both out for at least 15 minutes once a day.

As far as caging, I am using tubs. For right now I have a ve-6. So my vertical space is limited. I was thinking about using small PVC pipe to make a perch in side the tub for the boa. Then for the blood I was going to put 2 layers of substrate. One layer of leaves, and 1 layer of cypress. Then I was going to put 2 rocks in the tub with the blood and 1 with the boa. The rocks sre more to assist with shedding than for any real enrichment. Then my next substrate change I was going to go for orchid bark and coco fiber. I will buy the substrate next week and put it in an empty tub so I can figure out how to keep it at 60 percent humidity. I am worried about the orchid bark because last time I switched to orchid bark my blood decided to stop eating. But I don't know if that was just a coincidence or not.

Ok well if anyone has any other ideas I'm all ears. I always appreciate all of your replies and suggestions. Thanks all.



**Note** the boa is in quarantine atm in a 2'x2'x2'



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[sur3fir3]

Let's just say I'm not impressed with their advice. I once helped an injured desert iguana recover, before finally releasing him. While in my care, I wanted to know
what native plants would appeal to his appetite (I wanted him to eat more), so I actually carried him gently outside & let him "tell me" which flowers & plants he liked,
& then I picked more for him to eat. But snakes don't eat plants & I've never seen a snake show any interest in fruits etc.

A pinch of rat bedding can actually encourage a hungry snake to try to CONSUME whatever the scent is on...so that's not too smart, is it?

As far as sharing snake shed's for other snakes to sniff: don't do this if snakes are in quarantine or if you aren't POSITIVE they are both healthy. Now if they are the
same species and opposite gender, & you want to know if they might be inclined to mate, that's one way to do it. Or you can just hold the female first...her scent will
transfer to you (your clothes) & when you handle the male snake, you may see him show a keen interest in the "scent" you're wearing.

Honestly, I think the occasional handling of your pet snake, including strolls outside in favorable weather & temperatures, is a much better way to enrich their days.

BTW, I just checked the available snakes on that site & found this: http://www.natureboxpetemporium.com/...-rosy-unsexed/
I've never before heard of a "melonistic" snake, but perhaps that is one that would be attracted to fruit...? Presumably cantaloupe or watermelon?

Ok thank you for the advice. I just figured since I am using tubs, that I should go the extra mile and provide them with as much enrichment as I can within my means.

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[sur3fir3]

Melonistic. Rofl. Are they seedless?

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