Brown paper bags for hides?

[Bettacreek]

Does anyone use brown paper bags as hides for their ball pythons? My corn snake's favorite hide is the brown paper lunch sack, so I was wondering if the balls would like them as well.

[PythonWallace]

No. What other options does your corn snake have, that it chooses the paper bag?

[Bettacreek]

He had snake hides, a rodent castle and some other stuff put in there, but I've removed everything but the bags now, because he never used the other stuff.

[Argentra]

Either you didn't give Identical hides, they weren't solid with only one opening, or they were in the wrong spots. Only reasons I can think that the snake would choose the bag. Either that, or you feed him in a bag and he relates that.

Ideally you should use two identical plastic or ceramic (i.e. solid, dark, and easy to clean) hides with one entrance. Snakes, even corns, shouldn't have to choose between hides that are different for security vs. warmth.
Bags are not ideal hides unless you can order them by the gross to replace them constantly as they get wet, crushed, and soiled.

Try cleaning out his enclosure completely, making sure your temps and such are good (easy with corns), and redecorate using two same hides and nothing else. He should start using them in time.

[tigerlily]

Actually that doesn't sound like such a bad idea, as long as you dispose of them as you would a plastic cup water dish. It's dark and you can cut it down easily to the size you need, and it's cheap enough to toss if it gets dirty.

I still wouldn't toss hides that I currently use, but for a pinch I think they wouldn't be half bad.

[Bettacreek]

Bags are not ideal hides unless you can order them by the gross to replace them constantly as they get wet, crushed, and soiled.

Surprisingly, he doesn't mess in his bags, and even if it closes up, he still gets in and curls up. I change them out when I clean his cage, though there aren't any issues with them. Other than this, are there any other reasons not to use the bags? They've been working for awhile now, and it seems silly to make the tank bare and "force" him into using snake hides if he likes the bags and there aren't any issues with using them.



"I still wouldn't toss hides that I currently use, but for a pinch I think they wouldn't be half bad."

The hides we had weren't actually ours. This guy came to us because a friend lived in a dorm that didn't allow snakes. The campus police were called and she had 24 hours to get the snake out or they were going to kill it. We gave back what we didn't use for him, because she is now in a rented house that doesn't have any rules against snakes. The reason we still have the snake is because we had him for longer than she did, and my husband fell in love and we were fortunate enough that she let us keep him.

[Argentra]

Aww. How nice that she let you keep him. I know how attached I am to my corns...

If you are prepared to buy a lot of the bags (SAMs Club is your friend) and change them out regularly, then go for it. I was just saying that it could get costly and tiring after a while...especially as he gets bigger.

[Bettacreek]

Ok, good, I was just worried that maybe there was some type of possible health issues. So far, it's been ok, but, how long did people use pine and cedar bedding for small animals before they found out that it was killing their pets? I'll try them with the balls and see if they like the bags as well, and how well it works. Lol.

[Bettacreek]

So far so good with the balls. I do have to change them out more often than with the corn, because of the higher humidity for them.

[likebull1]

Does anyone use brown paper bags as hides for their ball pythons? My corn snake's favorite hide is the brown paper lunch sack, so I was wondering if the balls would like them as well.

That seems like a great idea cheep and disposible.