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| PET GAZETTE | REPTILE
decently sized viv with a single animal. I think,
if we are very honest, we can all agree it is far
better in terms of overall welfare and physical
animal health to keep what can be an active
and mobile animal within an enclosure that
allows it to display such a level of behaviour
than it is to restrict its movement, keep it in
the dark and to be fed in a reduced space
that cannot inspire any form of prey location.
Can they be kept and bred in reduced sized
enclosures? Yes, this is proven. Should they?
That is the question that we need to ask
ourselves now.
There is a huge move away from reduced
sized enclosures in the wider hobby with
keepers of great experience and those
being new to the hobby seeing the benefits,
especially with fit, healthy, captive bred
snakes. In fact, one of the most common
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statements that I see, especially in the Royal
Python keeper’s social media groups is: “I
am shocked, I never knew this species would
be so active nor spend so much time in the
branches basking.” It is good to be shocked,
it means that we are all learning something.
For far too many years a mistruth has been
told regarding the Royal Python. That being
it is a nocturnal species that spends all of its
time underground or living in termite mounds,
never to venture out, and that they will not feed
if given space, will suffer terrible respiratory
tract infection if kept in humid environments
and will eventually die off.
All of the above is of course total tosh.
The correct method of keeping a Royal is to
mimic what is found in the country of origin
and to then design an enclosure that allows
it to display a level of activity as seen in the
wild. This is a species that occurs in scrub
and grassland areas, is found basking by
day, is commonly found in bushes and the
lower reaches of trees, does have a system of
burrows in which it finds safety from predators
and the searing heat of the African sun during
the peaks of the day. This is a sun rich, hot and
humid area that becomes extremely humid
at night and in the burrows. These snakes
will forage and hunt and move to defecate
and breed. Males may be more active than
females especially when gravid. They do not
suffer with impaction, nor do they refuse to
feed and nor is respiratory tract infection (RTI)
an issue. RTI is - I believe - linked to raised
humidity in poorly ventilated, reduced sized
enclosures in captivity, especially those made
from plastics. It is good airflow that keeps the
air and water borne bacterial load low. Couple
this with what I believe to be a weakening of
the respiratory tract and the immune system
due to long term exposure to oil-based VOCs
from heated plastics, we have created a
hostile environment and an animal that is
impeded from fighting its own battles. Heat
mats placed under or inside of a tub will
superheat the plastic, the fumes from this
heated plastic (VOCs) rise into the tub and with
the terrible airflow that is common the toxins
remain in the tub to become a long term
addition to the respiratory gases. Infection sets
in which further reduces the animal’s health
in an ongoing cycle. The animal is treated,
and the infection goes, but only until the
bacterial levels increase again and the whole
December 2018