Housing BP together

[KellyAnne]

Hiyaa, just made an account here so bare with me, not completely sure what im doing so im sorry if this is in the wrong category.

Anyway I had a cornsnake for about 4/5 years and recently had my neighbours since she was evicted so I have 2 corn snakes and I love them to bits! But I've always wanted a BP!!! And so recently a couple not to far from me were selling all their snakes asap because they were moving. They've always housed the pythons together and never had a problem? (same size of course) I've always read housing them together causes stress on the snakes. 1's female called Elsie and the other they thingk is male and they've been together well over a year (Elsie was housed with a spider python before that who was sold) So anyway I brought the vivarium stack and the snakes they were selling. Its a lovely size, very high to (3th long, 4ft high, 2 1/2ft deep) just a rough guess on the size.

Only had them maybe 2 weeks ish but when i got them I was told heating equipment was with it all but it was only the heat mats, which is okay i will get there lights soon but looking at there pic they only had aspes bedding, a heatmat and water. I'm slowly making it alot better for them, proper hides, moss to help shedding (they were both shedding really bad) terrarium bedding (bark) and will soon have things in there so they can climb everywhere, eventually i want to go over the top and put a little waterfall in there with nice deep water haha. I will make it amazing for them.

Im just still a little worried maybe because they are housed together and I know it isnt ideal. I know people have had them together for years and never had a problem. They seem okay so far, of course I feed them separately, I've been watching them and they've not tried to attack eachother or anything like that. I have seen vids of pythons in the same viv fighting. But these 2 seem fine together, maybe because ones female and the other male?

Also I did say to them Im worried cause I dont want snake babies haha but she told be its quite hard breeding them so the chances are slimish?? is this true, I know nothing about breeding haha

Anyway thought I'd post for any advice anyone can give, worse comes to worse I will have to get rid of one since I have no room at all for another viv.

Thanks

[voodoolamb]

Separate the snakes.

https://www.google.com/search?q=ball...jK0vDgeBdzM%3A

And breeding is as easy as putting 2 snakes together during the right time/ Of course when you dont plan the breeding around the proper maturity and weight of the snakes in question. The male can breed to death and the female can have complications such as becoming egg bound which can also lead to her death.

[redshepherd]

Being male and female or not doesn't make a difference for snakes. They need to be separated. It's "quite hard breeding them" because they are both stressed and shouldn't be housed together. Stress in a ball python is not necessarily visible.

It may look "fine" to inexperienced owners, just because nobody is getting hurt, but they need to compete for the warmest spot, the most ideal hide, and the risk of cannibalism is something that happens within a few minutes, and it kills them both. The one who eats the other doesn't live either. Just because nothing "happened" visibly to you yet isn't a reason.

You'll also need a thermostat for your heat pad, or you risk burns too:
https://www.amazon.com/MTPRTC-ETL-Ce...stat+hydrofarm

[KellyAnne]

Thanks for replying,
Yeah I think I will most likely get rid of one, I have no room for another viv.
I do have a thermostat for the heat mats so thats okay.
Again thanks for replying just thought I'd ask on here where Im sure everyones more experienced.

[KellyAnne]

Separate the snakes.

https://www.google.com/search?q=ball...jK0vDgeBdzM%3A

And breeding is as easy as putting 2 snakes together during the right time/ Of course when you dont plan the breeding around the proper maturity and weight of the snakes in question. The male can breed to death and the female can have complications such as becoming egg bound which can also lead to her death.

oh wow bloody hell >.<
Yeah I did think it would be easy, females 3ish and not sure on the male.
Thanks for replying, thought I'd ask on here for more experienced answers haha
Will have to get rid of one I think, thanks!

[chrid16371]

oh wow bloody hell >.<
Yeah I did think it would be easy, females 3ish and not sure on the male.
Thanks for replying, thought I'd ask on here for more experienced answers haha
Will have to get rid of one I think, thanks!

You can put the other bp in a plastic tub with it's own heat mat and thermostat to save space or get rid of the viv all together and put both in their own tub to save a lot more space.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

[Neal]

Yea, you can do several adjustments to keep both of them, but I would definitely house them separate. Also you may want to avoid getting lighting as BP's don't need lighting and that can possibly serve to stress them out.

If you want to get heating other than a mat, look into getting a Ceramic Heat Emitter but you need to put it on some type of dimmer switch, or a thermostat. Also you need to make sure that the dome you're using has a ceramic base, because CHE's get very hot.

[wolfy-hound]

And don't put the ceramic heat inside the viv, nor the bulbs if you go with lamps.

Also post pictures of your new pet(s). We like pictures.