Pythons eating Pythons

We recently had a new development with our ball pythons and were wondering if anyone had any information. So the situation is that our 3 year old female BP has apparently eaten our 2 1/2 year old male BP. Does anyone know why this would have happened? If you could email us at katie18_l@hotmail.com, that would be great.

Did you have them housed together specifically for breeding or were they kept communally all the time?

They have been together in the same 55 gallon tank for 2 1/2 years with no problems of aggression or anything else. They usually sleep curled up together. We have never had any problems

I had always thought that two snakes curling up together was either mating, or asserting dominance or aggression over one another... I'm not saying this to be mean in any way, just trying to understand the pathology behind why your female may have done this...

Have you taken her to the vet at all to make sure that she's going to be okay as well?? A 2 1/2 year old BP seems like quite the large meal...

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Originally Posted by katie18

They have been together in the same 55 gallon tank for 2 1/2 years with no problems of aggression or anything else. They usually sleep curled up together. We have never had any problems

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How very sad! I'm really sorry you lost one of your snakes this way. Unfortunately, it is a common misconception that these snakes enjoy living together. The sleeping curled up is not snuggling, but rather competing for the best spots, and one snake expressing dominate behavior over the other. There are many complications that can arise from housing ball pythons together....and one of them is canibalism. It's rare, but it does happen.

Did you notice a sizable lump in the female, and if so, did she regurge? I'm just wondering if the male may have escaped.

Balls have been known to eat each other if housed or shipped together, but it is rare and usually occurs with younger snakes. However, the potential is always there as well as a number of other issues related to housing multiple snakes which is why most people on this forum recommend housing Balls separately.

ok. well we just didn't understand because Lucy has never ever shown any sort of aggression. Shes only ever struck at mice. But thank you all for helping us understand.

what kind of confirmation do you have that she did, in fact, eat him? If I were making that call I'd want hard proof before jumping to any conclusions...

I agree with the idea that he might've escaped.

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I agree with the idea that he might've escaped.

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yes. A two and a half year old male would weigh between 700 and 900 grams roughly. I would think that would be enough to kill your female if she did in fact eat the male, or regurge at the very least. Maybe you should show us pictures of your female, and we can help verify.

if she did eat him i don't think she's long for this world, everytime ive heard of this the "consumer" has died, but it is possible she ate him, i saw a pic once of a snake that had eaten another snake, the eaten snake went pretty much from head to tail inside the other snake, gross but it happens when you aren't informed on proper husbandry

My male is 2 and a bit and he weighs around 1.5kg.
A meal that size would be almost certain to result in a regurge and at the very least would leave a markedly visible swelling. If you can't see a bump then it looks like an escape is more likely. The overwhelming consensus here is that two BPs should never be housed together though.

Good luck!

I would also like to see proof that she ate him and that he did not just escape.


There is a common misconception on the pic of the cannabilistic ball. The story was written in an old reptile magazine, can't remember which one at the moment. Anyways, there were several if not near a hundred newly imported CH balls all housed together. As anybody can verify, sometimes these come in in bad shape. Anyway, one at another as the pic shows. They can become quite stressed in an environment like this and are very hungry.

I will try to post more when I can look up the story.

I would be looking for an excaped male ball python :taz:


I agree with many other posters that have said that an adult male would cause a huge lump and most definately a regurg . . .