#ball python enrichment

[kirstielol]

Jasper being cute 💕

#i need to get some big branches for his tank so he has more climbing enrichment 🐍 #reptiblr #ball python #snake #jasper #mysnakes #myreptiles

[is-the-snake-video-cute]

What sort of enrichment do ball pythons enjoy that I can put in their enclosure? I take mine out to explore, but I'd like for him to have something if I can't watch over him for a while (like whenever I go out of town).

It can depend on your individual, but here are some of my go-to enrichment options for ball pythons!

Deep substrate. Some bps really love to burrow! Not every one, but some get a kick out of a nice dig every now and again.

Climbing branches and vertical decorations! Giving your bp more vertical space to climb can really inspire activity and exploration. Not every bp loves to climb, but giving them the option never hurts!

Extra water bowls! A lot of bps like nosing around in their water dishes and blowing bubbles. A few extra bowls to explore is great!

Extra hides! More humid hides especially can inspire your bp to explore, and switching hides can be a major source of enrichment for even the laziest bp.

Sky hides! Hides attached to the roof of the enclosure are so fun for a lot of bps. I have one little girl who has several sky hides because she uses them exclusively. They're pretty easy to make - just make a regular hide out of a plastic food storage container or similar, then turn it upside down and screw it into the roof of your enclosure.

Soft hides. Some bps really tend to like soft textures, so even a washcloth on top of their hide can be great. Some bps adore soft hides made for ferrets or birds. The only note with these is you'll want to wash them very often to avoid the buildup of harmful bacteria.

And if anyone who keeps bps have more enrichment ideas that work for their snakes, I'd love to hear them! :)

#not a rating #ball pythons #snake enrichment

[thevivarium]

Banana baby 💛 Uktena, coral glow piebald het clown

#ball python #royal python #snek #snakeblr #enrichment #banana baby

[slizz-and-grem]

"Ball pythons don't like to climb"

"Ball pythons don't like UV"

"Ball pythons don't like basking/heat lamps"

Well bitch, this snake begs to fucking differ

#i honestly feed bad cos my tanks are quite minimal and there could be a lot more enrichment if i had the time money brainspace and energy #but its a million miles ahead of SOME people #snake #reptile #ball python #they haven't had consistent UV in a long time cos they keep breaking into the covers i made and i was worried about burns #but now arcadia does specific UV light guards so i bought them and finally got the chance to set them up #and he spends soooo much time climbing when hes in an active mood

[starsreverie]

Guess who has a pegboard now!

#Biscotti #he loves it already 🥺 #i've always wanted one in the snek room #bamboo ball python #ball python #python regius #snake #snakeblr #reptile #reptiblr #enrichment #snake enrichment

[just-jordie-things]

Choso headcanons :)

okokok here's some random stuff i came up with.

choso would try very hard to learn how to do your hair for you. he usually has his hair up in buns, right? so he'll happily do that for you. but also will take the time to learn how to braid, or use tools like a curler/straightener to style it the way you like. even on days you don't necessarily style it, he also loves to just brush it for you. i think he'd find the action sweet and intimate.

always lets you try to food he makes (when eating in) or orders (when eating out) and would never get annoyed if you eat more of his food than your own. in fact i think he'd find it adorable <3

100,000,000% will get a matching tattoo with you. big or small, meaningful or silly/cute. if you suggest it he's booking an appt with his regular artist right away.

also he has a favorite tattoo artist that has done most of his sleeves and some others on his back and legs. choso loves tattoos. what he likes most about his are that you like to mindlessly trace them from time to time when you're lounging around together.

doting partner. never slacks off on the chores. never makes you feel like you're doing most of the work. often surprises you with a perfectly clean house and dinner cooking on the stove when he's home before you and has time to spare.

and speaking of doting. he's there for anything you need company for. a nail appt? he's chatting with your technician and playing pokemon go. grocery shopping? without fail, what a great excuse for walking around and holding your hand. gotta run to the pharmacy? he's happy to drive you and wait with you. no matter what you're doing, he's grateful to spend time with you.

he's more perceptive than most people give him credit for. but he can read your expression in a second. even if you're quick to go blank, he'll catch that frown or wince or shock before you've even realized you'd made that face out loud. if it's stress, he's holding your hand or wrapping an arm around your waist. if you're reacting to something that just happened but are trying to be subtle about it, he'll smirk and follow your line of sight to see what had caught your attention. wordlessly, the two of you will practically gossip between yourselves.

