Bringing home a new Ball

[JesseJames]

I volunteer at a pet shop and I got a 3ish year old female ball (she's right at 48") a few weeks ago, today a guy walked in and gave me a 1 year old (and some months) ball.

How do you think my adult female will take to having another, younger male in her tank? She's currently in a 20 gallon, and seems to be quite active, and yet docile at times as well.

I have a rather large water bowl in place, and good humidity. I know I'll need another hide, but other than that, what am I missing, or is this just a bad idea all together?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

How about quarantine? Do you really want to jeopardize the health of your current animal by putting another one in it's tank?

How about upgrading your 4 feet female to a bigger enclosure (20 gallons is a tight small for her), and give the small tank to the new addition and quarantining them as they should?

Also you realize that if you were to house them together (which is not recommended) you need to be prepared for what's to come.

[SlitherinSisters]

Don't put them together. If you do that you are going to have to deal with eggs and that's definitely not for beginners-they take a lot of time, knowledge, and money. IMO ball pythons should not be kept together and to be honest I really don't believe there is any advantage to doing so. Tanks can be expensive with heat lamps and everything, but if that is the main problem, rats aren't exactly cheap either. If it's space/money/time whatever, go with a couple of tubs. All you should need is a heat mat under 1/3rd of the tub-and hides/water of course. Since they are adults, and you hopefully aren't planning to breed until you get some experience, you can go with 28 qt tubs (unless the female looks squashed in it). I only use my really big tubs, 41 qts for my adult breeder females so they have plenty of room to thermoregulate.

If you have any questions on tubs and how to set them up, temps, etc. just ask. There are also plenty of care sheets on this site if you look around for them.

And oh yes, quarantine!

[JesseJames]

So far so good, they've both done very well together. They seem happy together and stay close.

I believe the male is too young to mate with her, but you never know (and in this case I actually don't).

I guess this just reaffirms the fact that I need to build a larger plexi environment for the two of them.

Oh, and should I end up with a clutch, they will probably end up going to Freakie_Frog, as he is our breeder to begin with. He'd benefit from it much more than I would, and knows more about that whole bit to begin with.

[dr del]

Hi,

I have a male that sired a cluch at around 425g and under a year old.

You should probably have asked Ed about the housing thing - he would have explained to you why it was a bad idea as well.

Best of luck and I hope everything turns out ok.

Now go read up on competition and dominance behaviour in BP's.


dr del

[Simple Man]

This question must be answered a dozen times a day. Perhaps a mod or admin can make a huge CAPS BOLD thread sticky called "HOUSE YOUR ANIMALS SEPERATELY" Sounds like most of the posts above are already sending you in the right direction. Snakes aren't social animals.

Regards,

B

[DellaF]

I try so hard to do what is best for my snakes. That is the main reason I joined this forum. Why do you think your snakes like sharing the same tank. You work at a pet store would you tell new snake owners its ok to put all of your snakes in the same tank just make sure they have there own hides. Take time to read the advice you are asking for.

[JesseJames]

We have an adult female pastel that is typically housed with multiple adult BP's (both male and female). She hasn't sold yet, as such she has "house guests" for weeks/months at a time without issue. We Also had a pair of Columbian Boa's in the same environment, they were inseparable, & did not like to be away from one another. I absolutely refuse to believe it's impossible for them to be sociable with another like species.


If I hadn't personally experienced two opposite sex BP's in the same environment cohabitate I would not have considered it.

My inquiry was more guided toward the age difference between the two. He's quite a bit smaller than she is (I don't have a scale to measure weight). I have yet to combine two of such varying age, but it appears that all is well.

[ericeod]

JesseJames,
The thing is that 99.99% of all members here will tell you it is in the snakes' best interest to house them separate. Here are a few reasons why:

First, a new snake brought into the environment of another can be dangerous if the new snake has a parasite, viral/fungal infection etc. Due to the slower metabolism of reptiles, there might not be signs/symptoms exhibited right away with the new snake. Many people have lost multiple snakes from not quarantining their snakes.

Second, if a snake should happen to regurgitate or produce questionable stool (such as bacteria/blood present) you would likely not be able to determine which snake did it.

Third, snakes have a reptilian brain (scientifically speaking) and are not happy/sad but rather notthreatened or content. They do not exhibit social behaviors, but people associate human characteristics based on how they act (Anthropomorphism). What is happening when you see the snakes sharing the same space (cuddling) is just that both animals are competing for the most ideal warm spot to self-regulate optimum temps.

Fourth, it is much harder, and takes a dedicated owner providing constant cleaning and care to maintain a healthy and clean habitat for multiple snakes. With two or more snake, it means the bedding will be soiled at least twice as often.

I am no expert, and have only learned the above through research, study and following the generally practiced quarantine practices to ensure the best chance for a healthy/secure environment for my snakes.

[Johan]

Im a new BP owner and a relatively new snake owner in general. However, I do a lot of research into things I am interested in (guess being in University for 7 yrs has perks). From all this research I have found that when snakes live together, more often than not it is a new owner or a negligent owner. I have not seen a well recognized snake breeder or care taker that does so up to this point. I am not saying they do not exist, but they keep quiet if they do. Take this as you wish.