I do not know if this applies here, but here is where it goes. This thought that snakes are different in captivity is completely false. You do not and cannot change an animal by putting it in a box. PERIOD. You can support it in ways that forces it to behave differently, function differently, etc, but if that's taken to far, they perish, as they would in nature.
What it takes for them to succeed(grow, recruit) is exactly the same. The thing is, they have a range, or potential. Their potential ranges from zero(death) to extreme success. And everywhere inbetween.
Nature taxes them. If they succeed well, nature tags them with all manner of life forms to support, to share that energy. Parasites are one example, and predators that consume these snakes are another. Their task is to consume energy, then get consumed and to keep that circle going. nature is extremes, too hot, too cold, no water, no food, lots of both etc. The snakes adaption is to take their slice of success out of those extremes.
In captivity there are no taxes. We should be able to support them to their full potential. My question is, do we?
We normally do not. In nature, they consume parasites with every meal, in captivity, we treat them if one parasite is found. If we don't the snake suffers. In nature, they have an incredible immune system, yet in captivity, they fall sick over any little thing. Any sign of sickness means off to the vet they go. There are no vets in nature. We work our butts off to get them to reproduce, yet in one valley down the road from me, there are millions of gravid females sitting underground as we speak. No bodies feeding them, no water for ten months of the year. All manner of predators and us. And yet, they are doing fine, and have done fine, since before man, muchless you existed.
In nature, they heal from insane damage. In captivity they die from minor wounds. pt 1

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