Are rack systems...cruel?

[771subliminal]

Well, here's my :

Yes, ball pythons are most often found in small, dark, tight spaces such as burrows or termite mounds and because of this it is necessary to provide them with similar spaces in captivity to make them happy and secure.
However, this does not mean that the tight space need be their whole world. I personally do not agree that adult BPs should be kept in short tubs with just a water dish. Although I understand that people with many snakes must conserve space, and that tight spaces must be provided, there should also be room for them to move from place to place...opportunities for them to stretch out and explore even though they rarely use them.

I also give any animal I own as much space as I can keep clean and afford. If they are a shy, solitary animal, such as my BPs, then I make sure there are plenty of dark hidey holes and greenery to help them be comfortable, but I still offer them the space be it in a tank, tub, or large display cage.

To summarize: rack systems are not necessarily 'cruel', especially for a snake like the ball python, but they could be a bit bigger.

I must say that I agree. Yes we may find bp's in burrows in the wild but this does not mean that this is where they spend most of their time, just where we find them most. When it comes to nature we have lots to learn, we have labeled animals extinct just to find them again sometime later, there are creatures that we have no idea even exist, animals we know exist and know nothing about, and animals we think we know everything about and end up knowing nothing about, there are even things that we call myths or urban legends that may or may not really exist (giant squid has been proven, big foot and the lock ness monster are still under debate) we have even claimed to know an animal inside and out just to be proven wrong later. No one can guarantee me that we know all there is to know about bp’s. Even if they did we could still find ourselves wrong later.

I provide my female bp with a tank that’s 48x18x19 (the male is still a baby and will get his 70 gal next yr for Christmas shhh don’t tell him) with plenty of space to roam and hide so if she were to just do what I’ve been told that they like to do then I just have 4ft of wasted tank, but I guess I luck out that mine loves to roam.

I guess all I’m really trying to say is we really don’t know how ever bp would live in the wild so why not give them the choice to live how they choose


Science is no exact science