New hobbist.

Hello everyone. My wife and I recently decided to jump head first into the hobby and I'd like to share my experiences so far and get feedback.
Originally I was going to get 1 large snake (red tail boa), so I bought a 125 gal tank for use as a show piece in my livng room. I set the tank up with a custom built rock background, hides for each side (warm and cool), water dish, aspen bedding, UTH, ceramic heat emitter, and a Zoo Med Repti Temp 500R w/ temp and humidity gauges. After ensuring the tank was finished and the temperature was stable at 85F on the warm side, we went to an expo here in Omaha and ended up buying 2 Ball Pythons instead because my wife came around and told me she really didn't want a large snake. So we have a male Pinstripe that is 3 months old and a female Spider that is 8 months old. Upon getting home we introduced the snakes to each other and they've seem to have taken to each other like best friends, because for the last 4 weeks they've spent almost all of their time together. They have both shed once so far and as for diet, the male only eats live mice/rat pups every 6 days. The female eats a F/T medium rat every 6 days, but we're considering switching to live medium rats instead.

I'm considering splitting the tank into 2 sections with a plexi-sheet to keep them apart, because I eventually want to breed them and I'm not sure if keeping them together is the best plan. Advice would certainly be welcome.
http://i39.tinypic.com/a0v4uc.jpg

First of all, welcome to the site. :welcome:

I strongly recommend that you separate them. Ball pythons are not social snakes and are happier when they are by themselves.

I suggest you check out the caresheet to familiarize yourself with their care requirements. http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ius)-Caresheet

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kinra

First of all, welcome to the site. :welcome:

I strongly recommend that you separate them. Ball pythons are not social snakes and are happier when they are by themselves.

I suggest you check out the caresheet to familiarize yourself with their care requirements. http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ius)-Caresheet

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X2
Welcome,

if you are keeping them in the 120gallon, that is way too much space for a BP. You could easily split that into three or four sections (depending on the dimensions) and make yourself a really cool show piece. Good luck with your new snakes and I look forward to hearing about the breeding project in the future!

Cheers.

I agree as well. They are solitary animals. A lot of people make this mistake at first, and as long as you correct it, it's alright.

I recommend f/t rats. The nutrition is much better as far as the rat is concerned, and with f/t, there is no danger to the snake. However, there are snakes that will only eat live, no matter how hard you try. I have two like that. In that case, keep tongs nearby to pry rat teeth off of your snake if need be.

My husband and I originally got BP's because I didn't want a big snake. We now have two red tail boas, one as a display in the living room. This is such an addiction that I'd be willing to bet you'll have more snakes very soon ;) We all started with one ;)

Welcome...you might want to make dividers and give them there own space..and be careful giving the spider med rats seems a little big for a 8 month old....