Low maintenance tank decor suggestions

[Malum Argenteum]

I personally use textured kraft paper in enclosures that I don't want to use substrate:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

More 'grip' for the snake than newspaper, and doesn't mold like white paper towels can (I've used both of those).

I disagree with the practice of tossing the solids outside, since there may be non-native pathogens carried by our non-native reptiles (as in Burmese pythons in FL). Best to double bag and put into the regular trash.

The trouble is that if you ask your doctor about it, roughly one in a thousand might actually know enough about keeping snakes to give you an accurate response- there is a LOT of misinformation about snakes carrying salmonella (it's mostly aquatic turtles & various lizards- bearded dragons can carry quite a few things too) but snakes are just not a big offender in this area. Sadly, there is rampant hatred of snakes so it's way more likely that your doctors will be repeating false & negative information about their health risk to you- so be prepared, not shocked, okay?

Unfortunately, this isn't exactly true. Chances are, any given captive snake is more likely to carry Salmonella than not, and a captive snake is more likely to carry Salmonella than any other type of captive reptile. While the overall number of cases of reptile-associated salmonellosis are higher from turtles than snakes (35% vs 20%), snakes are considerably more likely to carry salmonella (56%) than lizards (37%) or turtles (19%). The discrepancy between rates of infection and rates of zoonotic transmission are thought to be due to demographics, rates of ownership, and differences in housing and maintenance.

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals...3.1251036/full

A very interesting couple passages in that paper are at 4.3.5, where it is suggested that naturalistic husbandry might reduce the risk of the shedding of Salmonella. I have not looked at the citations in that section, though.

Physicians don't as a rule know much at all about snakes, but they tend to know a mind-blowing amount about human health. I'm married to one, and sometimes I get to hang out with a room full of them; in both situations, I try to keep the conversation off anything close to health or medicine so I don't make myself look like the most ignorant part of the world's dullest donkey.