Temperament Change

[Erolitha]

Back in January I got 2 ball pythons from my mother who had them for at least 8 years or so. They have always been together since she has had them. I'm not sure how close snakes can get to each other but these two seem to protect each other when one of them is shedding by curling up and allowing the one shedding to hide his head underneath the other and are almost always curled up together. I know my mother underfed them so I've fixed that problem and since I have had them they are coming out from their hide more often and seem happy. Until today neither of them has ever struck at me or shown any sign of wanting to. One of them is currently shedding and takes a few days to do so. I tried to pick up the other one who was on the other side of the cage under a different hide and he let me touch him but as soon as I tried to pick him up he struck me. It seemed like just a warning strike and once he was sure I was going to leave him alone he went to the other hide with the other snake.
I'm just curious to know if maybe he was trying to protect the other one by staying in there with him or if there is some other reason. They are both extremely docile and were just fed 4 days ago. Should I just chalk this up to normal snake behavior that I just haven't seen from mine yet? I said he earlier but i'm not really sure if they are male or female. I'm still rather new at being a snake owner.

[GoingPostal]

Really hard to say without being there to see the body language. Could be going into shed himself. Snakes are solitary creatures, curling up together is usually one dominating the other, not cuddling and since you don't know their sex could lead to issues. Two males may fight, opposite sex might end up with unwanted eggs, or impaction especially if they were underfed. Either way cohabbing is risky and higher stress living can lead to RI's, which would be spread from one to the other. BP's are fairly inactive when happy so if they are roaming around a lot during the day it could be a sign of stress. Mine sticks his head out a lot and sometimes wanders late at night or near feeding day but other than that is in a hide.

[LLLReptile]

As mentioned before, ball pythons are pretty solitary, and while it might seem like they are protecting each other, curling up together or hiding together is usually more a competition for resources than cuddling or protecting.

The strike sounds like a defensive gesture, maybe a reaction to stress. If there is only one warm hide and one cool hide, the two snakes don't really have an option for seeking out warmer or cooler hides except to hide together. If they're close to the same size, it would make sense that they'd seek out heat or cold at around the same time (gaining/losing heat at the same rate), making it seem like they're always hanging out.

If they're still eating, and you don't want to separate them, they'd probably be okay, but it's usually best to house snakes individually.

-Jen

[BiggBaddWolf]

I would separate them immediately, or as soon as you could get another enclosure. The strike was most likely stress induced, and even though it looks to you like they are "cuddling" that is definitely not the case.