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Re: Can 2 females and 1 male live together?
 Originally Posted by rimelame
Hello.
I currently have 2 normals in a 125gal tank. They have lived in the same tank for nearly a decade and seem to be fine with it. In fact, the female has even had a few 'children', so stress isn't really a problem. she eats large rats, and he eats medium.
I'd like to get another, bumblebee, ball python. Once the new girl is around 1500-2000 grams, would be be ok to put them all together?
Yes, you can. They will stress out during the new introductions, though--your current pair are ONLY used to one another, and the new snake is most likely ONLY used to living by itself. And age is a factor: first, because it's easier for them to get used to other bps when they're younger, (just like it's easier for them to get used to mice or f/t food). Second, while I house my non-breeding boys together, and I've had no problems since the first encounter, I STILL won't house snakes of vastly different ages/sizes together. My big bps never seem inclined to mistreat the hatchlings when I do let them interact, but the worst case scenario just LOOKS too easy--a 1000 gram bp could yawn and -accidentally- swallow a 100 gram hatchling.
(I do feed separately. I have a collection of old shoe boxes and amazon boxes, and I bring them out once a week at feeding time. Hatchlings are just too HUNGRY, you know? They're more hungry than they are smart, and I have nightmares about two of them starting in on the same mouse, and winding up with one snake inside its buddy. And meanwhile the older snakes often won't strike at a mouse if they have line-of-sight to another bp.)
If you really want to try this, I recommend buying the new girl her own tank and introducing the older snakes to the new girl separately, on HER turf. You'll see them actively avoiding one another for several days to a week, and then slowly acclimating to the point where they're happy to share a hide. And then maybe try all three together in the new girl's tank before you move back them to original tank--I'm not certain of the dynamics, but the only two times I've had ball pythons snap at one another, it was the one whose space was being invaded doing the snapping.
With all introductions, in-tank or out-of-tank, make sure you're in the same room for the first hour or two to keep an eye on things. If you see the new snake desperately trying to get out and get away, LET THEM OUT. If the intro goes badly, it is possible to try again in another week or two, but I'd try from the other direction (ie. new snake meets old snake on old snake's turf, instead of reverse.)
Last edited by loonunit; 08-14-2010 at 09:06 PM.
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