ok last one on my mind. choso is a reptile person. he would definitely have a beardie or maybe a leopard gecko or a ball python or something. and he'd love that little thing. coos and baby talks it when it eats well or is just sittin in it's enclosure basking. if you're not a reptile person he'd be understanding and keep the enclosure somewhere that you won't see often and get creeped out. but if you are a reptile person he would be ecstatic to see you spend some enrichment time with the little creature. (i'm totally not projecting myself here hehehe)

#jordie says stuff #choso x reader #choso kamo x reader #choso headcanons #kamo choso x reader #choso brainrot #kamo choso headcanons #choso kamo headcanons #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jjk headcanons #jujutsu kaisen headcanons #jjk x reader headcanons #jujutsu kaisen x reader headcanons

[hotvampireadjacent]

Thinking about “I wish I was x animal and not a person Who has bills to pay” being a pet ball python gotta be some of the easiest existence if you take good care of them. He mostly just hides during the day. Once and a while explores. Mostly in a small box he likes hiding in. Every few weeks toss him a rat.

Anyway milky way has been well love him. The beast tolerates Being touched and I take him out for enrichment/ make sure he’s still healthy but I think he’d be just as happy if I let him hide forever.

#Milky Way posting

[sunfish-exotics]

So I haven't talked about this on tumblr yet. and I was KIND of mad about it lol but Benji the new bp has mites. These pics are from the "discovery" and a pic of him in his treatment deli cup- you can actually see a mite on him in the first pic. It's a pretty mild amount considering, and he's tolerating treatment very well. It's not a huge deal for ball pythons however if my more sensitive snakes were to get them it would be a larger problem. Thankfully he hasn't left the QT room besides getting a few pics on the deck. I haven't seen any live ones in about a week so hopefully we're starting to get over them.

In better news he's taken two f/t meals with me, he was on live at his last home and I'm sure he was on live with the breeder too. Personal opinion/ lukewarm take but I think a lot of bp breeders just do what's most convenient and requires the least amount of effort. It should not be the norm that ANY species of snake are sold not solidly on f/t feeders if they're not fresh wild caught individuals. He was super easy to feed too. A little wiggle and tease and he struck within a minute. Easy enough.

Gonna wait until he's clear of mites (I'll give it at least 2-3 months before calling it) before testing for nido so poor Benji is gonna be living in QT for quite a while ):

I am very excited to start planning his final cage though, probably a little over eager on my part tbh but cage planning is one of my favorite parts of reptile keeping. I'm slowly transitioning him to caging with more enrichment. I want him comfortable and on f/t, clear of mites and tested neg for nido before swapping him to overhead heat. I definitely think if you take a snake like a bp that was fed live and likely has never been out of a tub with heat tape and immediately throw them into a fully fledged "top of the line" type environment you might flood them and have issues with feeding and them shutting down. At the moment im planning on a 48x25x30" cage for him but if I think he's gonna go over 4' I'll move him to a 6 footer. No pet rocks in this household.

Anyway. Lots of rambling.

TLDR Benji has mites but is doing better, eating f/t and in general being a little cutie

#reptiblr #ball python #Benji #snake feeding mention

[corvins-colubrids]

Just put a deposit down on this gorgeous boy. I am obsessed with his gorgeous pattern. He's a Pastel Enchi Clown Ball Python. I wasn't even looking to add a new ball python to my collection yet, but I was browsing other local breeders, and saw this gorgeous guy from a local breeder, and omg, I couldn't resist. A cool-looking yellow and black snake has been on my wishlist for awhile (very generic; I love BPs, but don't breed or get into specific morphs, I just look for what I love.)

Currently I have a Banana Pied baby who I just love, and in the past I've had a few different rescues who were a mixed bag. I now prefer to get well-started babies and socialize them myself, after some nightmare rescue scenarios. I think my first snake ever was a bp, but it was so long ago, I can't really remember.

This guy will be named Herky, after the University of Iowa mascot, since their colors are also black and gold (clearly a theme for me, if you've seen my corn snake project).

Part of what I love about reptiles as pets is that they vastly prefer to stay at home in their enclosures, as opposed to dogs who need to go outside and love adventures and outside enrichment. I love my dog so much, and I've always been a "dog person" but the more my chronic illnesses and disability impact my life, the more homebound I become, and the more I want things in my home to be enriching for me. I could spend all day with my reptiles and be perfectly happy.

