Hi all - Thinking of doing an all black enclosure for boa. Black PVC enclosure, black mat, black water tub and hides, etc. then bright green accent plants with a bleached climbing branch. I’ve always done natural habitats but think this would look cool and make the snake pop in contrast. thoughts on affect of snake health as far as it not being a “natural” habitat?
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I don’t think the snake is going to care or notice the difference.
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Thanks - also was made aware still more “natural” than a tub, haha, so gonna see how it looks.
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I don’t think snakes really care if something looks natural or not. I think that’s evidenced pretty clearly by the way reptiles (and other animals) happily repurpose human refuse to suit their needs.
I gave up on a naturalistic setup when I realized my boa was determined to poop on every furnishing I put in her cage, and I can’t afford to replace that stuff every couple weeks. I got some cool 3D printed plastic stuff off Etsy that’s easy to clean.
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I don’t think herps “care” what their enclosure looks like in general. Whether varying colors would be stimulating, I don’t know but I suspect they might.
I do think that many herps tend to prefer natural materials (wood, cork, live plants where appropriate) rather than plastic; given a choice between natural and plastic hides and hardscape, I see various herps seeming to use the natural materials more. Whether a plastic hide is shaped like a rock, for example, I don’t think matters.
Furnishings that help create varied light exposure (dappled; gradual shading; access to a range of light levels rather than just bright or dark) might be more encouraging of exploration vs ‘in the hide or out of the hide’ – and this is easier to do with natural materials since they’re irregular in shape and size.
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