Housing - Red Tail & Ball *plz read*

[maniac]

I currently have a 66 QT container for my red tail.. The temperature goes no were past 80 degrees during the day , and i only have a heating pad to heat my enclosure. (With a room lamp providing light heat) I feel as if maybe this isnt enough for my red tail and i was thinkin of housing my Boa and Ball in the same enclosure and was wondering if this is a good idea?.. My ball just got over RI and is eating regulary has no symptons of anything and seems to be back to perfect health. I was wondering if anybody knew if this would be a good idea because my balls tank is a really good enviroment for now and has good light with Repti Sun 2.0 which serves well on my snakes immune system. Should I house them together for the time being?.. Or is a 78 - 80 degree day time temperature in a 66 Qt tank good enough..

[Wizill]

never house two different species together. just try another method of heating the bci's enclosure.

Whoa......I see a few things that need to be brought to the surface.....

1-Housing different species together is one of the biggest no-nos of snake keeping. Never do this under any circustances.
2-I hope you have more than just a UV light as heating for your snakes.....78-80 temps are WAYYYYYYYYY too low, especially for daytime temps.....those should be the minimum for the cool side of the tank.
3-UV lighting is completely unecessary for snakes.....they are nocturnal and get all their nutrients from their prey. Who told you it was "good for their immune system" cuz thats a new one to me LOL.

[Soul_Of_Fire]

No man never house the same snakes together as they both have different needs plus you really shouldn't be housing two of the same snake species unless for mating purposes only. Your enclosure is good enough for now just work on obtaining a more suitible enclosure for the reptile. And for the BP you don't need a UVB lighting unit as they are nocturnal. But to each they're own it doesn't hurt the animal. Personally I keep my BP and BCI in a heat lamp heated enclosure. But undertank heaters also are just as effective.

[JamminJonah]

Here is a link about housing two snakes together - this is a link about housing two snakes of the same species together...
http://www.ball-pythons.net/index.ph...r=asc&start=15

Here is a link about IBD something very likely to happen if you house two DIFFERENT species together (boa and python) [just follow the link in the first post by Rusty)-
http://www.ball-pythons.net/PNphpBB2...ic-t-2752.html

Good question though! This one comes up quite a bit - keep in mind that all of us are here to continue learning more about housing and caring for our herps! Thanks for asking!

EDIT: Just so you know IBD is deadly and can be hosted by boas without any ill effects but is completely deadly and without a cure if it infects a python - so moral of the story if you house a boa and python together it is very possible your python could get IBD and die or have to be euthanized because it is uncureable - also housing two snakes together is never really a good idea (see top link for that info)

[QuenteK25]

Hey Maniac, one more small thing. This is the redtail you just ordered isn't it? If that is the case for the safety of your BP and any other Herps you might have, the redtail needs to be kept far away from the others (quarantined) even in a separate room if you can. 90 days is recommended until you know for sure he has no problems yet to surface, things as simple as mites, to much worse internal problems could be passed to your other herps if the new redtail were to have them and be too close. Small chance yes, but not a chance worth taking.

Excellent point, Kent. Quarantine is very important when acquiring a new animal so as to not spread any potential health complications to your current animal(s).