Housing multiple snakes together

[Generationshell]

I'm asking this because I am just really curious. Not because I have multiple snakes housed together.
I see a lot of posts saying don't house 2 bps together because it can be really stressful.
However I see a lot of breeders with hatchlings and younger snakes being housed together as well as when I go to my exotic store.

Is there a reason why it is okay to house younger snakes together? But not adult snakes?

[llovelace]

Hatchlings are housed together only until their first shed, as far as your exotics store, well they need to read up on proper husbandry for BP's. Adult snakes will compete for the best heat source, hide etc. there will be a dominance issue. I rescued two female BP's that were the same age last year one weighed 731g and the other 1875g. they were housed together.

[rabernet]

They're housed together at pet stores because that's a temporary housing situation until they get sold.

[AkHerps]

Most Pet stores don't know what they are doing. I mean, what pet store is going to house the 20 imported baby ball pythons they get in their own enclosures when you can put them all in one cage and have the other 19 to stuff full of other reptiles.

Seriously, most reptiles don't enjoy each others company, there actions are purely motivated by instinct. Survival of the fittest can happen in captivity too. One snake is larger and more dominant than the other, therefore it gets all the best heating and territory, while the less fit snake gets the left overs and is less fit.

[seeya205]

For stores, it is just due to storage space! You as a responsible pet owner should do whatever makes the pet happy even if it costs you more money! If you cannot afford to provide proper housing and care then you should not get the pet! I am not saying you, just in general!

[anatess]

We go by the nature of the pet and try to maintain conditions as much as we can to let the pet thrive on their natural instincts.

For example, a Labrador Retriever (yeah, the dog) need running space. So, people getting a Labrador usually have a big yard. If not, then they run with the dog for miles a day. If an owner cannot provide this, they don't get a Labrador - they get a pekinese or something.

This is the same with ball pythons. Ball pythons are solitary animals. Therefore, we put them in their own enclosures. If we can't do that, then we don't get a ball python.

The thing is, getting a big yard or running miles a day with a dog is a lot more complicated than getting another plastic tub for the 2nd ball python. So, at least in this forum, a lot of members are harsh on people who do not house their ball pythons separately.

And just like pet owners who do not have a yard and do not run more than 20 feet and get a Labrador anyway and insists that their Labrador is happy and healthy, there are those ball python owners who house their ball pythons together and insist that their snakes are happy and healthy as well. Sure, the Labrador could probably survive without a yard or a ball python can probably survive with another ball python in the same enclosure, but why risk it?

My 2 cents...

[loonunit]

It's "easier" to do it with hatchlings because they take up less space than adults to begin with... but it's actually even more important to feed young snakes separately. Young snakes are generally much more hungry than they are smart, and much more likely to make mistakes like latching onto the same mouse at the same time.

Frankly, I kind of think they're equally "difficult" for me as a caretaker--separating at feeding time is as much work as cleaning up multiple tubs. But I do house some of my animals together, and in my experience what stresses ball pythons out is any change in living situation. ie. a snake that has been living alone in a tub for years does not deal well with being moved into a big, spacious party tank--but conversely the party animals also behave in an almost depressed fashion when I move them into isolated tubs. Stress is difficult to gauge, of course, except in terms of eating habits and maybe night-time activity... but that's what I've seen.

One thing in favor of younger snakes: they do adapt to changes in housing situation much faster than older snakes, just like they typically adapt more easily to a change in feeders. An older adult may be stressed for months.

[loonunit]

Oh, but another thing that's going on with most communal housing arrangements that doesn't get a lot of attention? Is glass. Most tubs/racks have semi-opaque containers, while most multiple-animal situations are in large tanks. Even without another animal present, the glass seems to give ball pythons vertigo. Especially young ones: you wanna see a hatchling bp have a complete nervous breakdown, move it from a small tub into a 60 gallon tank with too little furniture. FREAK. OUT.

[wilomn]

It can be done successfully.

It is done successfully.

Anyone who says otherwise is wrong.

Whether or not you, or anyone, should do so themselves is another question, which has not been asked in this thread.