Opinions on housing a pair of large pythons in a VERY large cage?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pork Chops N' Corn Bread

But as far as I know, there are no tigers that are pure dwarf. Tiger is only a mainland morph correct?

---

As far as I know, that is correct. The tiger dwarfs that Mike Wilbanks and Bob Clark have are all half jampea and half mainland. Being a dominant morph though you could theoretically keep breeding to unrelated jampeas until the percentage got closer to 100% jampea.

Don't house them together.....

The cage is a bit too large imo, anywho. An 8' x 2' x 3' would do well for a female, and 6' x 2' x 3' would do well for a male. Housing two together, is a pain. Their fecal matter is huge, and come feeding time would be a pain. You shold feed them inside their enclosure. Its really ignorant to take them outside for feeding time, no offense. Moving a large animal from the tub or rubbermaid or what have you, back to the enclosure after feeding risks you and the snake getting injured severely. You can crack one of the snakes ribs, do some internal damage etc. That, and the fact that giants remain in feeding mode for upwards of a few hours. This could result in you getting nailed. Take all that into consideration, and how strong their feeding response is; mixing another snake in the enclosure risks a fight breaking out between the two....and trying to separate a pair of 12-14' pythons going at it isn't fun, or easy.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by AK4900PA

I've been considering purchasing a male retic or burm for awhile now and have a question about housing. If I do purchase a large python it won't be for at least a year or two as I have a few boas and more cages I need to purchase for my breeding project, but I'm somewhat neurotic about planning ahead so here I am. Anyways, if I decide to get a burm or retic I will be building a very large, built-in, display enclosure for him. The cage would be roughly 12' wide, 4' deep and 8' tall. I'm just designing things in my head right now, but it would have very large branches for climbing, some rocks, plants, and maybe even a small pond. Now heres my question. Obviously I would not have room for multiple cages of this size so if I got my male and later on down the road got the urge to get him a girlfriend would it be alright to house them together? I know it is generally frowned upon to house more than one snake in a single enclosure, but I'm wondering if it would be ok in a situation like this where they would have a significant amount of space to live in.

Anyone have an opinion on this? More than likely I would be perfectly content with a single male since it will be purchased purely as a pet, but I'm still kinda curious.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by AndrewH

Don't house them together.....

The cage is a bit too large imo, anywho. An 8' x 2' x 3' would do well for a female, and 6' x 2' x 3' would do well for a male. Housing two together, is a pain. Their fecal matter is huge, and come feeding time would be a pain. You shold feed them inside their enclosure. Its really ignorant to take them outside for feeding time, no offense. Moving a large animal from the tub or rubbermaid or what have you, back to the enclosure after feeding risks you and the snake getting injured severely. You can crack one of the snakes ribs, do some internal damage etc. That, and the fact that giants remain in feeding mode for upwards of a few hours. This could result in you getting nailed. Take all that into consideration, and how strong their feeding response is; mixing another snake in the enclosure risks a fight breaking out between the two....and trying to separate a pair of 12-14' pythons going at it isn't fun, or easy.

---

Thats the first time I ever heard someone say an enclosure was too large for a retic/burm. Any reasoning behind that statement?

I always feed my snakes in their own enclosures.

I do not believe that that is too much space for a burm or retic. Unnecessary, maybe. I see where Andrew is going only in that snakes, even giants, like to feel secure in tighter enclosures. This does not mean too small, it just means enough space for the animal to move, coil itself, stretch out along its perimeter, eat comfortably, etc.

A cage of this size wouldn't be used until it is an adult. I'm not going to put a baby in that huge of a cage and allthough I haven't actually drawn any plans up yet, I do intend to put some very think branches, rocks, and some plants so it won't just be a big empty box. I'd also like to do a small pond and test out my masonry skills by building a kind of stone cave as a hide.