Are we keeping our snakes improperly, a study on snake housing.

[Snagrio]

Not a very good study. There are too many different species being used, an extremely small sample size, and no controls to speak of. The only measure being taken is if allowed, the snakes will straighten out or try to, not that it is of any benefit to them. Then it has the audacity to call everything we believe in the hobby "folklore"/"mythology" without any evidence, when some things might be, but many are tried and true across sample size far greater than what was used in the study. This is not how science works.

It think some species really do need more space than the avg keeper gives them to be healthy, but I am basing this on measurable evidence, not just wild assumption. We can look at obesity for example, and notice that some species of giant snakes (like retics) kept in small enclosures tend to either be obese, or have low muscle percentage compared with animals who are given more space. Ability to climb is another factor in obesity in retics we need to consider, because they really do love to climb. When the animal is being negatively effected by the enclosure size, there is clear evidence that we are sacrificing their wellbeing for money/space savings. Oftentimes these giant snakes aren't even given LxW>=length of the snake like we give others, despite them being a pretty active species if allowed. Time outside the enclosure should be taken into account as well. If a keeper does not have time to supervise their animal exercising outside the enclosure on a regular basis, the animal is going to need more room inside the enclosure.

IMHO any study that attempts to combine every single species of snake is going to be seriously faulty because the needs vary between species drastically. Breeders may have biased, but at least they have a large sample size of a single species to gather information.

Also REALLY didn't like the little quip about how "the government should step in and mandate regulations" because we have enough of that garbage going on in the reptile hobby as it is, but that's a whole 'nother can of worms. I think the common rule of "enough size for a snake to fully extend itself in two directions" is adequate personally, but there can always be exceptions on a species or even individual basis.

If anything, I'm more interested in the study of enrichment that was barely touched upon in the article. How much value do snakes place on environmental enrichment? If and how does it vary between species (notably sedentary vs more active groups)? What do snakes consider as enrichment and how does it differentiate among species (not only sedentary vs active but also burrowing/terrestrial vs semi/fully arboreal)?