Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I removed them after I thought to ask about their safety, but is it safe I wonder to put a piece of driftwood I found in the wild, and an Ivy plant I had in my apartment, inside my ball python's enclosure?

He seemed a little lethargic the last day or so, and I had them in there a week now.

He's three years old, just wondering if there are any must follow guidelines when it comes to this sort of thing.

I attached a picture of the enclosure tajen the day I put the ivy and driftwood in.

The problem with live plants is that your snake will eventually trash em by climbing in or on them. The driftwood should be sterilized to eliminate any little critters that might be hiding in it from invading the enclosure. This can be done a couple different ways. You can soak it in bleach water for 15-20 minutes and let it air dry. Or you can heat it in the oven at 200-250 degrees for about an hour. This should kill anything harmful that might be in the wood. Hope this helps.

Quig

Question...............How do you keep the humidity up in that net enclosure?

I put 2 damp wash cloths in the hide box almost everyday, and I mist the snake lightly every morning and evening. He always has a complete shed. He no longer attempts to "escape" the enclosure like he always did in the glass one at night. He now just moves from one section to another. No, moving to an open air enclosure required some changes in how a to provide humidity, but there is no way I am going back to an aquarium.

Sounds like you are very dedicated. I would also say plants will get trashed, but if you dont care I am sure the BP will love them, and the dirt that goes with it. I dont know about bleach water, or the oven... everyone has their methods... I say boil it for an hour. I have done dart frogs for years and when you find a cool bit of wood, if you dont boil the #$%# out of it, about 2 to 6 months later you will have all kinds of new little critters to deal with.

I have seen some really neat worms that I dont care to ever see again, and would not want with my bp. They can come from plants too. Sorry for that bad news. But the chances of them being harmful to the BP, I dont know, but I would say its prob ok.

Bem

Really off subject, but blinville, is that your last name or do you live in linville, nc?
Sorry again for the dumb ?