Water Bowl

[lovemysnakes]

Hi,
I have 2 Royal pythons 1 female she is just over 9 months old, i have had her now for nearly 9 months, and 1 male, he is about 4 months old, i have only had him for 6 weeks. both are good feeders although the small male did take some Persuading at first to get him eating but he feeds fine now. they are in a 3ft wooden viv have hides, wood etc, i use the ceramic heat lamp with pulse stat, temps on the warm side are 90-95° Fahrenheit with 80-85° Fahrenheit on the cool side. there is a water bowl in the viv, now this is my worry, this last week or so both my snakes have been spending long periods in there water bowl now i know this is common around shedding time, i will add that when they go down for shed i do add to the viv a container of damp spagnum moss, i have now started to remove the water bowl at night because if i dont they both lie in it night and day and when i go into them they are both feel realy cold, i have searched the net for info about spending long periods in there water bowls but didnt get very much info, it did say that prolonged periods in there water bowls could be a sign of infestation of mites, i have checked them both and there are no signs of mites, both are in very good condition. i spot clean the viv then every 3 weeks i take out all the substrate and thoroughly clean the viv from top to bottom, the substrate i use is Repti Bark. would be grateful for any advise

[lovemysnakes]

Just noticed i have posted this in the wrong forum, so if one of the mods could move it for me, thanks.

[rabernet]

It's unclear by your post, but are you housing them together? If so, you need to house them separately. Many, many threads on that subject that you can search on.


Also, my experience is only with one ball python thus far. He has never soaked before a shed.

Check the husbandry forum and you may be able to get some answers.

[tigerlily]

moved

It does sound like you have them housed together. If that's the case, I would definitely recommend separating them. There are no good reasons to house them together and plenty to not to. I wouldn't remove their water bowls at night. They are nocturnal and this will be the time that they more often drink. You don't want a dehydrated bp.

It sounds like you may have a bit a stress going on. If they feel that cool, then maybe your temps aren't right? Do you measure your temps with a digital thermometer? No strips or dial thingys. Hopefully this will help.

[lovemysnakes]

Thanks, yes i use ETI Digi therms one in the cool spot and one in the warm spot. i have now placed there water bowl in the middle of the viv, Both snakes live well together, is there a reason they should'nt be housed together? only i was told this was fine. i dont feed them both at the same time in the viv. one snake is taken out whilst the other feeds visa versa. i have also added a better hide to the viv now so i'll see if this also helps.
I will go and check out your other forums, Thank you.

[tigerlily]

There are several good reasons to house snakes individually. First off is the transmission of parasites and diseases. If one gets sick, you'll have twice the vet bill. Second is, there are known documented cases of cannablism in bps. Thirdly it's just another stress on the snakes. Isn't that enough reason to house them individually?

Please understand were not attacking you, but that we want you to have the best information possible so that your snakes will have the best environment possible. A lot of the information out there is outdated. A lot more is known now about bps now, which indicates that they are better housed separately.

[lovemysnakes]

I do understand thats fine but this info is different to what i was told, with snakes as with a lot of other things there is so much contradictory infamation about, yes i do have room for another viv infact we are just about to build a bigger one so now i must rethink my plans now i have this new info. Again thank you

[Adam_Wysocki]

I do understand thats fine but this info is different to what i was told, with snakes as with a lot of other things there is so much contradictory infamation about, yes i do have room for another viv infact we are just about to build a bigger one so now i must rethink my plans now i have this new info. Again thank you

There is a lot of bad information out there about snakes. Fortunately, there is a lot of good information available too if you can sort through the garbage and look at things analytically.

Ball pythons live in the wild as solitary creatures with no social structure. That is a known fact that no one can dispute. So you have to ask yourself, what benefit is there in housing them together? .... None, other than saving money on additional caging and heating which is a benefit to the keeper not the snakes.

If there's even a remote chance that housing them separately will reduce stress, lessen the chance for possible disease transmission, and eliminate the possibility of one eating the other under some conditions and ZERO benefit to the snakes to keep them together ... wouldn't it make sense to keep them separate? Even if you've been told that it's "OK" to keep them together?

Just some food for thought.

-adam

[lovemysnakes]

totaly agree as i want the best for my babys, just to point out that i did'nt house them together to save money the only reason i did was because i was'nt aware of the reasons that have been pointed out to me. I am the kind of person who belives in not buying a pet of any sort if you cant afford to look after them porperly. i would never knowingly do anything to any animal if i thoght they would be stressed by it, but now i have read your comments then i can put this to rights. and once again thank you for your replys

[rabernet]

i would never knowingly do anything to any animal if i thoght they would be stressed by it, but now i have read your comments then i can put this to rights. and once again thank you for your replys

And we love people here who care about the well-being of their pets and are open minded to the advice offered! There are people here (like Adam) with 20+ years of hands on experience in keeping ball pythons. I never take their advice lightly!