Can ball pythons safely climb branches thinner then them?

[Armiyana]

Absolutely. Hahahah.
He's been probed and has bred. He's surprised a few people though with his size and age. He was originally sold to me as a female in the summer of 2000. Lol

Chris Hardwick also has a male about this size that he films a lot of his videos with iirc. The bamboo he usually features.

[Mr. Misha]

I don't personally have any experience with bioactive enclosures but I've been here long enough to seen many threads about it. It always seemed that BPs may not be the best reptiles for a bioactive enclosure. As adults, they produce a lot of waste. I'm sure that the user with the large BP can tell you that it poops like a bear. Even my 1300 something gram males will poop like small dog. Also, the weight of the BPs will destroy any live plants.

I think it's pretty cool that you're trying to do one and I think you should search the archive threads to see what has worked for others. With that being said, you may try one with a smaller snake like a corn or perhaps something smaller and more active?

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[Erie_herps]

I haven't heard of any successful bioactive tanks for BPs. Most people say that the snake destroyed all of the plants. Anyways, they poop so much that you'd need a huge isopod/springtail population to clean it all, most of them still need cleaned.

[Homebody]

Do you have bioactive enclosures?
When I go on youtube and search for bioactive set ups and someone asks how do you clean the tank, they always say you don't clean it when it's bioactive since the isopods are there.
And I have seen many keepers with bioactive ball python enclosures which also have wood in there setups.

What they don't say on those Youtube videos is that 6 months later they had to start over again from scratch because their plants and fauna cultures died. Youtubers don't like to admit failure. I suggest you search for "bioactive" threads on this site. You'll see many different ways of going about it. You will also see stories of keepers who had to try over and over again before they came up with a set up that worked for them. I emphasize "for them" because the set up that worked for those keepers may not work for you. My point is that setting up a bioactive isn't as easy as they make it look on Youtube. You will probably have to try over and over for months before you get it right.

[CakeLike]

I don't personally have any experience with bioactive enclosures but I've been here long enough to seen many threads about it. It always seemed that BPs may not be the best reptiles for a bioactive enclosure. As adults, they produce a lot of waste. I'm sure that the user with the large BP can tell you that it poops like a bear. Even my 1300 something gram males will poop like small dog. Also, the weight of the BPs will destroy any live plants.

I think it's pretty cool that you're trying to do one and I think you should search the archive threads to see what has worked for others. With that being said, you may try one with a smaller snake like a corn or perhaps something smaller and more active?

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Well I only have the one snake and don't really plan on getting more.

[Mr. Misha]

Well I only have the one snake and don't really plan on getting more.

That's fair.

Have you ever thought of just doing a bioactive enclosure without animals or maybe some frogs? That could be a very beautiful setup.

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[CakeLike]

What they don't say on those Youtube videos is that 6 months later they had to start over again from scratch because their plants and fauna cultures died. Youtubers don't like to admit failure. I suggest you search for "bioactive" threads on this site. You'll see many different ways of going about it. You will also see stories of keepers who had to try over and over again before they came up with a set up that worked for them. I emphasize "for them" because the set up that worked for those keepers may not work for you. My point is that setting up a bioactive isn't as easy as they make it look on Youtube. You will probably have to try over and over for months before you get it right.

Yeah I know it's not easy and significantly harder for big snakes. But I lnow the problems that come with that and I accept the fact that plants have to be removed and changed and that I have to still clean poop out. I am not doing it for easier cleaning but because it looks much better than a boring sterile tank. And If I have my snake for 20 plus years I think it's easier to have to put a bit of work into it at thw beginning and then have it run smootly than clean out the cage fully once a month for 20 years to come to be honest.
Bob from the channel green room pythons has a video talking about bioactive for ball pythons and what works and what doesn't.
So as long as the snakes healthy in the setup I don't really care if I have to still do maintance with it.

[Homebody]

Yeah I know it's not easy and significantly harder for big snakes. But I lnow the problems that come with that...

Great! As long as you know what you're getting yourself into, I'm rooting for you. Also, you should consider proceeding slowly. Most of the bioactive set up videos I've seen try to create a whole ecosystem in one shot and that's a tough thing to get right. Proceed incrementally and it will be easier to see what's working and what isn't. Add UV lights and some potted plants. If you can keep the plants alive in pots, proceed to plant them into your substrate. If the plants root and grow, then add your isopods and springtails. Once your isopod and springtail cultures are reproducing, then add your snake. Just a thought. However you do it share with us your progress. Watching your trials and travails will be educational for us all.

[Malum Argenteum]

I am not doing it for easier cleaning but because it looks much better than a boring sterile tank.

I would call the methodology you're looking for "naturalistic" -- wood rather than plastic, substrate rather than carpet, and so on. There are good reasons to aim for a naturalistic enclosure (or naturalistic elements): they look "better" to us, but much more importantly many animals seem to prefer natural materials over plastic. I give all my snakes both a plastic hide and a cork hide, and across taxa they consistently prefer to be both under and on top of the cork even when the positions of the two are switched in the enclosure.

There's also a case to be made for the "sustainability" of natural products over plastic, though not a case that can outweigh husbandry considerations. If plastic is better for the animal, then plastic is the way to go, full stop.

"Bioactive" is useful for (and was originally developed for) those animals that simply won't tolerate an enclosure cleaning, and that make waste products that are actually sort of amenable to processing by microfauna -- dart frogs and micro geckos, and that's about it. For virtually all other species, "bioactive" enclosures not only don't function as designed, but also involve expenditures of time and money that are better spent on aspects of animal care that actually benefit the animal in specifiable ways.

Springtails and most isopod species will not clean elevated wood branches unless the enclosure is at nearly 100% humidity, and even then not so much. Even in dart frog vivaria, the amount of spraying/scrubbing off of plant leaves to remove poop and algae is considerable.

[Zincubus]

Soooooo

All my Royals/ Balls have branches in their vivs and they climb most evenings when they’re not in shed mode .

Hell I even have one Albino youngster who will only strike feed a warm mouse whilst he’s up in his branches - shows no interest if he’s under a hide unlike every other Royals I have !!


I’d say I hear a ‘bump’ ( a fall) about once every three months . The branches are jammed in and kinda crisscross each other going up about 10” off the ground .

If they get ‘mucky’ they just get removed and washed or simply replaced


I am also aware of a study on wild caught Royal pythons which showed that a good % of them were found in trees and bushes , many in very high branches as well . They were themselves surprised at their findings


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