caging 2 bp's together

[jaybox_reptiles]

Hi all i just bought an adult ball python and i already have a baby ball python they are bolth males but one is way bigger then the other........ now for my ? is it ok if i how the 3 footer with the 1 footer i just would like to no but as of now they are seperated thank you

Jay
Box

[marisa]

Keep them apart.

It's NEVER the best option to house together. And the larger will stress out the smaller and you will have a big problem on your hands.

Marisa

[jaybox_reptiles]

ok kool thx

[Infectrix]

Here's an example that happened to me the other day jaybox..

I put two of my bp's together for not more than 10 minutes just so I could clean one's enclosure.. Ok, so I check on them right and there's doodoo.. But which one's is it..? Because of that, my records were screwed.. But just for that day though 'cause I'm not doing that again..

[Orryll]

I have kept my two yearling ball pythons together for about a year and a half. and they are doing great, they curl up into a ball together and when one leaves it's hide bowl to go exploring the other one follows and when one goes back in the other follows. Course I do not keep records of when they poop or eat.

[operation_sssss]

My first snakes were a pair of bp's and i housed them together this was fine untill they got to about 3 foot a piece then i decided to seperate them, however they seemed to sulk and went off there food (one of them did not eat for 4 months), so i put them back together in a 4.5x1x2. I still house them together now but take the larger out for feeding in a seperate box, i have had mine for five years now but i would not reccomend housing together

[Orryll]

aye. I take mine out to eat one at a time. I feed one first then the other. I don't feed em in the encloser cause they will think it is feeding time everytime u put your hand in the encloser.

[Jeff_Favelle]

*sigh*. Don't house snakes together. Rule #1 of snake-keeping. Always has been, always will be.

[sapphire_moon]

If you house them together then it automaticly meanst 2 vet visits when one is sick. And twice as much money....I agree with Jeff......Don't house them together.

[Orryll]

I never thought of that. When I get enough money I will seperate them. and if I find the room

[Linds]

#1 Don't house snakes together:
-snakes do are for the most poart solitary animals, they do not enjoy eachothers
-they may become stressed out which can lead to behavioural problems such as agression and refusal to feed
-they may fight
-if one gets sick, the other will if it is contagious
-you cannot monitor each animal... if you find a runny poop or regurgitated item in the tank, how will you know who it came from?
-you have to seperate them to feed

#2 If you do choose to house them together despite the risks:
-always house animals of the same size
-never house multiple males together, they must be m/f or f/f
-if you are housing m/f, unless they are both extremely young, females must be of breeding condition, males can and will breed much earlier than females and early breeding may result in injury or death to females that are not ready

[Orryll]

I d feed them separtly and the are around the same size and are male female.

As soon s i can I will separate them.

[annoying_alien]

Keep them apart. Thats all I can say.

[operation_sssss]

tried keeping mine apart it just dont work they go off the feed, dont ask me why ??????

[marisa]

Maybe because they love each other? LOL. Just kidding.

They go off food because they have been placed in a new enviroment. Its that simple. Unless you had them seperated for 3 months or so, then you didn't give them enough time to adjust. Balls can go off food for months. Sometimes just because they are not comfortable or because of the season and temps.

How long were they apart?

Marisa

[operation_sssss]

They were apart for four months, When i seperated them i left one in the original enclosure and the other in a simmilar size viv, but within a week of putting them back in the same enclosure they fed

[BoidKeeper]

Course I do not keep records of when they poop or eat
How do you know which one is defficating and when? I mean unless your watching it occure how so you really know which snake defficated?
Trevor

[Orryll]

Just got back from taking my boa to the vets. He was very informative on housing snakes.

Tanks work just as well as rubbermaid containers. and two of the same snakes if the same size can be housed together. Yes if you record when your snake eat and poop and have a lot of snakes it would be easier to keep separate and in rubbermaids. and that is a rough quote from the vet

[BoidKeeper]

That vet has either never bred snakes or his/her business is slow, or both. Any vet the would say it was a good or acceptable practice to keep two snakes together is lacking in the most basic husbandry knowledge. It's as simple as this. In a school when one student gets a cold over half the school gets a cold because they are all in the same room. So if one snake gets sick they both get sick.
I don't understand why people would want to keep more then one snake in a cage anyway? Why do people do it, what do they get out of it? Or more importantly what do they think the animals get out of it. Snakes are solitary creatures in the wild so why do people think it is ok to force a roomate upon them?
If a person wants more then one snake but can't afford the extra cage for that snake then I think they should not buy the snake. I see it too often, someone who wants another snake but can't afford both the snake and the cage so they buy it beacause they just have to have it and then stick it in with their first snake as a way to save room. Well when they both get sick and die it will be a tuff lesson for them but at least they can't say they weren't warrend.
Trevor

[marisa]

Boidkeeper, nice post and you are SOOOO right.

WHY WHY WHY people insist on doing this I have no idea.

You have two options. Option one is house together with a huge risk of problems, and no benefits for the snake, the SNAKE mind you, not the human. Or option two, housing alon which has ZERO of the same risks, AND benefits the snake.

Gee I wonder what I will choose for my snakes.

There is not ONE reason to house snakes together that benefits the snakes. Not ONE. Period.

People constantly do it because they are cheap. That's the only reason to house together. I have yet to hear another. And I have heard 0 when it comes to why this benefits the animals.

Marisa

[Jeff_Favelle]

Just got back from taking my boa to the vets. He was very informative on housing snakes.

Yeah, you need to get a new vet.

[sapphire_moon]

Get a new vet...as everyone else has said..........