How often can you move a ball pythons tank?

[Cadance]

Howdy,

I have hit a rough patch with money while in university and find myself moving frequently, every 2-3 months and sometimes even monthly. I try to keep my snakes in at my friends place so I don't move the tanks more than a few times for those periods. I don't want to stress them out and was hoping somebody could give me peace of mind. Will this cause too much stress it affects their health? I have a ball python and a corn snake following husbandry guides found on this forum. Both fully grown and eat regularly (well semi regularly for the python). I keep the humidity and temps constant but the tanks themselves just relocate.


Any advice appreciated, thank you in advance

[Bogertophis]

I sure wish we could give you a definitive answer but that's impossible. All snakes have their own personality & tolerance for things- they're not all the same- so less moving is less risk- that's about all I can say. In general, most snakes show signs of stress when they're moved & it can take a month or more before they start to relax. Even when you move them within your own home, as I've done with a couple snakes recently, they know something's different- even when they've just moved across the same room they were always in. It's a good sign, of course, if they continue to eat.

[Homebody]

Howdy,

I have hit a rough patch with money while in university and find myself moving frequently, every 2-3 months and sometimes even monthly. I try to keep my snakes in at my friends place so I don't move the tanks more than a few times for those periods. I don't want to stress them out and was hoping somebody could give me peace of mind. Will this cause too much stress it affects their health? I have a ball python and a corn snake following husbandry guides found on this forum. Both fully grown and eat regularly (well semi regularly for the python). I keep the humidity and temps constant but the tanks themselves just relocate.


Any advice appreciated, thank you in advance

I would imagine moving enclosures would be less disturbing than changing enclosures. At least there immediate environment remains the same.

[Malum Argenteum]

My intuition is to do whatever is more convenient or preferable to you in this particular situation, unless you see some negative effect in the snakes that you want to prevent. Living at a friend's place isn't necessarily without its risks, either.

I'm packing up for an expo this morning -- packing a few dozen reptiles into tiny cups, driving them around for an hour or two, putting them on a bright cold table where everyone in the place is picking up their cup and poking at it, then driving them around again, then as efficiently as possible unpacking them late tonight.

Do they stress out? Yes, clearly. Do they get over it? Yes, every single one gets back into the swing of things, and some of them do this many times before they find their "forever home" (being sort of cynical here; people flip their herps a lot).

This is a slightly different situation (temporary but substantial disorientation, then back to their familiar quarters), but should illustrate that reptiles are pretty resilient. I have only found one snake that I can't do this with (one of my rainbow boas that I took as a display animal a couple times), since he stresses out way too much.