snake together

[crystaldreams8]

Before you get all angry at me I am new to this and did alot of research when I got the snakes. The people who owned the snakes before I took them did not take care of them, the vet told me to come to a BP forum. Occording to the previous owners, the snakes have lived in the same container since they were born. They are about the same size (3.5 and 4 ft). I have never had problems with either snake being aggressive or anything but tolerant of me and each other. The previous owners told me to feed them in the same container because they do just fine together. I did try seperating them but ended up getting bit, so I just took his advice and it seems to work. Neither bothers the other. Should I house them seperatly? If there doesnt seem to be a problem then does it matter?

[cinderbird]

check out this canned reply on the subject.

Separating them most likely had nothing to do with you getting bitten..

To quote another post on the exact same topic (PS: search feature is your friend). Take this post with a grain of salt, but please understand why it is better for your animals to each have a home, than to have to share one. (This post was also made for someone who was already housing animals together).

NO, you should not.

it is NOT good for the animals to be housed together. There are a multitude of reasons for this, including but not limited to the following;

1. You didnt quarantine your new addition and if its carrying something, chances are your older animal has it too anything from parasites, worms, sickness and disease, (even if there arent any symptoms yet)

2. Did you get these animals sexed from a reliable source? Or are you trusting the pet store.. This means you could have two opposite genders and you have the chance that they could now breed early causing the female (if one is a female) problems and possibly killing her

3. Cannibalism is known to occur in a few documented cases involving BPs

4. If one of your animals is sick, you probably wont know which one because you cant tell their feces/urates/regurges apart

5. If one gets sick, they both get sick and now you have to spend 2x the amount of money in vet care.

6. Actions we see as "cuddling" are actually one snake competing with the other. They both may be eating fine now but how long is that going to last? The smaller one is especially at risk for stress which could lower immune levels. They will constantly be competing for the best hide spots and best heating spots, etc.

housing two animals in one enclosure when they arent social isnt something novice keepers should do. Each animal should have their own space to thrive. If cost is the problem then maybe you need to take one back or rehome him until you can provide a suitable environment for any animal that comes into your home.

[coldbloodaddict]

Not a good idea to feed them together!

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...-another-snake