few questions

[Ham]

Another point is that when the male is sexually mature he will get stressed out constantly trying to breed with your female, he will most likely go off food for long periods of time while he trys to mate, and can lose alot of whieght as he will be constantly moving and buggin your female. Not a healthy situation, even most breeders will only place them together during the normal breeding season and then seperate them again, being together all the time can really stress them out. Just get two tubs like was already suggested and place them on top of eachother to save on space...

[Zenllama]

Another point is that when the male is sexually mature he will get stressed out constantly trying to breed with your female, he will most likely go off food for long periods of time while he trys to mate, and can lose alot of whieght as he will be constantly moving and buggin your female. Not a healthy situation, even most breeders will only place them together during the normal breeding season and then seperate them again, being together all the time can really stress them out. Just get two tubs like was already suggested and place them on top of eachother to save on space...

And HAM strikes again! Yet Another great point! Spot on

[Zenllama]

So 1 has to go then
which 1 do i keep? i know the female will grow bigger but what other things do i need to consider?

NO!!!!!! for the love of SOD!!!!! you don't have to get rid of one. It just would be best to keep them in separate enclosures.

[Ham]

In fact I highly reccomend you keep them both, one ball python is never enough...

[Royal Larner]

but i only have 1 tank, and i dont want to keep my snake living its life stuck inside a tub. thats not fair.

[stevepoppers]

The tubs are better for them. They prefer small spaces and it's easier to take care of for you.

If you're glued to the tank, you can get some sort of nonporous divider for the middle, but the UTH under the middle and have two tanks in one.

It's going to live it's life inside it's hide anyway.

[Ham]

Ya man, tubs are great, they are the preferred method for people in the know. The snakes dont like seeing out their tank anyway, people moving around on the outside just scares them, the tubs keep better humidity and it feels nice and secure for them, the tubs you want are semiclear anyway, trust me the snakes will be plenty happy in a tub if not happier...

A divider would work as well, but I am sure the snakes will outgrow whatever tank you have now pretty quickly...

Also during the breeding season I dont know if they would notice eachother over the divider or not, just something to think about.

But other than aesthetic reasons, tubs are much better than glass tanks for the snake.

[Royal Larner]

when you say tubs, what sort of size tubs would i need?
and would i just leave the 2 tubs in the tank? or would the tank be useless?

[sarahlovesmiike]

I'd go ahead and get 34 qt sterilite or rubbermaid tubs. They will probably not outgrow them but your female might. If they won't feed for in those then go smaller. And no, the tubs don't go in the tank... Just put them on a shelf or in a rack system.


You could always get something else to put in the tank!

[jben]

IMHO, if you can afford to only house one then that's all you should have. BTW tubs are the way to go.