two ball pythons in one tank?

[clint6969]

i have seen several animal videos/in person ball python tanks with two snakes in one tank.usually these are bigger tanks.
i want to get another python but would it be a good idea to add another python. my current ball python is a normal male about 4 feet in a 75 gallon.

[TheSnakeGuy]

I'll let Aaron(TheSerpentMerchant) handle this one.

[Daybreaker]

I don't recommend housing two together personally unless for breeding. I would get another new tank or tub for a new addition and practice proper quarantine: you can't practice safe QT by putting a new snake right in with an established one. I'd do a search for housing two BPs together, there's many threads on the topic.

[Annarose15]

Divide the tank with a piece of plexiglass and set it up as two separate enclosures. 75gal is more space than an adult BP will ever need.

[Slashmaster]

If you have the means to provide a new animal its own enclosure, you should do definitely that. Cohabituating allows for quite a few issues without any real benefit (besides money, but these are animals we're talking!):

- spread of disease, if one animal gets sick, the other will get it too

- inability to tell who defecated, shed, peed, etc. If something looks unusual or someone regurged, who knows which bodily product came from which animal?

- competition of resources that causes stress -- one snake will usually lay on top of the other in struggle for good basking spots, like over the heat tape

- feeding stress - you can't feed them in the enclosure, so you have to separate them in different boxes, which causes unnecessary stress

[JaGv]

- spread of disease, if one animal gets sick, the other will get it too

- inability to tell who defecated, shed, peed, etc. If something looks unusual or someone regurged, who knows which bodily product came from which animal?

- competition of resources that causes stress -- one snake will usually lay on top of the other in struggle for good basking spots, like over the heat tape

- feeding stress - you can't feed them in the enclosure, so you have to separate them in different boxes, which causes unnecessary stress

you can keep them both in the enclosure, but as mention above those would be problems.

[Mike41793]

I wouldnt reccommend it unless you have alot of experience with herps/the specific species.

[Void]

I've kept two BP together and had NO problems whatsoever. I currently keep the following together : 2 Bredli, 2 Dumerils Boa, 2 Red Tail Boa, Yellow Anaconda and Half dwarf Burmese, 2 GTP, 2 Jungle Carpets, another pair of Jungle Carpets, more Carpets. I've NEVER had a snake try to eat the other snake. Never had them "fight " over anything. Never had ANYTHING bad happen. So yes, it CAN be done without anything bad happening. A lot of people who say "it should never be done" are just repeating what someone else told them not to do and most of those people are just repeating what they were told.

[Michelle1221]

Personally I would not do it. It's much easier to monitor the individual animals health when they are separated. Also you never know when those animals who have gotten along suddenly decide not to and good chance I would not be around to separate them before injury.

However I do have two crested geckos: non breeding and non prey eating females who currently live together. Oddly enough I had the one and she was doing great. I purchased another from a breeder that had been living with another female. Once she arrived and was living in quarantine she was not eating and losing weight. Geckos can take a little while to settle in but i was concerned because our others had quicker adjustment times. After a few weeks and after talking with the breeder we took her to the vet. We got deworming meds and after another month we got her weight to hold steady. The breeder had mentioned she lived with another female and we both wondered if it was possible she was lonely. We waited another two weeks while her weight held steady and placed her with the other female. We changed the enclosure around and changed the bedding and gave them more hiding spots and two feed dishes.
They were checked daily and weighed weekly. In the first week she gained two grams by a months time she gained 10 grams. They are still living together and both are doing great. Checked over every few days and weighed biweekly.
So for some species I guess it's possible.

[aalomon]

I've kept two BP together and had NO problems whatsoever. I currently keep the following together : 2 Bredli, 2 Dumerils Boa, 2 Red Tail Boa, Yellow Anaconda and Half dwarf Burmese, 2 GTP, 2 Jungle Carpets, another pair of Jungle Carpets, more Carpets. I've NEVER had a snake try to eat the other snake. Never had them "fight " over anything. Never had ANYTHING bad happen. So yes, it CAN be done without anything bad happening. A lot of people who say "it should never be done" are just repeating what someone else told them not to do and most of those people are just repeating what they were told.

Problem with this is it only has to happen once, so why risk it? There is NO reason to house two snakes together except someone thinks it looks nice. There is no benefit to the snake, but a list of risks. Can it be done, of course. Should it.......