Quick Question regarding maternal incubation...

My pair has lived together forever...Female 15 last march and male is 11. they have cohabited since the male was brought home. I have had them a few years got them from my old boss. So my question is while the female is doing her job is it OK to leave the male in the cage?

I usually let them roam around my room and leave the lid off so they can get to their water but the temp in my room is falling and I always put them in their cage for winter but with the eggs should i just get another set-up for him? I mean I am 99% sure I should I am just looking for a way out of the expense. It's day 56 today.

i dont think so. you should by like a 10 dollar 32 qt tub and set up an incubator for your eggs. search it on youtube theres plenty of videos showing you how
Goood luck :)

So they piss and crap all over your floor?

"Getting it done" as in breeding? I think you should do a little more research on your ball pythons before getting into breeding. They do best in their own enclosures, and should never be left unattended in your room...

If theyve been doing what theyve been doing for eleven years then its working for them lol!

All that aside, getting the male a simple tub setup
For a couple of months shouldn't be too much to remove some risk during the incubation process.

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Originally Posted by Narcotheferret

My pair has lived together forever...Female 15 last march and male is 11. they have cohabited since the male was brought home. I have had them a few years got them from my old boss. So my question is while the female is doing her job is it OK to leave the male in the cage?

I usually let them roam around my room and leave the lid off so they can get to their water but the temp in my room is falling and I always put them in their cage for winter but with the eggs should i just get another set-up for him? I mean I am 99% sure I should I am just looking for a way out of the expense. It's day 56 today.

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Separate enclosures and please read a caresheet or two on how to maintain these animals.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...s%29-Caresheet

If you can't afford them and you are 99% sure that what you're doing isn't the correct way to do things (bold lettering and italics added), sell them or give them away rather than bring additional animals into the world that you don't maintain or house properly, if that clutch proves viable based off what you've said thus far. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. I could live on McDonald's drive-thru for the rest of my life...it wouldn't be ideal and it certainly wouldn't be healthy and again, just because I can doesn't mean I should. That setup and how you're housing/"caring" for those animals isn't either (healthy or ideal) and I really hope you'll reconsider how you're keeping them. Just my two cents...

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Originally Posted by coldbloodaddict

So they piss and crap all over your floor?

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I cage them to feed them and leave them in til they relieve themselves. The 4 years I have had them I have never found poop in my room.

I had/have no intention to breed. It was a natural conception. My snakes are pets not ATM's like most peoples. Before moving to AZ (from Seattle) I had a regular poker game. One of the players was a herp-vet and in the year I knew him he never found a single thing wrong with my snakes. Always shed in one piece never any feeding issues no R-I not so much as a case of mites. So no offense but i don't need to read up on their care. There is more than one way to raise children...and pets. I just don't want to buy a whole extra set-up for the male when the eggs are due to hatch any day now.

I already found adopters for the babies, and i bought temp homes (tubs) for them to bring them home in and gave them all care-sheets weeks ago, I guess it cant hurt to buy the male his own stuff and just put them back together after the babies go to their new homes.

Sorry if i caused a ruckus from now on ill post specific questions and hope to just get the answer.

It probably wouldn't hurt anything to leave the male in with her. Some breeders leave the males in with the females until the females lay, just to be sure that they don't miss a breeding season, and it doesn't seem to harm anything.

But something to think about is that ball pythons are solitary in the wild, which is a good indicator that they would rather be alone in captivity too.

Nobody is trying to criticize you or say you are a bad pet owner. On the other hand, it's pretty unkind of you to imply that there's anything "unnatural" about breeding snakes on purpose, or that we care more about the money than we do the animals.

If you ask a question, be prepared to get answers you may not like. I learn new things about ball pythons every day, and I have been researching them for over three years now.

Just curious, if you had no intention or ever having the intention of breeding, why would you house two snakes together in the first place? :confusd:

It's generally not recommended to co-habit ball pythons together for reasons other than breeding. Even of the same gender.
There are too many cons to pros when housing two balls in the same enclosure. Can it be done? Yes, at times. Does that mean it's should be done? Not necessarily.

Just my two cents.. If its day 56, unless it's been exactly 89 degrees in your room and/or the snakes cage the entire time the eggs have been in there, and the humidity has been very high, those eggs may never hatch.. They roam around your room and the temps are falling?

People who use an incubator end up with dead and deformed babies with even the slightest temperature fluctuations and/or humidity lower than 90% which allows the eggs to begin collapsing earlier than a week or two prior to hatching.

Maternal incubation can be difficult unless you're providing a very controlled environment which it doesn't sound like you have. I'm interested in seeing in update when the eggs hatch if they do. If they do, don't be surprised if they don't hatch until much later than 60 days. At lower temperatures they develop much slower.

As for leaving the male in there. The cons to doing so are causing the female stress which in turn may cause her to leave the eggs when she shouldn't. Or if they hatch, he could crush the babies with his size. As could momma.

There are also few cases of snake cannibalism. It's rare but possible.

Ball pythons are solitary animals. If you want to talk about "natural" then there you go.. They are solitary in nature.

By the way.. My snakes are my pets also. Even the ones I breed. Try to harm my 10 year old girl that I've raised from her first meal and I'll show you what my pet means to me even though shes given me a few clutches..

