Touchy subject that i need some light shined on....

[Adam_Wysocki]

If we were that worried about the snakes stress to that extent, and its ability to always get away from the presence of another animal #1 we wouldn't be keeping a ball python in captivity in the first place

You missed my point completely. I feel that if you choose to keep a ball python in captivity (which is certainly your choice) doing as much as possible to minimize/eliminate stress is paramount.

You could make an extremist argument for anything ... for example, if we were "that worried" about drunk drivers, we wouldn't have cars ... silly? of course, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't do everything we can to minimize the horrible dangers of drunk drivers on our roads.

#2 We would NEVER handle our snakes because that would be very specificly putting them in the situation where they loose the option of crawling away and being alone.

Short handling sessions where the animal is placed back into an enclosure by itself afterward is exactly how a ball python moving away from a stressful situation would behave. Interaction and then escape ... it fits with the animals flight instinct.

In fact, we would never even go into the same room as them where they can feel our presence.

Again, this is another extremist position ... the idea of providing a secure enclosure for the animal is to give it an environment where it feels safe when potential threats are present.

Would love to see some kind of study one of these days that somehow someway proves that ball pythons do not benefit it any way from being around other ball pythons.

It would definitely be in your best interest to speak with a biologist that specializes in animal behavior. I have and have learned volumes towards providing the best environment possible for my animals.

Until that happens, it is only a theory. Just like my theory that states the opposite.

Very true. There's certainly no way to prove what a ball python is or isn't thinking or feeling ... but, there are some theories that are generally acceptable within the biological and scientific communities and some that aren't. I can theorize until the cows come home that when no people are around my dogs speak to each other in pig latin ... is there a paper or study that shows that it's not possible? maybe, but I haven't seen one ... but that doesn't mean that people that haven't seen those papers or studies will believe my theory. Some things are just generally acceptable ... ball pythons being housed one per enclosure is certainly one of those things.

It's certainly a good discussion, but my personal experience is that when housing ball pythons one per enclosure, they do much better than group housing. Back in the late 90's, I did communal housing for about 5 years (it was a very popular husbandry method for ball pythons at the time) and for the last 10 years or so I've used individual enclosures for each snake.

It's what works for me.

Blessings,

-adam