Buying 2 BP's..need ur opinion

[Nate]

Hey...I came across a great deal in the paper today. A person is selling 2 bp's (one male and one female) and they're both about 3 years old. For $200, i get a 30 gallon tank, both snakes, heating pads, hides, etc....i get everything for that price.

Would you pay that much?

i went by to see the snakes tonight, and they're in very very good condition. the owner said they never refuse meals. i held them both, and they were both very active and very friendly. I really want to make the buy..but i have a few concerns:
For 3 years, these 2 snakes have been housed together with no problems, i assume. Should i continue to keep them together? or go ahead and separate them? The owner said they normally stay on the opposite sides of the tank...

Another question: how old do they have to be to breed? I know what the temps need to be for normal housing...but what do i need to change if i want to breed them?

[Schlyne]

Well, normal baby balls go up to 80$ at pet stores, if I recall correctly. You should seperate them unless you're going to breed them. If you buy them you might want to get them both to a vet check. They're probably fine, but the vet can make sure they don't have any parasites of any kind.

I'm not sure how much an adult normal female would go for these days, but it's probably over 100$. You could probably breed them now, but it would really depend on the weight and how healthy these guys are.

Are you sure they are male and female? It'd be good to know for sure before you try to breed them.

[DrEwTiMe]

Well as far as the price goes i would say that its a pretty damn good deal. I bought my BP for a total of 80 dollars and that was just for the snake and next day shipping. No tank tank or equipment either.

if they have been in the same tank for this long then there is really not harm in keeping it that way. As they say if it aint broke don't fix it. However, I personally would not leave them in the same cage because if anything medically goes wrong you really don't know which has the problem, not to mention it could be spread between the two. When sharing a cage any problem is now 2 problems since they are both living together. I would seperate them and see how they do, if they don't eat or seem to become stressed then bring them together again.(they may just love eachother too much

I really have no knowledge on breeding, ill save that one for someone who can give you a better answer.

[Nate]

ha yeh thanks for the advice. Yes i'm certain one is male and one is female. The only problem she told me about was the male had an RI when it was a baby..and they took it to the vet and fixed the problem quick. So, they've had them probed before

OOOOOOHHHHHH MY.......the female has a gorgeous stripe at the end of her tail...can't wait to take pictures and show everyone

[lucky8926]

If you do decide to keep them in the same enclosure since the owner said they usually stay a different ends of the tank you might want to put 2 hides on each end. That way if they don't want to be that close to each other and one is in the warm side hide the other one wont' have to freeze in the cool side hide. Did that make any sense????

[DrEwTiMe]

Ya that made sense, just so that if they would both like to go in the hot hides at the same time they can, same with cold side. Pretty good idea.

[hhw]

The female alone should be worth $200 or more if she's a good size (which she should be at 3 years old). You're better off selling the tank (and easily buying two rubbermaid enclosures with the money), but you could use it with some extra time and effort.

[BallPythonBabe448]

OOOOOOHHHHHH MY.......the female has a gorgeous stripe at the end of her tail...can't wait to take pictures and show everyone

Cool, one of my Ball Pythons has a stripe like that.

Yea its a good deal, I hope you have fun with them!

[Nate]

They owners have done a great job with keeping their snakes....they have a nice sized water dish in the middle, and hides at both ends of the cage...

The female was around 4 feet long. they have them feeding on small rats, but i could see the female going up to medium, possibly even large rats.
I'm pretty sure it's a female, cuz the 2 are the same age, but the female is almost a foot longer, and much fatter.

[Ginevive]

I would ask to watch both of them eat, before making the purchase. I know that there are people out there who will swear that a snake is feeding regularly; then again, there are people who will sell off a nonfeeder rather than put up with it. Just a pet peeve I have; from now on I will never buy a snake without seeing it feed.

Ar they fed in the same enclosure, or a seperate one?