Wild Morphs

[jmcrook]

I don't personally prefer a sterile cage with newspaper substrate, but I certainly can't knock the setup. When you are able to find healthy wild snakes living under sheet metal or cardboard in a garage or shed it certainly makes you think about what the "ultimate environment" for a snake is.

Well said my friend. It's important that keepers acknowledge that these animals are all individuals and have different personal preferences.

Sure, a species may be well known for being outgoing/inquisitive/etc but some individuals are very shy and reclusive. I have 4 carpets. No two of them have the same behaviors, cage activity, etc. I have 6 boas. There are some shared traits but each of them behaves in their own distinct ways.

I've even found that some of my animals display more "natural" behaviors the more minimally I decorate their enclosures. Just the opposite with others. We have to keep in mind that the "naturalistic" design of many of our enclosures is more for the keeper than the kept, even if the animals do utilize much of the amenities we afford them. I have animals in fully decked out enclosures down to minimalistic tubs in racks. All are thriving. There are many ways to do things right and many ways to do things wrong. It's good to take it slow when starting out, try lots of different things, take notes as to how it impacts the animals as well as your methods of keeping them.

All this is I guess to say OP, try not to paint with too broad a brush or make too many assumptions this early in keeping snakes. We're in the golden age of reptile keeping but that can be a blessing and a curse. Lots of information out there and a lot of it is garbage. Got to sift through the dirt to get to the gold.

Hope this isn't too ramble-y but I've got to get back to work. No time for edits.