Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey All.

After working at the Bronx Zoo this past summer and volunteering at the local wildlife rehab center, I've been thinking - how does one do enrichment for snakes? I've read up a little on the topic, but haven't dug deep into the matter.

Does anyone here switch up their tank design? Provide scents for their snakes? Mix things up? Suggestions, comments are welcome

I have a few things that I do. Both because I kind of get a kick out of doing them and because I think it could possibly provide a little enrichment and/or exercise.

1. About once a month when I do a fairly thorough cage cleaning, I'll take all of my 3' snakes into the backyard (1 at a time) and let them crawl around for a while. I also have a small plastic childs pool that i'll let them swim in for a while. It's neat watching them cruise around and either seek shade or sun to bask in. I've found that my Dumerils Boas and Corns seem to like chilling in the pool, the Argentine boas and kings like to crawl into the sun and really stretch out, and the milks basically hate the water and head towards shade right away. My wife or I will stay within 6' of the snake at all times and I have a nice privacy fence that keeps neighbors from freaking out.

2. From time to time i'll pull a snake out for some lengthy handling time. It'll get passed around the family and cruise around the living room taking in lots of smells and doing some exploring.

3. I've also experimented with putting the boas over my shoulders (still small enough to be totally safe) and just leaving them there for a while as i do various things around the house. my thinking behind this is that they will become comfortable with basically any situation and will be less liking to get defensive or scared if something strange happens when a child or friend is holding them.

all of that could be a total waste of time, but i enjoy doing it and it doesnt seem to hurt the animal in any way, so i'll probably keep doing it.