Planning for the future

[franks]

Originally Posted by nazanova

I never knew hobbiests were so against methods of housing by breeders. All I want is the best care for my animals and if a big enclosure is what they need, that's what they are going to get. Thank you and thanks everyone for helping me see sense

They are not against those methods. Very very few keepers house their snakes in an enclosure that let's them fully stretch out. It is impractical for most. Snakes are hardy animals and are kept, grown, and bred in smaller enclosures. I am not saying that a snake cannot be kept healthy in these setups but I do personally feel that it is unnatural and I do genuinely wonder how healthy it is. I know many breeders that keep 8' carpet pythons in 4x2x2 enclosures that are healthy animals and over ten years old. But... I know many many more breeders and hobbiests alike that all have snakes between the ages of 1-6 yrs old. We keep snakes in shoe boxes and feed them large meals once a week- I do not feel that is great. I think our aim should be to replicate their environment in a way that improves their safety (there are no predators obviously) but allows them to act out their life and do snake things. Just my personal feelings: bottom line is I support the notion of one or two snakes kept in nice large natural enclosures over the concept of keeping a dozen in little plastic boxes. The problem is... as you will certainly find out... snakes are addicting man lol.

[Mikoh4792]

Originally Posted by franks

They are not against those methods. Very very few keepers house their snakes in an enclosure that let's them fully stretch out. It is impractical for most. Snakes are hardy animals and are kept, grown, and bred in smaller enclosures. I am not saying that a snake cannot be kept healthy in these setups but I do personally feel that it is unnatural and I do genuinely wonder how healthy it is. I know many breeders that keep 8' carpet pythons in 4x2x2 enclosures that are healthy animals and over ten years old. But... I know many many more breeders and hobbiests alike that all have snakes between the ages of 1-6 yrs old. We keep snakes in shoe boxes and feed them large meals once a week- I do not feel that is great. I think our aim should be to replicate their environment in a way that improves their safety (there are no predators obviously) but allows them to act out their life and do snake things. Just my personal feelings: bottom line is I support the notion of one or two snakes kept in nice large natural enclosures over the concept of keeping a dozen in little plastic boxes. The problem is... as you will certainly find out... snakes are addicting man lol.

100% agree

The problem is... as you will certainly find out... snakes are addicting man lol

Therein lies the problem! lol

[nazanova]

Originally Posted by franks

They are not against those methods. Very very few keepers house their snakes in an enclosure that let's them fully stretch out. It is impractical for most. Snakes are hardy animals and are kept, grown, and bred in smaller enclosures. I am not saying that a snake cannot be kept healthy in these setups but I do personally feel that it is unnatural and I do genuinely wonder how healthy it is. I know many breeders that keep 8' carpet pythons in 4x2x2 enclosures that are healthy animals and over ten years old. But... I know many many more breeders and hobbiests alike that all have snakes between the ages of 1-6 yrs old. We keep snakes in shoe boxes and feed them large meals once a week- I do not feel that is great. I think our aim should be to replicate their environment in a way that improves their safety (there are no predators obviously) but allows them to act out their life and do snake things. Just my personal feelings: bottom line is I support the notion of one or two snakes kept in nice large natural enclosures over the concept of keeping a dozen in little plastic boxes. The problem is... as you will certainly find out... snakes are addicting man lol.

Oh ok I understand now. The more you guys talk about it the more I'm fully against RUB boxes and such things and more for nice big enclosures with lots of room for movement (and lots of cover of course) and regarding the snake addiction comment.... Don't I know it! I'm already planning my next venture for the near future lol. I'm only really expecting to have 4 snakes of my life time so if that remains the case I will have 4 nice, well kept enclosures but if I decide I want more after those 4 (from what everyone's saying I most definitely will) then for space, money and maintenance reasons I'd have to get into the realms of rack systems. But anyways that's all in the distant future and thank you for your advice