Housing 2 young BPs in the same cage?

Hi. I have 2 young ball pythons (about a year and a half old) who have been raised together since they were hatchlings. They seem to get along very well and are thriving well. However, I have heard that you should not house more than one ball python per cage. Currently, they are in a 20 gallon terrarium which I know is too small for them. I am going to purchase a new one, but I was curious if I should buy one and seperate them. Does anyone know if it is ok to keep them together or should I purchase one more cage and seperate them? Any information would be very appreciated.

Ball pythons are not social. They do not want or need to share a cage. Doing so stresses them out, causes them to compete for access to needs, catch and then share disease, can also provoke cannibalism, etc. Separate those two snake ASAP.

Do not keep ball pythons together. Eventually there will be a problem.

Can it be done? Yes some people do it and do so successfully, those people are very rare and usually they have decades of experience.

Is it recommended or should it be done? No your average pet owner should avoid doing this.

Are there any benefit? There are no benefits only inconvenience, and doing so can result in serious issues.

Finally as a general rule if someone ask if it can be done than this mean they lack the necessary experience to do it right, so I will say no do not do it.

Separate them. When you see them laying on top of each other or "cuddling" in the same hide, they are not getting along or being social, but are competing for the best spot. This is not a social species, so housing them together is stressful and has risks.

For keepers without years and years of experience the benefits of housing them together would be for the keeper, out of selfishness or ignorance or lack of education on the subject. The results will be a stressed out, unhealthy situation for the animals. Snakes are extremely solitary and there is a reason that experienced, knowledgeable keepers house their snakes separately and advise that others do as well.

Ever seen one snake eat another? Well, keeping yours together and you might be a firsthand witness to it. Snakes are not social except during hibernation like in rattlesnakes or during breeding.

I read a story where a guy put 2 snakes into one tub to clean out both their cages and when he came back, one had eaten the other and then one who did the eating died after that so he lost both snakes. And that was just in the time it took to clean 2 cages.

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Originally Posted by JaniKaralee

Hi. I have 2 young ball pythons (about a year and a half old) who have been raised together since they were hatchlings. They seem to get along very well and are thriving well. However, I have heard that you should not house more than one ball python per cage. Currently, they are in a 20 gallon terrarium which I know is too small for them. I am going to purchase a new one, but I was curious if I should buy one and seperate them. Does anyone know if it is ok to keep them together or should I purchase one more cage and seperate them? Any information would be very appreciated.

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As everyone suggests it's far better to give them separate vivs / rubs .

I tried keeping my unrelated pair of Albino Royals together , in a good sized Viv , with loads of branches , about 7 different hides , lots of hiding places and they seem to get on really well , they were usually to be found in the same place - even though there were numerous similar places available with the same temps. I tried to think of everything .
On many occasions I observed the female following the male around just as much as the other 'expected' way . So it wasn't just a case of the male harassing the female for a touch of naughties :).

Anyway I tried it for about 6 weeks and they both acted in their normal way even when being handled . They looked fabulous together in the evening when they were both out exploring .

The BIG problem was that they both went from feeding every time to not feeding well at all . I used to feed them in separate containers , which was different straight away to being fed in their vivs .

The male fed 2 out of 5 attempts and the female just once in the five attempts .

When I returned them back in their own vivs , left them for a week or so they both returned to feeding every 7 to 10 days .


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Following each other around and sharing the same space isn't getting along in snakes. That's competing needs access behavior. They are both trying to share the favorable spots, and getting stressed out and frustrated that they have to share. Even in a decent sized enclosure with lots of space to roam so they have the ability to choose whether or not to be around each other, you will have tiny micro climate pockets, and each snake will want to use the best one. The fact that they stopped eating is your proof positive of this. They were stressed by having to share the good spots constantly, so even if they seemed to be acting perfectly normal to a human, they were trying to say how unhappy they were to have a hoggy room mate.

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Originally Posted by Lizardlicks

Following each other around and sharing the same space isn't getting along in snakes. That's competing needs access behavior. They are both trying to share the favorable spots, and getting stressed out and frustrated that they have to share. Even in a decent sized enclosure with lots of space to roam so they have the ability to choose whether or not to be around each other, you will have tiny micro climate pockets, and each snake will want to use the best one. The fact that they stopped eating is your proof positive of this. They were stressed by having to share the good spots constantly, so even if they seemed to be acting perfectly normal to a human, they were trying to say how unhappy they were to have a hoggy room mate.

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I kinda explained all that as best as I could . They weren't competing for the most favourable places as there were many places of each temperature to choose from . I realise that it doesn't suit your agenda to read hear that but it's true . Many times they'd both be curled together in a hide in the cooler side and again there would have been two or more hides with the same temps and a few quiet hiding places as well - all the same temps . I made a point of providing many hides in the warm side , the middle and the cooler side .


More often than not they'd be together . Why would they both always want to be warm then want to be cooler at the very same time , it doesn't add up . Why was the female following the male as often as the male would follow the female ?


You'd imagine that on occasion one would want to be warm and the other want to be cool , yet that very rarely occurred .

I've been totally honest , I can only relay what I observed .

They simply didn't feed anywhere near as well as they do when they're apart . That's the difference in my experience .

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