ball python with corn snake

[monty62]

This is my first post. I have two ball pythons, a 4 ft. 2 yr. old and an 18" 6 month old. They are constantly intertwined and love each other. I built a 6 ft.w x 4' d x 6 ft. tall enclosure with an undermount water pool and a 4ft. climbing tree. They live better than I do! My questions is that my brother has corn snakes that are about to have babies and wanted to know if ball pythons are compatible with corn snakes? I would like to add 2 baby corns with the two pythons that I have. Is that a good or bad idea?

[rabernet]

BAD idea, as is the housing of your two ball pythons together. Trust me, they do NOT love each other. When they are intertwined, they are competing for the best spot in the enclosure.


The best analogy I've seen was what Adam said one time. Two kids are playing, one decides they want a cookie. The other wasn't even thinking about a cookie, and there's just one cookie. Now they both want the cookie. They fight over it. One wins, and one loses.

Same thing with your snakes, one decides to go to another part of the enclosure, the other follows, because hey, it must be better over here if my cage mate is going there. One is winning, one is losing.

Besides the fact that if one gets sick, they both get sick, you won't be able to tell who's feces is who's, and a whole host of problems.

Time to separate them. One snake (regardless of species) per enclosure!

[rabernet]

Oh, and welcome to the forum!

[JLC]

Very bad idea. Very bad. First off, they have different husbandry requirements...corns like it a lot cooler than bp's do. Second off, mature bp's could possibly crush baby corns simply by laying on top of them. Third off, while unlikely, it is entirely possible that the bp's may make a snack out of the corns. Forth off, bp's are NOT social creatures and would be unduly stressed out by the addition of more animals into their enclosure.


It is not even ideal to have two bp's sharing an enclosure. What may look like "cuddling" and "loving" to you is actually two snakes competing for the favored spots in the tank, and possibly one trying to exert dominance over the other. It is unwise to apply typical mammal-pet feelings/needs to snakes because they are in no way the same. If your snakes are growing well...both eating regularly...and shedding properly...then "living together" may be working for you, but it is not the best thing possible for the snakes. In the wild, they live completely alone, except for a brief "togetherness" to mate...and that's it.

Also, with two snakes living together, if one gets sick, it is likely to pass it on to its cagemate. And if one has a sickly looking poop, you won't be able to tell which one it came from. And lastly...again, it is unlikely, but still within the realm of probability, that the larger snake may make a meal out of the smaller one.

The choice is obviously up to you, but if you truly want the very best for your snakes, you will get them each their own enclosures.

[frankykeno]

Welcome to BPNet. You're likely to hear this a lot so hopefully my post won't overlap on others giving you the same advice.

Your Ball Pythons don't "love" each other. The constant intertwining is an attempt by one snake to dominate the other snake...to get the best spots in your enclosure...and it can and will lead to problems. Maybe not now, but it will. Snakes are not sociable creatures like dogs or cats or other animals that have a pack or herd instinct. They rarely bother with each other except briefly to mate.

Kept together you risk domination, cannabalism, feeding accidents, spread of disease, spread of mites/ticks, accidental or immature attempts to breed, extra and higher vet bills, just to name a few issues. Mixing species like BP's and cornsnakes would not work either and is never recommended.

We have a lovely caresheet here as well as forums full of great information easily accessible with our search engine. Please feel free to ask any questions you might have and again, welcome to BPNet.

[Ginevive]

lol; snakes are incapable of love. Keeping them together is not a good idea because, should one of them develop an illness or parasites (or already have these maladies before you buy it) the other one is sure to get it also. This will double your vet bills. All the other points I had, Raber already mentioned; please invest in seperate enclosures and please don't mix species by any means!

[BPythonguy]

u should seperate them into 20 gallon aquariums. bps get stressed and sometimes stop eating if their cage is to big

[ddbjdealer]

u should seperate them into 20 gallon aquariums.

Or, alternatively, you could use appropriately sized rubbermaid/sterilte plastic containers... but whatever caging system you employ, it would be preferred by the animals inhabitting them if it was their own. (But I'm guessing you got that already from the other posters before me)

Welcome to BP.net! It's a great community with lots of friendly, helpful people that have years and years of experience raising these wonderful animals that we all love so much.

[mr~python]

better yet, tubs with flexwatt.

EDIT: lol, same time for the second time today!

[Blu Mongoose]

Welcome to the site! Hope we can help you out here. Everyone is great here. Don't be put off by so many giving advice at once. We are all on this site for the benefit of our pets. You couldn't come across a better group of people than what we have here. I have found more help here than I ever expected. Seperating your snakes is the best thing for them. Less stress, amongst other reasons. We also would like to see pics of your snake kids, never too many pics!!