>> i'll probably never know if what i observe in this cage even closely resembles natural, wild behavior. but, hey it's much more interesting than the way i keep the majority of my snakes in sweater boxes, and i just may learn a few things along the way. kevin

Good attitude to have, Kevin. Just like we don't really learn "natural behaviors" of a Green Tree Python by keeping it in a cage -- since too many factors are removed, we can surely attempt to get a better glimpse by reproducing some of the structural aspects of their natural microhabitats -- i.e. by using branches for coiling on instead of a bare floor. Nothing wrong with keeping animals to learn natural phenomena and to ignite a passion for learning biology and natural history.

Even Charles Darwin acknowledged that his hobby of raising pigeons (driving artificial selection via captive breeding) helped him to understand and frame his reigning (and thriving, I might add) theory of descent with modification via the mechanism of natural selection.

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