Multiple females same tank.... why not?

Hi,

I admit I do not have anywhere near the experience of either of you. :oops:

But I have kept a group of females together for years and then changed to housing the same snakes individually.

Mine eat and breed better being housed singly in tubs than they did in one large ceramic heated vivarium. Your milage may vary but I am never going back to multiple snakes per enclosure - I don't have to feed in seperate containers, worry about who crapped what and, honestly, my snakes seem to do better.

I was kind of a brat about being told to change from the old system when I first joined though. :oops: :taz:


dr del

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by randy8876

After reading up on how balls live in the wild I've found that multiple snakes will live together in one den. So why not put your females together?

The main reason I want to is I have the chance to get a really big tank (6'x3'x18") and I think three females (similar size) could fit in it nicely and it provides a nice display for me. The males will stay separate.

Zoo's put them together and they are found together in the wild so it gives the impression that it could be done w/o much concern.

Is anyone here housing their snakes together and what issues have you run into?

If I have to wait to get two 36" tanks I will, but I think the space of a six foot tank would be nice to have.

---

Really? Where did you read that? Everybody here will tell you it's against the commonly-accepted wisdom. I'd love to see a reference.

I actually do have an enormous tank full of sub-adult females here, and a second large tank with the off-duty breeder males. Everything has been perfectly harmonious for 2 years, with the following caveats:

1.) I have to take them out of the tank and feed separately every week. This is non-negotiable. The risk of feeding 'accidents' if two snakes go for the same mouse is simply too great.

2.) Housing three of four girls in one tank means cleaning that tank 3 or 4 times more often. Once a month I have to clean the hides, because they're gross. Between this and feeding separately, I'm losing in time and effort what I'm presumably saving in housing costs.

3.) I live in the desert, so keeping the humidity in a good range for shedding is difficult. Tubs work much better for this than the big tank, and I've actually begun putting the bachelor/ette snakes into my spare breeding tub whenever I notice they're in shed.

4.) The males in the bachelor tank have been locking with each other the last two winters while they're waiting for their turn to cycle in with the breeding girls. This doesn't seem to be a problem, but it's, uh, embarrassing when company comes over.

5.) I won't house (or breed) ball pythons together if the largest weighs more than twice as much as the smallest. Even if there's realistically no real danger of aggression or cannibalization, the big one could still squash the little one. I just can't convince myself there's no danger.

But that's it. I'm one of those aggravating people with multiple females sharing an oversized 60 gallon tank whose animals eat really well and are healthy as horses. Every night two or three of them come out and climb around, and I swear if one takes up a project (let's poke at this corner all night tonight! Poke! Poke!) the others will decide it must be the thing to do. I do think they get more exercise with this set up then they would in separate tubs. And it's frankly a lot of fun to watch them.

Oh, and: I'm going out of town for a several weeks this summer on fellowship, leaving my husband to take care of the snakes. It will be MUCH, MUCH easier for him if I have them all separated and in racks. I kind of can't stand how tiny the standard tub is, but I'm going to get a rack anyway from Animal Plastics. We'll see how the snakes react.

It'll also be good to finally have enough rack space for everyone, because there is one big, very real danger with shared housing: disease/infection. If one of my girls were to get an upper respiratory infection, I'd have to separate them IMMEDIATELY and keep them quarantined and separate until they were all completely recovered. This has never happened to me yet, but I have had a scare when one of them came down with diarrhea briefly this summer. Frankly, in the case of multiply-housed snakes, it's not even easy to tell WHICH snake had the diarrhea... and we have to assume that sooner or later somebody WILL get sick.

I will sometimes keep multiple young ball pythons in the tubs but keep males and female separate. But they all get their own tubs when they hit the 300-400 gram mark and I have time to make more space. I havnt had any problems with doing this in aspects of aggression but there are always 1 or 2 that seem to grow way faster than the rest.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kryptonian

Its just not good to house any snakes together. Besides the stress they go through and one dominating the other, if there is an illness and there is something like a bloody poop, how do you know which snake has the problem?

---

very good point.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by loonunit

Really? Where did you read that? Everybody here will tell you it's against the commonly-accepted wisdom. I'd love to see a reference.

---

Here are a couple.

http://animal.discovery.com/guides/r...allpython.html

Quote:

---

It may share a burrow peacefully with others of its kind.

---

Also on this 'rustic' video it shows them in the wild together:
http://www.stevegorzulapresents.com/

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by loonunit

But that's it. I'm one of those aggravating people with multiple females sharing an oversized 60 gallon tank whose animals eat really well and are healthy as horses. Every night two or three of them come out and climb around, and I swear if one takes up a project (let's poke at this corner all night tonight! Poke! Poke!) the others will decide it must be the thing to do. I do think they get more exercise with this set up then they would in separate tubs. And it's frankly a lot of fun to watch them.

---

I've found the same. Match the sizes and give plenty of space, hiding spots and things to crawl on and they seem more active, as if feeding off the actions of others.

The biggest concern to me is disease, which is legitimate.

If you choose to be it you must be aware at all times of the risks, and accept the fact that bad things really could happen. Animals in our home are entirely reliant on us to survive, as we give them the space and heat and food. We have the option to give them nearly completely risk free lives--no danger of predators, if fed f/t no danger of injuries from prey, on newsprint/fed in a tub there is no danger of ingesting dirt/substrate with their meals..

The biggest issue for me is, keeping any animal means there are going to be complications, there are variables. When it comes to knowing what happened--why did my snake get sick, where did these mites come from, why did my snake suddenly die... It's good to rule out as many variables as possible. Housing two together increases the amount of variables by a lot!

But as long as you are aware of this fact, and you are careful..okay. I wouldn't do it myself honestly. But you know the risks and you are willing to accept them, so good luck, and hope you don't become one of the unlucky ones! D:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wilomn

I could guess or you could tell me.

One would be worth the effort involved, the other not so much.

Feeding together and keeping together, to me, are not the same thing.

Was your experience a feeding mishap or a keeping mishap?

---

It had nothing to do with feeding (they had both eaten about 4 days prior), so I guess it would be considered a keeping mishap.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by muddoc

It had nothing to do with feeding (they had both eaten about 4 days prior), so I guess it would be considered a keeping mishap.

---

Sure sounds like one.

thanks