Ball pythons have got themselves this reputation as being “pet rocks” in the hobby partly because of the persistent myths that they only live in termite burrows which they never leave in the wild. However, they are quite active at certain times of the year (breeding season) and males in particular are documented climbers, feeding off avian prey and even having very different parasite burdens in the wild compared to females because of this. Of course, ball pythons are also nocturnal. So even given the opportunity to make use of space and climbing things in captivity they often won’t be doing it at when the keeper is watching them. Reinforcing this idea that they “don’t do anything”.
Rack systems like the one in the picture are popular because they save money, time and space for the keeper when compared to setting them all up in fully furnished vivariums or large tubs. Giving them more space would address the concerns with them sitting in ammonia… If an animal does not have the ability to move away from its own waste that should be alarm bells that the enclosure is definatly not big enough (Though I know snakes love to sit ontop of it for no reason sometimes but at least they should have the option to be sensible).
But the issue is not JUST space because ball pythons are such a shy secretive species giving them more space also means they need proportionally more hides and visual barriers ect to feel secure… just scaling this tub up and saying “ta da- now you have more space” won’t work. So if you have a larger number of snakes…. That just starts to add up to a LOT of cleaning, a lot of space required and a large expense.
The ball python industry wants to hold on to the outdated opinion that ball pythons “are scared of space, never move, and thrive in tiny barren tubs - Just add water!” because it’s how they turn profits… They also promote it to new people getting in to the hobby because otherwise that would be admitting they are not doing the best they can… This is also why its not something thats disscussed rationally in facebook groups either. It angers/upsets people that are in too deep to change their ways without going to huge extra costs or dramatically reducing the numbers of animals they have to make room for fewer better enclosures… So they would rather deny any is wrong to avoid that .. The argument also gets wrapped up with irrelavent details or oversimplified to “tanks vs tubs”… or “vivs vs tubs”.. or “naturalistic looking vs non naturalistic looking”…
At the end of the day this is an issue about good husbandy, good enclosure design and good animal welfare..which is not always cheap, nor is it always good for “productivity”. The truth of it is that there is NO scientific studies confirming that small barren tubs allow snakes to thrive and PLENTY of evidence that environmental enrichment is beneficial for their welfare. Restricting stimuli captive animals are exposed to is not good for their physical and psychological well-being and can negativly impact behavioural expression,neural development, learning ability, activity levels and even lead to chornic stress, immunosuppression and thus increased disease susceptibility.
Ball pythons are victims of their own hardiness and adaptability…they may not show stress or appear to suffer when kept like this as much as a more active colubrid might…. But that still doesn’t make it an acceptable standard. They still eat, shed, poop and breed, which is all well and good, but not necessarily an indicator of good welfare.
It also sets a worrying trend for how the hobby itself measures and assesses reptile welfare and quality of life…. Already the model of “ if it eats, poops, sheds and breeds then its thriving” has spread and is applied to keeping other more active species… I’ve seen arboreal asian colubrids in the same 6″ high tubs with no climbing stuff, even etbs, gtps, atbs, kept in similar barren set ups…..retics and other large constrictors in boxes they can not even stretch out half their length in ect ect…unless they drop dead or rub their faces off in stress the individual animal or even the whole species, will get the stamp of approval for “doing fine in a tub!”.
This is not how animal welfare scientistis assess welfare. And as @wheremyscalesslither mentioned when our hobby is under attack from animal rights groups we have GOT to do better… and promote husbandry based on science.
TL: DR, You said you made the effort to provide some enrichment yourself. Rest assured it is not just for you, and will absolutley benefit your animals! If you are interested to read more about it I also have an article on it here