That's pretty rude to come on here and say that our snakes are ATM's. That's you assuming. You don't know any of us, let alone how I feel about my snakes. And this is a public forum, you are going to get answers you don't like. So here goes.

As far as your keeping and husbandry. If you spend some time here you will find that there are many people who from years of experience are much more knowledgable than most herp vets. Good herp vets are few and far between from what I have seen. Ball pythons are solitary animals. Your typical, happy, and well fed bp, will rarely leave the warmth and comfort of their hides. They don't roam around the house like a cat or a dog. You would be amazed what they can squeeze into, I'm surprised you haven't lost one yet. Like others have said, just because you have been doing what you have for 11 years, doesn't mean that its the best for your pet.

As far as the hatchling's if they hatch. They aren't ready to go to a new homes as soon as they hatch. They need to have their first shed, and a minimum of three meals in them before going to new homes.

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Personally I don't see my snakes as ATMs....
I really don't think a lot of people here do. Thinking that breeding snakes is fast or easy cash is foolish. It's not as easy as only putting two snakes together and it's certainly not fast.
Most people don't even break even unless you're a big breeder like NERD or something. I personally just like producing beautiful animals. I enjoy and admire them. And if I could sell some of the babies to put back into the hobby, then great! Having a self sustaining hobby is really one of my goals along with producing those beautiful animals. They're pets first, then breeders.


Here's a great write up by Lgray23

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Cohabitating reptiles even as the same species is not recommended. Insead of just telling you "no" I'll list the common reasons why.
1) Cannibalism, not common, but there are DOCUMENTED cases. This alone isn't worth the risk.
2) Stress. Even the most friendly snakes get stressed out, so why cause the stress? Snakes have no want or need to be with another snake unless it's for breeding purposes. Other than that, it's just an unwanted roommate that they can't get away from.
3) Space. They will constantly try to dominate eachother for the best spots in the enclosure, even if you have multiple hides, you'll mainly see them together in one spot. People usually see this as "cuddling". It's not cuddling, they are fighting over the best spot.
4) You wake up in the morning after feeding and there's a regurgitated mouse. Which one did it?
5) One gets sick, now both are sick. That's 2X the vet bills, 2X the medications, and 2X the stress. (same could be said of mites and other parasites)
6) You are told the new snake you bought is the same sex as the one you already have. a year later, you find eggs in the enclosure. You have not prepared, no incubator, no space for babies, and no one to sell them to. What do you do now? The pet store/vet/person sexed them wrong.

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First, your right that was way outta line of me to insinuate anyone on here thought of these guys as atm's. I was perusing several forums and got that impression after visiting a certain one. To be fair, I have not seen anything on this forum outside a very high concern for the health and welfare of these pets. You all have my sincere apology.

Now for the good news...So I checked on them yesterday no hatch. 26 hours later 3 babies runnin around the cage and 1 sticking it's head out and the other 2 are split but the snakes are being shy. Do they usually leave the egg so soon? It was my understanding they had to absorb the goo inside...

As far as when they are ready for new homes, my impression is-Their born, after the first shed feed 'em rat pups, every 10-14 days. After the second shed they are good to go. If this is incorrect or incomplete please correct me.

P.S. pics to come my camera seems to be broken.

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Originally Posted by Narcotheferret

First, your right that was way outta line of me to insinuate anyone on here thought of these guys as atm's. I was perusing several forums and got that impression after visiting a certain one. To be fair, I have not seen anything on this forum outside a very high concern for the health and welfare of these pets. You all have my sincere apology.

Now for the good news...So I checked on them yesterday no hatch. 26 hours later 3 babies runnin around the cage and 1 sticking it's head out and the other 2 are split but the snakes are being shy. Do they usually leave the egg so soon? It was my understanding they had to absorb the goo inside...

As far as when they are ready for new homes, my impression is-Their born, after the first shed feed 'em rat pups, every 10-14 days. After the second shed they are good to go. If this is incorrect or incomplete please correct me.

P.S. pics to come my camera seems to be broken.

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For newly shed hatchlings you should feed closer to every 5-7 days. And when the babies leave the egg depends on the temperature at which they were incubated. Warmer temps mean the babies hatch more quickly than lower temps.

Can't wait to see pics! :)

I hate to say this, but I have 2 in 1 tub on my rack because when I separated them, the male would not stop cruising around the tub and rubbing on it and all. As soon as I put him back in with his friend, this stopped. I obviously am not going to keep them like this for forever, but for now it seems to make them both happy. Sorry but exp. beats care sheets anyway (on this part anyway).


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I have a couple of snakes who won't ever turn down a meal (even during shed and breeding) that co-hab in a 75, I got them as a pair that the previous owners kept them in for years. I separated them and got nothing except 2 very unhappy snakes, put them back in the 75 together and voila.. I had to very happy, eating and comfortable snakes. Under normal circumstances I agree separation is the best advice, but if it means having snakes refusing every time, trying to take your head off every time you interact with them, it's just not working out. Revert back to co-habing. Oh and all of my snakes are pets first and breeders second.

$100-$2000 isn't a big pay out! It took four years of eating to get my girl to breeder size. Should we even talk about money I spent in between all that ?............