A big project I have for the summer (when I'm on break from my day job of teaching) is redoing my reptile room to make it more functional for me the human caretaker, more functional, and more comfortable.

This dude will be a great edition, and I'm looking forward to meeting the breeder and seeing his setup when I pick him up in the next few weeks.

#ball python #royal python #snakes #pet snake

[is-the-owl-video-cute]

Are things like ball pythons, bearded dragons and hamsters or rats ethical pets or? Genuine question here. Unlike dino nerd I can handle the truth :)

ball pythons: with the right enclosure

bearded dragon: with the right enclosure, diet, and proper handling

hamsters: with the proper enclosure (hard mode) and chews

rats: yeah, give them things to chew though.

You can keep any of these ethically if you know what you’re doing and put forth even a decent effort into caring for them. I see a lot of ball pythons live their entire lives in breeding tubs, I see a lot of calcium deficient bearded dragons eating cat food and getting dragged around to random places constantly, I see a lot of hamsters with no tunnel space and nothing to gnaw but the bars, rats are domesticated and do well as long as you house and enrich them properly. They like to climb and chew things.

[bufomancer]

Also tired of rack keepers saying that rack breeding is necessary to produce enough animals to meet the demand.

If everyone kept their reptiles in large, enriching enclosures rather than using racks, the demand would go down significantly because a) less people would be getting into breeding as a get rich quick scheme b) people would not be able to house as many animals in the same amount of space.

There is already a huge issue with the most common pet reptiles (ball pythons, corn snakes, bearded dragons, crested geckos, and leopard geckos) being overproduced- Reptile shelters and rescues are overrun with them. Hundreds and thousands are born each year only to be bounced from one rack system to another.

Of course there are also lots of species with only a handful of breeders where there is greater demand than there is supply, but... These are live animals, not decorations. It’s okay if there’s more demand than supply because that encourages breeders to be choosier with who they rehome to. In an ideal world, this “shortage” would encourage prospective buyers to have the biggest, nicest enclosures possible in order to be chosen rather than the animals going to whoever is willing to pay the most. If the most popular species aren’t dominating the hobby as much, this will provide potentially provide more space for people to learn about and get into the less common but just as awesome species, too.

Anyways, this is a very complex topic but ultimately... We do not need rack breeders. It’s okay if supply goes down as standards improve, because then people will be keeping fewer animals in the same amount of space, so demand will go down as well. It is much preferable to have less animals for sale each year all going to well vetted, high quality homes rather than a surplus being sold to whoever will pay.

[is-the-snake-video-cute]

Can you give me some ideas for enrichment for ball pythons? I bought a new 4/2/2 pvc enclosure and need ideas to make it look nice and still be safe and functional

Totally! You'll hear a lot of proponents of rack keeping saying that ball pythons won't take advantage of enrichment, but every single one uses every inch of space I give them. Providing enrichment encourages activity!

Here are my favorite ideas for ball python enrichment! Readers who have ball pythons, please do share what your snake loves!

Lots of climbing branches! Most every ball python will climb if you give them the space and opportunity to do so. You have the additional benefit here of branches making your enclosure look nice. Try to pick sturdy branches that can support your snake's weight.

Sky hides. These are more simple to make than they sound. If you DIY your own hides, it's the same process - find a plastic container big enough for your snake to fit in, and melt a hole for the door with a soldering iron. Then you can drill the hide to the roof of the enclosure (melting small holes for the screws is a good idea so the plastic won't crack).

A deeper water dish, in case your snake wants to soak!

Deep substrate, especially on the cool side - some bps enjoy an occasional burrow.

Shelves for basking and hanging out! A small sheet of PVC on a shelf screw is plenty secure. Putting one underneath the heat source (not too close, in case your snake falls asleep there) and one up near the top on the cool side are my go-to shelf placements.

Hanging vines. Vines secured across the enclosure can be super fun enrichment for bps! They seem to love checking them out and trying to climb them.

Soft hides. Fabric hides made for birds and small mammals are super entertaining for bps - a lot seem to enjoy soft textures! My bp Miriam loves soft hides so much she has a bunch of hanging soft sky hides and she adores them. As with all fabric in snake enclosures, do be sure to change them out often and wash them frequently.

