Keeping Ball Pythons Together?

[sil4u]

Hi, I am new to keeping snakes. I purchased 2 ball pythons, one male and one female about 6-8 months old. I was told they have been together since they were babies. I just want to know if housing them together is a problem. I do want to breed them in the future, will this cause problems? My tank size is 55Gal if this helps. I would like any help or advice on this if possible. :rolleyes:

[sapphire_moon]

keeping two snakes together is a really bad idea.

----If one gets sick they BOTH get sick
----There fore you have to take 2 snakes to the vet because you don't know who is sick!

----Even if you do find poop in the cage, you don't know WHO's it is!

----Double the vet bill (obviously)

----can get aggressive towards each other

-----bp's stress easy anyways, keeping two naturaly SOLITARE reptiles together will cause stress and may cause them to stop eating.

----if they stop eating because of stress they will probably get sick.

and it starts all over

not to mention

a male female together at to young of an age can cause the female to get pregnant WAY to early and cause egg binding which can cause the snake to DIE.
The female should be of a certain SIZE and WEIGHT BEFORE breeding.

I'm not sure of the age/weight thing but there are plenty of breeders on here that do know.

And one more thing. It is WAY to EASY to go pick up a rubbermaid and set it up for a bp.

[ixhuntaxi]

Right now they are eating fine, I feed them in seperate rubbermaid's and they eat weeklly. See I have heard both good and bad about keeping BP's together. You do make some good points athought Does anyone know what weight BP's can breed?

[Leviathan]

I think it is no less than 1500 grams. But I'm not 100% sure. I would also say NOT to keep them together!!!!

[Invictus]

They eat weekly... for now.

There is not one good reason to house them together, so I don't know how you could have heard "good things" about housing them together. It's all bad things. You really should separate them or the day will come when neither of them will eat, and you'll be kicking yourself.. not to mention what will happen if one gets a respiratory infection.

[Tim_Cranwill]

Well, I would be interested in hearing what "good" things you've heard about keeping Bp's together. Maybe I can save some space in my Bp racks....

But seriously, it gives ZERO benefits to the snakes and only puts them in a less than ideal situation. The only benefit possible is one less cage... and that's a benefit for YOU, not the snakes... and this isn't about you.

http://www3.mb.sympatico.ca/~cranwill/faq1.html
:) I hope you change your mind...

[mykee]

I'd like to know where you bought two balls that were housed together for 8 months.

[sapphire_moon]

I know I'm repeating everyone, but where did you hear " good things" about keeping 2 snakes together?

[sil4u]

I purchased these two snakes from Port Credit Pets, I was assuming they new what they where talking about. Well, I really apprecaite the help. I am going out to buy another tank ASAP. Thanks for all the feed back. Quick Question how around how big will they get if I keep them in seperate 55 GAL inclosers? Assuming they eat weeklly?

[Tim_Cranwill]

The size of enclosure has NOTHING to do with how big they get. You can expect anywhere for 3'-5' for most adult balls.

I'm glad you decided to keep them in their own enclosures. :)

[Auskan]

Their size isn't dependant on whether they are housed separately or together (except for the fact that housed together they will be stressed and therefore may not eat as much). There are also other contributing factors to size, one of which is gender. Another is not just how often they are fed but what size meals they are eating. I would suggest browsing the ball python forum and you will get answers to a lot of your questions that way. If you haven't already, you will read that rats are preferred over mice as a food item - are yours already eating rats?

[sil4u]

Yes they are eating rats, I got the rats from a local pet shop, the size of the rat is about the girth of the snakes. I have been feeding them in seperate rubbermaid's, I leave them in there for a hour or two and the rat disappears :-) I guess my main problem is housing them together which will soon change.

[tHeGiNo]

There is a difference between a temporary home for sale, IE. a pet store, and a permanant enclosure. A big difference - that is why, in a general perspective, you should never follow the husbandry of a pet store. And although PCPC is an awesome place, who care for their animals, one cannot expect them to house every snake individually.

[Removed_2815]

Originally posted by sil4u
I leave them in there for a hour or two and the rat disappears :-)
Are you feeding live or dead?

[justinO]

that makes sense that they were together in the tank at the store, cuz they know it's a temporary situation. when actually set up, for sure should be kept separate. A male and female will attack each other eventually, especially when being fed.

as for the tanks, if they are only 6 months old, wouldn't keeping each one in a 55 gal tank scare the crap out of them? I have a 900 gram older BP in a 55 gal and she's got LOTS of room. Depending on how small they are, I would consider putting a solid (wood/plexy glass) divider in the tank you have, that way they can share a big heat pad also. Again, this is all assuming they are small enough.

Congrats on your new additions, i'm sure they will be very rewarding (and sometimes frustrating ;) ) !!

Jess

[ixhuntaxi]

Port Credit Pets? I had an interesting encounter with them and mites. Have you noticed any mites on your ball pythons. I purchased a ball from there and mites, brought it back, and picked up another one with mites. Let me know if you had any problems as maybe we should let Grant from there know.

[ixhuntaxi]

Any replies??

[mykee]

Nope.