Do bp's get more active?

Both my snakes have been wayy more active recently. They're in a 40 breeder with a divider down the middle, a 2+ year old girl and a 4-5? month old boy(i just realized i forgot when i got him oops) but anyways he's been really active, trying to get to her side, same with her, trying to get to his. Idk if its just warming up and they are getting active or if they're trying to get to each other? If so it seems very early for him to want to breed.

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one time he was out for 3+hours just going in circles and stuff going up walls basically everything nonstop :confusd:

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Originally Posted by DatBoiAJ_

Both my snakes have been wayy more active recently. They're in a 40 breeder with a divider down the middle, a 2+ year old girl and a 4-5? month old boy(i just realized i forgot when i got him oops) but anyways he's been really active, trying to get to her side, same with her, trying to get to his. Idk if its just warming up and they are getting active or if they're trying to get to each other? If so it seems very early for him to want to breed.

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one time he was out for 3+hours just going in circles and stuff going up walls basically everything nonstop :confusd:

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You're snakes sound stressed. Occasional moderate stress can be a good thing. It's stimulating. From it, snakes learn and grow. But severe or prolonged stress is not. It will quickly lead to health problems. You should find out what's stressing your snakes and fix it.

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Originally Posted by Homebody

You're snakes sound stressed. Occasional moderate stress can be a good thing. It's stimulating. From it, snakes learn and grow. But severe or prolonged stress is not. It will quickly lead to health problems. You should find out what's stressing your snakes and fix it.

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I'd agree. Double-check all the floor temperatures in each half of the tank- if they're being over-heated, they can die. Even with a thermostat, it's never safe to heat too much of the floor of a tank/enclosure, because t-stats can fail, & excess heat will injure/kill the occupants.

Do you have a reliable temp. gun??? Double check! What percentage of the floor is heated??? Are all heating devices controlled by a reliable t-stat? If not, & your home (room) is warmer now because it's summer, the snakes are likely being overheated. The activity you are seeing may be a desperate attempt to get to safety- to where they're more comfortable.

Another cause of stress is a lack of hides. Posting pics of their set-up might help us offer suggestions.

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Originally Posted by DatBoiAJ_

Both my snakes have been wayy more active recently. They're in a 40 breeder with a divider down the middle, a 2+ year old girl and a 4-5? month old boy(i just realized i forgot when i got him oops) but anyways he's been really active, trying to get to her side, same with her, trying to get to his. Idk if its just warming up and they are getting active or if they're trying to get to each other? If so it seems very early for him to want to breed.

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one time he was out for 3+hours just going in circles and stuff going up walls basically everything nonstop :confusd:

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I don't know if your snakes are trying to breed, but if not, maybe they are trying to defend their territory. I'll admit I know nothing specifically about territoriality in snakes, but I've seen enough nature specials to know that most animals will defend their territory. A forty gallon tank is an very small territory. It wouldn't surprise me if that's what they're doing. Also, I know you have a divider, but your set up comes awfully close to co-habbing and I know that's not recommended. I think you should consider getting your new baby snake his own enclosure.

I’d guess that the cool side temps are far too high or the male is trying to get to the female ...

As mentioned a 10 dollar digital temp gun will indicate all the surface temps


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Absolutely double check the temperatures in the enclosures - sometimes they like having a fairly big temperature gradient so that they can choose their cosy spot.

But if temps and other basic husbandry parameters are good, then my next question would be how often these snakes are offered any sort of mental stimulation in the form of new experiences - climbing, exploring outside of the enclosure, new items to investigate.

I agree with everyone about checking temps and other parameters. It could also be that they need some more room to stretch out - 1/2 of a 40g seems small to me, esp for the 2year old. A little more floor space would give a larger gradient, even if temps are within the "safe" range, more of a gradient might be what they are looking for. Also could be hormones...

Slight tangent but I see comments sometimes calling Royals / Balls .. ‘pet rocks’ as they don’t do anything .. yet they just have a water dish and sometimes a hide in their RUB .. so what on Earth are they expecting them to do !??


If ya put some branches in any viv / tank / RUB then Royal pythons will explore everything evening !!

I would suggest that they are far better climbers than most colubrids .


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In that little documentary that got released last year the African guide even said sometimes they find them in trees in the wetter seasons.

it really just depends on the snakes personality and the stimulus we provide. Not every snake will enjoy the larger space and prefer the tub... but the ones that do tend to be more active in the evenings.

They share the same 40 gallon? That seems far too small to me.
A 40 gallon (In my opinion) Is the absolute minimum for a single adult ball python.

I'd suggest keeping the younger male in the 40 gallon and getting either a 75 gallon or a 120 gallon for the 2 year old female.
Or even better, Instead of using fish tanks find a good 4x2x2 PVC enclosure and get one for each of them.