Can you house a male with afemale?

Hey. We bought a male ball today and put him in with our female.. i dont want lil babies.. what can i do? i havent got another tank to put him in and i really dont want to take him back. is there anyway to keep them from breeding?

You can put a divider in the cage, but I strongly urge you to get a new enclosure.

even though they are together does that mean that she will get pregnant?

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Originally Posted by keelenswife217

even though they are together does that mean that she will get pregnant?

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not unless she is ovulating and they lock. but its more likely one will dominate the other and one will stop feeding. even when breeding once eggs are produced they are usually separated.

how do u know if she is ovaluting?

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Originally Posted by keelenswife217

how do u know if she is ovaluting?

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im not a breeding buff yet, but i know body language and shape are a sign.

sorry lol but i dont understand...id really like to know if she is or not

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Originally Posted by keelenswife217

sorry lol but i dont understand...id really like to know if she is or not

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well chances are she isnt unless you have cooled her temperature to initiate the breeding response. the best place to read up is the breeding section here :)

How big is she?
If they are together, they are very uncomfortable, usually seen with one on top of the other dominating each other. Despite contrary belief, ball pythons should never ever be kept in the same enclosure.
Even if she bred, you wouldn't get babies because you would probably not know how to incubate them.
Chances are she's too small to breed, and she could die in the process from being egg bound.

Get them in two different enclosures, pronto. Your risking illness, two vet bills, cannibalism, fighting, domination, and not eating. Not worth it.

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Originally Posted by keelenswife217

Hey. We bought a male ball today and put him in with our female.. i dont want lil babies.. what can i do? i havent got another tank to put him in and i really dont want to take him back. is there anyway to keep them from breeding?

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Maybe you should have asked this question BEFORE you went and got another snake. :/

If you would like a fast an inexpensive way to get them seperated, why not try a tub?
http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules/...warticle&id=40

What happened to quarantining the new snake?

They need to be housed separately. Why did you get it if you weren't prepared to house it individually?

shes not too small.shes almost 5ft long.

and the guy we got him from said it would be safe to put themtogether

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Originally Posted by keelenswife217

shes not too small.shes almost 5ft long.

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This means that she could possible be able to breed.

Are you ready for eggs? What kind of incubator do you have? Where will you put the babies when they hatch?


Get them separated.

That guy who told you that lied or has no idea what he is talking about

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Originally Posted by keelenswife217

and the guy we got him from said it would be safe to put themtogether

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So - what if this snake is sick but isn't showing it yet? Is it worth that risk? All new animals should be quarantined in a different room from your established snake.

Also, didn't your other snake have an RI recently?

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=84696

Do you want your new guy to get sick with it as well?

Agreed, get them separated.. A 32 quart tub is around $10 and can house him... It will be in your best interest, as well as the snakes........

Yeah man you made a HUGE mistake.

Best thing to do is order a thermostat (or two), buy tubs, hides, and heat pads.

You're obviously not ready for breeding so get them separated.

to make it simple just separate them it's eaier all the way arround!

there is a thread on here, not sure where it is but it is a few days old at most. a male bp was being dominated by a female- wrapped up and stuff. the male went off feed, and is very stressed. you should have been prepared. get a tub immediately or seperate enclosure to ensure health, and proper feeding also if she does get pregnant you are not ready for eggs so I suggest do it before anything happens, then you will have opened up a whole other bag of crap you dont want.

Your profile picture... Is that how your housing your snake? Cause i pray your not. Anyways I agree with everyone Quarantine and just cause some guy says its okay doesn't mean it is.
Also I looked through your images. You should have a look at the Husbandry section because I don't see any proper thermometers. You don't have 2 hides and it looks like bark but I'm not sure. How are you regulating temps and humidity?

i Have a thermometer, a hygrometer, 2 hides, a water bowl, coconut soft bedding, an UTH, and a 100 watt night heat lamp. and yes cassie had RI before but the vet said it was non viral and not contagious.

Doesn't seem like he's too keen on taking our advice.

Good luck taking care of babies as well as two vet bills when the contagious RI quickly spreads to the other snake, which can still be present even after she seems better.

well im not a HE i am a SHE, and it is 1030 where am i pose to get another tank at?? i do not live close to a store. and what advice am i not taking?

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Originally Posted by keelenswife217

well im not a HE i am a SHE, and it is 1030 where am i pose to get another tank at?? i do not live close to a store. and what advice am i not taking?

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Maybe you should have thought about this before you got another snake. Do you have a spare heat lamp? You can try to make a tank divider and put one snake over the (unregulated?) UTH and one under a heat lamp.

You don't seem to be acknowledging the fact that we are telling you to quarantine the snakes. You have Tupperware and a heatpad which is good for now I think...

Thermometer, Hygrometer seem to be analog which are rubbish. Go get an Acu-Rite.
How are you controlling the UTH?

ill just keep them together.. if i have lil cassies slithering around then so be it. all i wanted to know was could u house a male and a female together permantly.

