Quote Originally Posted by Malum Argenteum View Post
I'm glad your snake appears to be doing well.

With respect, 3 months is not nearly long enough to make a judgment about any care program, nor is a sample size of one. Nor is it possible to know whether a care program is better than some other one, and in what ways it is better, without having experience with both. I also understand that house snakes are generally very tolerant of less than ideal conditions, so they aren't the best species to use for making a judgment about care protocols in any event.

Unfortunately, there's a strong tendency for supporters of novel methodologies in all areas of life to have a confirmation bias -- that is, to take apparent successes as proof and to dismiss counterexamples (this is why the downsides of all sorts of practices sometimes take an unreasonably long time to become apparent). That's why there's a lot more than examples of success to appeal to in figuring out how to care for a given species.

Sometimes a husbandry methodology works in spite of its features, rather than because of them (common in the more durable species, since they don't give signs of less than ideal conditions), and there are a lot of examples of this among different herp species: ball pythons being fed live, or kept in glass enclosures; the current uptick in multispecies cohabitation among other taxa (or at least uptick in visibility of it); causal and poorly monitored use of UVB for species that don't require it. Some of these are associated with a common understanding of their disadvantages, and some are not (yet).

I breed and sell a couple hundred herps a year, and not only do I get some later feedback (some good, some not) from people who buy my animals online, but I also speak to people who have nothing to lose by being honest about their experiences when they visit my expo table without the intent to buy anything (which is virtually every visitor). I also help moderate a longstanding herp forum where we get lots of people rolling in with 'my animals are dying, what's wrong?'. I get to hear some of what works and what doesn't, so my comments don't come from a place of closed mindedness (except that I'm closed minded to anything that has more risks than benefits, since that seems to be one thing that gets animals killed -- the other big one is cutting corners on necessary equipment and enclosure features). And as I pointed out above, I keep a number of animals "bioactive" (14 enclosures, currently). So I'd consider myself to have a pretty open mind, and that comes from at least a basic understanding of different care methods. I sort of thought that my extensive post above (#2) made that apparent, and I'm a bit disappointed that it did not.

I guess I'd caution not to necessarily consider contrary recommendations to be coming from a lack of open mindedness simply because of one very short term experience. Again, what matters is that your snake is doing well, and for that I'm happy.
I was never trying to claim that my care method was superior than any you tried to peddle to me. I was just stating with someone dedicated enough and willing to put in the work and do research beforehand that a more complex method of caretaking can be just as viable as the more beginner/ standard methods. I've never been the kind of person too just get or no things on a whim. I planned this whole set up and process out over the course of 7 months from collecting babies off the plants I wished to add. To researching the area those plants originated from to see if the humidity and light levels would easily coincide with the snake species I was looking for. To growing those plants for 3 months myself and getting new cuttings to make sure there would be no possibility of any outside pesticides or bacteria to be introduced into the enclosure. To purchasing starter colonies of powder blue and dairy cow isopods as well as springtails to start cultivating to have an extra supply to reintroduce if for whatever reason they didn't take off in the vivarium. To pre planting and introducing the clean up crew a full 2 months in advance to every everything time to take root and colonies to get a strong start. I was pain staking in every detail and aspect of this process which of course you couldn't have know but no one sold me starter kit and said here you go throw something in this. Your original comments just really came across as no that's all wrong you need to do it this way otherwise this animal is going to suffer and like you said it's only been 3 months. However I've noticed nothing but positive behaviors from him since he got over his shipping RI after the first month. He eats like clockwork once a week as they're colubrids so small meals more often. After every 3 meals he sheds never with any problem granted I'll give you it was a challenge to keep the tank at around the 80 to 90 percent humidity his species requires. And as he is a nocturnal species I sadly don't get to see him much but they're are tracks from him all throughout the tank and I make sure to move his frozen thawed to different spots after leaving scent trails throughout so he doesn't get bored and can keep his mind stimulated. Granted what you said is true this species is more on the hardy side but why would you not pick something easier and harder as your first time trying something new. I'm not saying you should get an emerald tree boa as your first snake and set up a bioactive for it and it'll be easy. My whole point about all this is I can respect you've been doing this a long time and that experience means a lot but I think you can try and illustrate your points and your knowledge in a way that doesn't shut down the ideas of people trying to get into this hobby and keeping these wonderful creatures.