2 snakes in a cage??

i wanna get another a ball is it alrite for now untill i get a rack

Not the best plan. I'd suggest a simple Rubbermaid or Sterilite setup. It doesn't have to be expensive. Mine all live in something like that.

I wouldn't. Especially if you're talking about bringing in a new ball. You'll want to quarantine the new one for several weeks, at the very least...three months is more optimal. So no sharing a cage during quarantine. And if you can keep them separate for that long...why not just keep 'em that way anyhow?

well said judy...
and marla too.
you dont need a rack to keep more. just get the rubbermaids now... setup the ball pythons and build your rack later.

2 snakes, 2 seperate cages.

This one seems to come up often, so I'm going to sticky this thread.

I am glad you did - seems to be an unspoken assumption people know this - but to be honest in having looked at a ton of caresheets very very few if any of them make this point.

maybe he doesnt' know why we are telling him to quarantine. No one really explained that.

Pink, dunno if you know, and im sure you do, but i am going to hit on it anyway. New balls wherever you get them can be full of mites, disease or parasites and on top of that a new ball is stressed out enough in a new environment to be put in with another ball. Quarantining the new ones obivously keeps what could be out of your current critters. get what i am saying? just thought i would throw it out there. Rubbermaid is your best bet, Very easy and inexpensive.

Simple rule of thumb; 2 peas in a pod? Yes. 2 snakes in a cage? No.

'Zactly freak. Would be nice to see that as a header on all care sheets in bold at the top of the page.

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Originally Posted by DavidBeard

2 snakes, 2 seperate cages.

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What he said.

ahh. . . bc i see that places on inter that sell bp for 70% less then what i bought mine @. . . i bought mine at 80$ petco. . . ( healthy as a button)like LLLreptile and surply sell them 4 25$ bucks and i was like whoa! t ahts why i was wondering

No prob with getting another, and there are plenty of breeders who sell CBB hatchling males for $35 +S/H. Just make sure they're housed separately if you want to take the best care of them. If you want to house two ball pythons together, it's best to do it after a reasonable quarantine period (min. 30 days, 90 days is better) and after both have been tested/treated for parasites, and with 2 females or an opposite sex pair. Alternatively, you could do it with clutchmates because there's a +/-99% chance that anything one has, the other has. But it's still best to house them separately except for breeding, which you probably wouldn't want to do with clutchmates.

ahhh i was just wondering

Just had a question on this. I have seen alot of people comment on this saying no way would you ever want to house 2 snakes together. My only question on this is that at our zoo (St. Louis Zoo). In the Herpatarium they have some enclosures with multiple reptiles in one enclosure simulating certain enviroments ie.. desert or forest that type of thing.

If this was such a huge major deal which from the majority of the post's I have read here it is, why would they do this at the zoo or are some species better at co-existing than others? Or is this not a big deal after a quaratine period? And considering the outstanding reputation our zoo has I don't think they are a bunch of dummies either. Last point the main reason I love our zoo here so much wooo hooo it's free.

what if you buy them from the same store when their in the same cage allready?

People have successfully housed multiple snakes together, but that doesn't mean it's the ideal way to keep them. If you buy them together like that, you don't have to worry about quarantine issues because if one has mites, the other does too, etc....but you still run into all the same issues long-term.

There's feeding issues...and even if you feed them separately, outside the cage, one can still smell like a mouse and get seriously bit by the other after you put them back.

There's illness issues...A snake can be healthy one day, and sick the next. If this happens with two in the same cage, you'll most likely end up with two sick snakes. And if you see a bad bowel movement, you won't know who it came from.

There's comfort issues...We see two snakes curled up together in the same corner of the cage and think, "Aww, how cute...they're cuddling together," when in all likelihood, they are actually competeting for the one spot in the cage that has the right temperature of the moment.

There's sexual issues...Two males may fight when they've reached sexual maturity. A male/female pair may mate prematurely, before the female is old/big enough to safely bear eggs.

We all know how sucky pet-store husbandry is, 99% of the time. We see them housing multiple snakes in the same tank. Why would we want to imitate what we see done in pet stores???

In general it is not a good idea for many reasons:

1Mainly because it stresses them

2secondly because if one is sick (indicated through examining fecal matter) you won't know which one the feces came from, thus you won't know which is sick meaning you have to take two snakes to the vet and pay one big bill

3 thirdly housing two means if one gets sick, both get sick and herp vets ain't cheap or easy to find-

4 fourthly feeding in cage will not be possible for you as feeding two snakes while in the same enclosure can injure the snakes by missed strikes or struggling prey.

HI,
I wanted to mention I hve seen people try to keep two different species in one cage, many time the cage cost far exceeds the animal cost and many people see all the snakes getting along in one cage at the petstore.
here's a worst case possablilty.




http://www.boa-constrictors.com/com/News/News.htm

Graphic pictures of a boa and BP in same cage.

Doug
:shock:

^ Wow, thanks for posting that. Yes, while it *is* possible to keep animals in the same tank, it's not recommended. Compare the size of a zoo enclosure to the size of the standard herp keeper enclosure; if one snake gets scared or aggressive, in a zoo they have somewhere to hide easily; not so in the standard layperson's setup.

Whoa, somehow I missed this thread. That boa eatin' the Bp is horrendous, man. I knew that bci's are eating machines, but I never thought they'd take something as big as that ball was, in relation to their size. But I guess anything's possible.

well the snake i just bought that is 4 month they had 2 snakes in the same cage i have a friend who has too big snakes in one big cage and they are 2 big full grown snake .. so why can't you i seen it that is why i did it

Just cuz you "seen" it done, doesnt mean it should be

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so why can't you

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Alot of people have already posted dozens of good reasons

As it is, im freakin scared outta my mind with this new ball python im getting tomorrow, iam going to be keeping it in my room with the other two snakes .........across the room But still, I just hope there isnt anything wrong with it, that it will pass to my other snakes.