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Originally Posted by keelenswife217

ill just keep them together.. if i have lil cassies slithering around then so be it. all i wanted to know was could u house a male and a female together permantly.

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We gave you your answer and it was not the one you wanted so you are just going to ignore all of our advice?

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Originally Posted by keelenswife217

ill just keep them together.. if i have lil cassies slithering around then so be it. all i wanted to know was could u house a male and a female together permantly.

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its not cool permanently, and the eggs will die, and the female or male are at risk of feeding issues among other things, they were all listed earlier.

you all said to seperate them but i have been to several pet places and they are housed together

Sorry but she really doesn't care... I feel bad for the snakes :(
which part of don't house them together don't you get?? they are solitary animals and will only stress them out which doesn't lead to a happy snake

Pet places are not a good example of proper snake husbandry. They care about money NOT the animal itself. look at any proper large breeder and you will see every snake has their own enclosure

and i uploaded new pics so y'all can see how my setup is

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Originally Posted by keelenswife217

you all said to seperate them but i have been to several pet places and they are housed together

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Where have you NOT heard that petstores are a HUGE NO-NO?

Pet places want to sell their snakes. That's it. Not take great care of them.

IF you get eggs, they're most likely not hatch. If they hatch, they're most likely not going to survive.

IF your Casper had RI, there's a pretty high chance it'll get to your new one.

Your new one might have mites or something else, which, in that case, WILL infect your other snakes.

Even if your snakes will keep eating, they're not gonna be HAPPY about it.

Good luck.

actually cassie seems to be happier since she has a friend with her.

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Originally Posted by keelenswife217

actually cassie seems to be happier since she has a friend with her.

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ball pythons don't have friends.

well apparantly mine does.. and where we got her aint a pet store its a reptile place, and when adults have babies, they are housed together so whats the difference?

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Originally Posted by keelenswife217

well apparantly mine does.. and where we got her aint a pet store its a reptile place, and when adults have babies, they are housed together so whats the difference?

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They are not cuddling, they are trying to compete and dominate over one another. They are not friends, ball pythons are solitary animals.

Nothing will change that.

The reptile place you got your snake from is practicing bad husbandry. Just because a pet store does it doesn't make it okay. Obviously, you want it to be ok so you are ignoring what EVERYONE has been telling you.

People listen. This person is just being a pain. She asked for advice but then decided to be a smartarse about it by saying she knows better than us. I feel bad for the snakes and that they have such an irresponsible owner!
:slamhead:

no if i thought for one second that they werent happy id do something about it. they are like my kids and i wouldnt do anything to harm them.

i didnt start being a smartass until y'all did. just because y'all been doing this for a long time doesnt make u a genius. i just asked a simple question, y'all went thru the roof on me.

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Originally Posted by keelenswife217

no if i thought for one second that they werent happy id do something about it. they are like my kids and i wouldnt do anything to harm them.

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How can you tell they are happy?

and another thing, i am not an irresponsible owner i take very damn good care of my snakes so every one of u can kiss it.

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Originally Posted by keelenswife217

no if i thought for one second that they werent happy id do something about it. they are like my kids and i wouldnt do anything to harm them.

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I hope you don't have real kids...:please:

Then listen to us!!!!!!!

Quarantine, Separate and DON'T house them together....
It's not that difficult.... :mad:

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Originally Posted by keelenswife217

and another thing, i am not an irresponsible owner i take very damn good care of my snakes so every one of u can kiss it.

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In this thread, you are showing us that you are indeed, VERY irresponsible.

i can tell they are happy because i know them.. i can tell if they feel bad. or anything.if it wasnt safe for them to be together then why are so many housed together?

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i didnt start being a smartass until y'all did. just because y'all been doing this for a long time doesnt make u a genius. i just asked a simple question, y'all went thru the roof on me.

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and we gave you an answer. no it doesn't make us a genius but it does mean we know something about the proper care of a snake!

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and another thing, i am not an irresponsible owner i take very damn good care of my snakes so every one of u can kiss it.

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First of all mods should edit? Second of all you are an irresponsible owner because your not listening. You asked a question we gave you an answer and you ignored it!

The difference is that the store is trying to sell the babies. They are only kept together for as long as it takes to get them to their actual home. And, like someone said, the store is in it for the money.

There have been several reasons to not keep them together, and none for it. Ball pythons aren't social. They may follow eachother around, but it's an act of dominance, not friendship.

It's not going to be horrible if they stay together until you get another set up ready, but keeping them together for a long time really can be bad for their health. If nothing else, if one of them gets another RI, then the other will catch it and you will have two vet bills instead of one.

I think you should just try keeping them in seperate enclosures, and see how they do. Pythons don't get lonely.

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I can tell they are happy because i know them.. I can tell if they feel bad. Or anything.if it wasnt safe for them to be together then why are so many housed together?

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Bollocks! No one who is responsible about owning a snake would house them together!!!!! Pet stores only want MONEY they don't care about the snakes.