All the best, and congrats on the enclosure upgrade! :)

#not a rating #snake enrichment #ball pythons

[fellowshipofthenoodles]

How do you gauge when to go up feeder size? I have looked at diffrent things and I just wanted you opinion if you don't mind.

My baby banaba ball (Buttons) is 120g and I currently do one small mouse once a week. She has not missed a meal since I brought her home. She is very active about 4-5 days post feed, like she is already hungry again maybe? (Its hard to tell becauseshe is an active girl in general.) I looked at the medium mice and they just look so big for her so I'm not sure about bumping her up yet, was thinking maybe offer two small mice? I had snakes growning up and all my life, but by the time I was responsible for feeding, they were already taking full adult mice, so just a little unsure.

Here is the little nana 🥰

Buttons is absolutely PRECIOUS and I love her so much!!

Since she's 120g then she can eat 13-19g feeders until she's over 200g. Large rat pups, small asf/multimammates or small-medium mice are all acceptable!

While colubrid snakes can eat multiple prey items with little chance for complications it's much less recommended for ball pythons so you have to be very careful feeding more than one feeder at a time. If you do opt for multiple feeders then a ball python should have a 15-20 minute wait before the second one is offered.

In general feeding one suitable sized feeder is the best option for any snake, BUT it can be a form of enrichment to offer multiple because in the wild most snakes will raid nests so will sometimes have multiple smaller meals but we tend to do that more for our colubrids since it can be less risky for their digestive system 😊

[heedra]

alright, i am not as knowledgeable as you, if you've the time mx. lydia, could you tell us everything wrong in the "damn bitch you love animals like this meme" ? :)

OP of that post probably has the best info on their reasons behind what they included but here's what I know about each issue.

-Wild animals kept as pets (fennec foxes and servals in picture): Exotic wild animals of this kind can be 'tamed' but are not truly domesticated. It is extremely difficult to keep them happy and enriched in captivity and it's pretty much definitionally impossible to do while treating them as household pets- its a having your cake and eating it too situation. Many people on social media keep exotic mammals as housepets under the guise of 'wild animal rescue', when those two sorts of animal husbandry are incompatible.

-Snake racks (those shelves in the back): Many snake breeders keep their snakes in 'racks', which are basically flat shelves with not a lot of vertical space, under the assumption that, as reptiles, they don't actually need a lot of habitat complexity to be comfortable. Such a space really limits the snakes' ability to move around and satisfy their natural behaviors; they may meet the bare minimum needed to keep an animal alive and healthy, but are by no means a sufficient habitat for a properly enriched animal.

-Spider morph python: There are some color morphs in the reptile breeding community that come with a huge amount of health issues for the animal; the 'spider morph' in ball pythons is closely linked to a neurological condition known as 'wobble' syndrome, which severely impacts the snakes ability to hold their heads and bodies steady when moving, eating, or drinking, something that can have fatal consequences and is just generally miserable for the animal to live through. These morphs are still bred for, regardless, because of the appeal of the markings to many collectors.

-Taxidermied bats: Due to their nocturnal behavior and how fragile their bodies are, it is EXCEEDINGLY hard to find an intact dead bat in nature by happenstance. Like, find a needle in a haystack rare. As a result, almost all taxidermied bats on the market are purposefully killed and hunted for the sake of taxidermy, not ethically found and preserved. The market is pretty unregulated right now, and it's wreaking havoc on bat populations in certain regions; New Zealand in particular.

-Feathers, nautilus shell, coral: Similar story to the bats. The wings and feathers in this image are from birds protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty act; it is illegal to harvest these feathers in the wild (in the U.S., at least), and finding sources where you can guarantee they've been legally and ethically harvested is difficult. The demand for nautilus shell and coral for decor and collections has contributed meaningfully to the decline of wild populations.

#long post #ask #basically all the things in those memes boil down to the consumption of animals as a commodity in the name of a love of animals #in a way that prioritizes the mystique of owning these 'commodities' over a genuine nuanced concern for animal welfare

[thevivarium]

Weekly Update ~ 3 July 2023

In case you missed our recent barrage of pictures, our nursery is full of hatchling hognose snakes and ball pythons!

We're working on getting the hognose hatchlings started on our "home-grown" frozen/thawed pinky mice and have seen success so far! The ball python hatchlings will be offered their first meals after they get around to shedding. Once they're eating consistently, the hatchlings will be posted onto MorphMarket, so stay tuned!

