seems social...

Well I find this very interesting and I am glad you posted it. I would love to hear how it continues on.

I think we need to keep in mind too that there are some pretty goofy pythons out there that have their own personalities. Maybe these two do like being together. Hey, I have one that thinks she is a person and does everything a python should not want to do.

from what MarkieJ said above it doesnt seem worth it to peruse further because my parameters arent tight enough. one snake is larger and older and eats larger prey and i dont want to have 2 hot hides for a month or longer anyway. too stressful to not have a cool side hide for that long...

I guess I don't see the logic that because they are in the same hide they must want to be together. Are they hanging out and watching movies? They could very easily be dominating each other or just refusing to give up the heat. I can't imagine the hides are properly sized if two snakes are fitting in one so maybe it's to feel more secure. I don't see any positive to keeping snakes together, only a few cons, biggest being spreading disease.

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Originally Posted by GoingPostal

I guess I don't see the logic that because they are in the same hide they must want to be together. Are they hanging out and watching movies? They could very easily be dominating each other or just refusing to give up the heat. I can't imagine the hides are properly sized if two snakes are fitting in one so maybe it's to feel more secure. I don't see any positive to keeping snakes together, only a few cons, biggest being spreading disease.

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it was an experiment with 2 of my established healthy snakes. you guys just sucked the fun out of this. i think this was unnecessary "Are they hanging out and watching movies?" are there any sites where you can just share ideas without being a scientist or an expert and without feeling ridiculed?

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Originally Posted by chasingtime

it was an experiment with 2 of my established healthy snakes. you guys just sucked the fun out of this. i think this was unnecessary "Are they hanging out and watching movies?" are there any sites where you can just share ideas without being a scientist or an expert and without feeling ridiculed?

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Housing snakes together has a lot of possible dangerous repercussions, so people are naturally going to ridicule you for doing so. Even if they are healthy now, the chances that one had a internal parasite that you didn't know about and they both now have it is a possibility. Ball pythons dominate each other by laying on each other, which often causes stress to one of them. This stress can easily lead to a respiratory infection which will spread to both animals and lead to two veterinary bills.
Also, because one of the snakes is larger than the other, cannibalism is possible.

Many large scale breeders who have thousands of animals have found it best to keep them all separated except for breeding purposes because of the possible issues. There have not been any recorded benefits of social behavior between ball pythons, and because stress related issues are a result, it's best to conclude that they do not enjoy each others company.

If you want to do a consistent experiment, you would need the animals to be the same age, size, sex, and both vet checked for any infections. Recording data such as which snake lays on top of the other, which hide is favored by either snake, and the rate of change (who moves and who stays?). You would also need a general divider with a small opening for them to get through, and each side contained a warm and cool side with two hides per ball python, all identical proper non-log hides.

You know I think a healthy desire to investigate is cool and I hope that nothing I said made you feel you need to defend yourself. I am worried that a snake will get hurt of sick from stress but we all have to go our own way sometimes.

thanks guys. i appreciate when its put that way. sounds like good advice even being a temporary experiment. ill put them back in their tanks...

After reading all of it, it seems to me that the OP wanted people to comment on the sociability of these snakes. You didn't say "So I thought this would be something new, non-experimental for my snakes." You actually seemed to attempt to invalidate a "cultural norm" among BPs that it's one and done in a tub/tank/etc. You chose to name the thread "seems social" and even ended the original post saying the same thing. You chose the ending (the most stressed of any comments/paper/article/what-have-you as the place to say "seems social."

I'm not surprised that people commented about their believed lack of sociability. Plus, you're not new to the site, so I can't see you being surprised that people reacted as they did (none seriously negative if I might add.)

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Originally Posted by kelevra

After reading all of it, it seems to me that the OP wanted people to comment on the sociability of these snakes. You didn't say "So I thought this would be something new, non-experimental for my snakes." You actually seemed to attempt to invalidate a "cultural norm" among BPs that it's one and done in a tub/tank/etc. You chose to name the thread "seems social" and even ended the original post saying the same thing. You chose the ending (the most stressed of any comments/paper/article/what-have-you as the place to say "seems social."

I'm not surprised that people commented about their believed lack of sociability. Plus, you're not new to the site, so I can't see you being surprised that people reacted as they did (none seriously negative if I might add.)

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na, just wanted to share something i thought was a cool observation with no malicious intent. guys, this site says its the friendliest online community for all your herping needs. why am i being attacked and accused? besides you are wrong, i am new as of about 17 days ago and not feeling very welcome. i am surprised at your reaction. it "seems unsocial"...

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Originally Posted by chasingtime

na, just wanted to share something i thought was a cool observation with no malicious intent. guys, this site says its the friendliest online community for all your herping needs. why am i being attacked and accused? besides you are wrong, i am new as of about 17 days ago and not feeling very welcome. i am surprised at your reaction. it "seems unsocial"...

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No where did I get the impression that someone was attacking you.

Co-habitation is a highly debated subject on this community. The majority will agree that it is not a good idea. I personally don't have a problem with co habitation as long as you do it right. I am under the impression that you were doing this just as an experiment, which is interesting to me and I am glad that you posted it. However, it has not convinced me that ball pythons are social.