Culture differences

[Andoneus]

I'm not saying what is right and what's wrong but I'm just wondeing how keeping snakes is so different in different countries. For example, in USA, it's almost a crime to house more than one snake together. But for example here in Finland it's often even a self-evidence that housing snakes together is ok as long as they are same-sized and same species. Well, of course it depends on the species (maybe not e.g kingsnakes) but with the most common snakes like corn snakes, bp's, it's ok.

Yes I know, people keep talking about this single famous picture, but what about the many of the pictures I've seen like this one?

Yes, so there's also an other example. I've realized that many people, well let's say again, in USA, are feeding live rodents? Here in Finland it's like a very big no-no and is allowed only when the snake is starving but not eating pre-killed and going to die. (It's by the way illegal, too), so we're mostly serving frozen (well melted, duh ) rodents.

And oh yeah, the third one! It's also funny how most of you and people all over abroad are housing snakes in small ugly plastic boxes piled one on the other, you can't even see through them! Here it's pretty rare and personally I wouldn't house my snakes in them (expect temporarily) because I like to watch them living in big, nice looking enviroments.

Cheers,

Anthon

[Montessa Python]

Here in the US, we have central heating and air, which along with the diversity of climates, can make it harder to maintain humidity for ball pythons.
And as long as the snake is not stressed due to too large of a space or lack of hides, and other factors, we should not anthropromorphize our snakes by thinking they will be happier in a tank vs a tub. They really don't care, they don't have the mental capability to care.
And some tubs can be fairly see through.
As this 72qt tub is being used by my large female:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...s/DSCF0753.jpg
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...s/DSCF0752.jpg
I will be moving her to a 40 gallon tank but she is quite content in her tub.
In Finland the number of people who breed their snakes may be smaller too. And if you went to a larger breeder I am sure you would see them using a rack system as well.
Keeping pet snakes, if you only have a few in tubs... is a little odd. But some do it for the economical reason of using heat tape instead of UTH's, one thermostat, and the overal health of their pets.
Just a thought

[rabernet]

It's not about what's pretty for the keeper, but what provides the best security for the animal. If I want to see my ball pythons, I take them out of their tubs and interact with them. When I don't, I put them back in their tubs, which provide security and low stress levels.

They're eating every week (no fasts), growing and breeding - all signs of pretty darn happy ball pythons.

[dsirkle]

Well a rack system makes it a lot easier to keep many snakes in a small area and easy to clean manner. It's really very efficient while admittedly not aesthetically pleasing. It is certainly possible to house snakes together but would be more trouble to separate them to feed them and as many have pointed out if one of them gets sick they all may. If you see problematic feces which one did it come from? And I feed F/t rats myself because it is less expensive for me and easier to store them as I choose not to breed rodents. I think that countries that forbid live feeding are probably concerned about escaped rodents breeding and becoming a problem, not the feeding of live rodents. There is really no one way of doing things that is right.

[Jyson]

Its obvious that there are alot of different ideas on how one should house, and care for their snakes. Most of the time our methods contradict others. In my opinion, I go with the setup and care that my snakes prefer most. When I start out with my first bp, I started with a 30 gallon tank, heat lamp, half log and that ugly green carpeting that I forgot what the name of it was. The day after I got my first snake I became curious about her origins as a bp. SO I went online to do research and found a great deal of things I didnt know. However due to my lack of money at the time I could just go out right then and there to get the proper(I guess you can say US recommended setup) but anyways I quickly found that my snake did like her enclosure very much at all, she shedded in pieces, rarely ate, and always hissed when I went to pick her up. SO I changed my setup to a plastic tub of proper size for a baby bp, UTH with a thermostat, and two hide boxes and all the other "US" requirements. Shortly after I noticed her behavior changed, she became more friendly, she started to eat weekly and consistently, and she started shedding in one piece. 13 snakes later I have came to the conclusion that this setup works for MY snakes, and in which works for me. People can say all they want about how this enclosure is better than the other. Me, I am going to let the snakes decide.

[Andoneus]

Yep, as I said, I really don't doubt any of your methods I was just thinkin. And it's true that here is actually.. well.. just one breeder right now

And yes, I keep juvenile snakes in plastic tubs too, they often tend to have stress when living in a big terrarium.

And about that illegaly of live-feeding, it's not because they may escape (here is -25 c in winter, they would die ), it's because it's wrong for the rodent.

[Jyson]

I can agree with the making it illegal to feed live. At times it can be dangerous even for the snake (risk of injury).

[rabernet]

And about that illegaly of live-feeding, it's not because they may escape (here is -25 c in winter, they would die ), it's because it's wrong for the rodent.

How is it wrong for the rodent? Isn't that what their function is in nature? To be eaten by a snake?

[Andoneus]

In nature, the rodent has a chance to escape. In captivity, it's forced to be in a closed box with the snake, having no change to survive. (Expect if the snake is not hungry, but that's not an argument. )

Here it is illegal to feed anything alive with spine to a pet. EVEN FISHES ! O_O

[m00kfu]

In nature, the rodent has a chance to escape. In captivity, it's forced to be in closed box with the snake, having no change to survive. (Expect if the snake is not hungry, but that's not an argument. )

I've never really understood the argument of the rodent not having a chance to escape the snake. Does it have a chance of escaping when the rodent breeder gases it? Seems contradictory to me. (Not an attack against you, just thinking out loud.)