Our next and likely last clutch of snakes of the 2022-2023 season is due to hatch mid-August (black head leopard lesser pinstripe het hypo+ x pastel GHI calico). We plan to publish the 2023-2024 season breeding plan soon!

We've also updated our adoption applications and will require them for future clients interested in adopting our animals. We hope these will ensure our animals go to the most informed homes possible. These can be filled out whether you'd like an animal from us now or in the future!

Lastly, the rodents were treated to frozen celery and banana this week as well as segments of paper towel tubes for enrichment. We've started a bin of female holdbacks from our most sociable female rat, a blue agouti named Athena, and our male rat with the best conformation, a dumbo self-black silvermane named Buck. We are also starting temperament-testing on their sons to select our next breeding male for our self-black clans. It's so exciting to see the fruits of our hard work over the past couple years, but we're always working towards improvement.

Thanks for reading!

#hognose snake #snakes #snek #ball python #royal python #happy rats

[orowyrm]

honestly, and i can truly say this with my chest now that i don’t work for the bastards anymore, but more people need to know that buying a hamster or a gecko from petco is synonymous with buying a puppy from a mill breeder. unless they’ve made a major u-turn in the months since i quit after years of refusing to change suppliers (spoiler: they haven’t) their animals are always gonna be sourced from breeders who don’t outcross their animals, breed them too young, send them out as young as legally possible, don’t do health checks or even monitor animals for disease before they’re shipped to the fucking store (we’ve had incredibly young mice show up with cataracts, visible and impairing birth defects, active neurological issues like spiraling or self injury, stuff you should be able to pick out IMMEDIATELY and cull. guinea pigs and hamsters were constantly arriving with ringworm and wet tail. reptiles would come right out the box with mites, stuck shed that led to amputated toes or feet due to lost circulation (in one case a panther chameleon lost an entire leg!!). we had fish that arrived with massive tumors on their face that obscured their mouths and made it impossible to eat, fish lice, ich, fungal infections, kinked spines, malfunctioning or thoroughly nonfunctional swim bladders, missing eyes, pretty much anything that could happen to an animal due to bad breeding showed up at my old location at least once. we kept insisting they stop sending us spider ball pythons because their neurological issues were so bad we had to have every single one euthed because it couldn’t eat or navigate without injuring itself. the result? they stopped individually labeling morphs and sent us ‘assorted fancy’ ball pythons instead. they didn’t remove the spider gene from their breeding stock. we started seeing BPs without visible spider morph traits that were corkscrewing and stargazing. our manager got fed up with taking our animals to the vet constantly and removed a bunch of shit from our planogram, but that didn’t stop them from sending animals we didn’t ask for.

the animals supplied to petco (i can’t speak for other chains, but i’d imagine this is par for the course elsewhere) are badly bred, overpriced, and not cared for properly in the stores BY DESIGN - i got written up multiple times for ‘breaking policy’ because i would give animals extra hides, proper substrates, extra enrichment, just to keep them from cowering in the fucking corner at all times. i was told by our district manager that “you’re treating these animals like they’re pets, and they’re not. they’re merchandise.” i tried to complain about this statement, but nobody gave a shit.

don’t buy animals from chain stores unless you know how to look for sick/injured/badly bred animals and are prepared to deal with the potential vet bills and even having to put the poor thing down. even if you are, like. i guess i can’t stop you? but i’m not sure why you’d do that.

and for the love of all that’s fucking holy, STOP PITY BUYING ANIMALS. stop buying sad, sick looking animals to ‘rescue’ them. i know it’s hard to see them suffer, but putting money in the company’s pocket will only encourage them to continue. these companies are well aware that pity buys are a big market, especially when it comes to small animals like bettas or other fish. if you feel strongly about how an animal is being treated, by all means make a stink about it, complain to corporate, bring it to the employees’ attention (although there won’t be much, if anything, they’ll be capable of doing about it, sadly), hell, post about it online or whatever, but don’t fucking buy the animal to make yourself feel better about “saving” it. if you wanna rescue an animal so badly, visit a shelter or look into rehoming or rehab programs. consider fostering. just…. stop giving these companies your money. they’re overcharging you for the absolute bottom of the barrel, and they’re outright refusing to change because people are still buying what they’re selling no matter what.