Anyone house their bp's together?

[tHeGiNo]

Hey there. I was wondering if anyone successfully houses their ball pythons together. I have a 130 gallon aquarium that my 3 month old 1.0 is in, and was hoping it would be ok to house a female of equal age with him. There is plenty of room under each hidebox for them...

[Kyle Barker]

I only have them together during mating. But if they are the same size (age shouldnt matter) they should be fine. I would feed them in seperate containers though. I have never housed them together myself but i have talkied to many people who have, with minimal problems. Just watch out for parasites if your introducing a new animal. Hope this helps.


kyle

[Dom]

You can house em together .. I used too .. although in the end if ever you wish to breed them they will need to be seperated .. I personally think you are better simply puttin a seperator in your tank and keeping them apart ..

a 130 gallon for a 3 month old is HUGE .. they probably would do better in something even smaller than half of that ..

Snakes are solitary creatures .. I finally get it now! lol

Dom

[tHeGiNo]

In the wild they have much more then 130 gallons to live in, so I doubt it will be a problem. I have set it up according to the size of the tank, with two water bowls, two basking spots, and four hideboxes.

[BoidKeeper]

The snake is not in the wild it is in captivity, some of the rules change. That tank is way too big. Check out this thread for more info on cage size. http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8410
In my opinion, which I'm basing on things I've read and things that I know large breeders of ball do, I feel that balls should never be housed together. You mentioned that in the wild they have more then 130g of space, well in the wild they do not live together and that is one rule that transfers to captivity.
Here are some points that I keep in mind and reasons why I do not house them together.
1. The presence of another animal in their space represents competition, competition leads to stress.
2. Stress leads to loss of appetite and or disease.
3. If one sick gets sick they can both get sick.
4. How do you know who is defecating and who is not?
5. Snakes are not social animals so although captivity its self is not natural forcing two animals to live together is even more unnatural.
Cheers,
Trevor

[Jeff_Favelle]

Dynamite post Trev!

I read it twice it was so good.

[krrc]

sure.. use me as an exsample... :rolleyes: o>

[BoidKeeper]

Thanks Jeff.
krrc, hey what can I say it was a good thread with a lot of input.:)
Cheers,
Trevor

[krrc]

lol I know. :zi::zi::zi::zi: