Two ball pythons in same tank, how should I feed them ?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

To often people throw around the term "stressed" they say the BP is stressed cause its in too big of a tank

I wonder would it be based on experience

You cannot compare wild and captivity.

What experience do you have with a BP house in a 180 or 55 gallons tank?

Why don’t you make the experiment (for a year) and see how it works for you?

3 weeks of ownership is just not enough to conclude that a large enclosure is not stressful or that it is something that people just throw around.

[Funky#2]

Two things.

Firstly, they probably ARE stressed when they're in Africa. They spend all day in dark holes in the ground where they feel safe, and when they have to come out to hunt (assuming nothing food-worthy has wandered into their hole first) they are probably very cautious. I would imagine that they stick to dense underbrush and covered areas. Only rarely would they ever actually make it into the wide open Savannah. So they keep themselves covered.

Second, these snakes that we're keeping in our homes have (at least most of them) never even seen Africa. So it is up to us to provide them with an environment as secure and comfortable as is humanly possible. We don't give them the option of choosing their own habitat, so we have to provide what we think they would choose FOR THEM.

That is why we keep them in tubs and densely decorated tanks.

I totally agree with you. I'm not saying BPs are unhappy in tubs, in fact I'm sure they feel very secure, just as secure as they would feel in a large enclosure that is cluttered and has the appropriate hides. That's the point I was trying to make in my initial post, and that is that a 55 gallon tank isn't needed but it can make a perfectly fine home for a BP.

[Mindibun]

I totally agree with you. I'm not saying BPs are unhappy in tubs, in fact I'm sure they feel very secure, just as secure as they would feel in a large enclosure that is cluttered and has the appropriate hides. That's the point I was trying to make in my initial post, and that is that a 55 gallon tank isn't needed but it can make a perfectly fine home for a BP.

Ok, I will have to agree with you on that - provided someone keeps the tank "cluttered" enough, there shouldn't be a problem with security. But on the other hand, I still think it would be far too difficult to maintain humidity and temps, thus making a large tank simply not worth it. *shrug*

[dr del]

Hi,

Just one point I havent seen mentioned - you need to get some kind of gaurd round that light bulb to prevent your snakes possibly getting burned by direct contact.

I made my own but there are some you can buy pre made - I'm not sure how you would attatch them in that tank but there will be one way I'm sure.




dr del

[Chuck]

Exactly...A 55 gallon tank is not too big, a 180 gallon tank isn't too big either, as long as you clutter it up and have the appropriate hides.

Ok, I will have to agree with you on that - provided someone keeps the tank "cluttered" enough, there shouldn't be a problem with security. But on the other hand, I still think it would be far too difficult to maintain humidity and temps, thus making a large tank simply not worth it. *shrug*

Not to mention the fact that you have to disinfect all that stuff and maintain cleanliness in a cage full of ten thousand things. You know it really sorta irks me when you take the time to teach or guide someone who has been given bad advice or has never been given any advice what so ever on how to care for there animal correctly. You spend the time trying to tell them what they are doing is going to run them into trouble at some point and how they should do it. Then you get someone who comes along and undermines you by telling them what they wanted to hear in the first place so now they think its ok to keep snakes in cages that are to big for them as long as you pack it full of enough crap.Even though that may not be exactly how you ment it thats what they take from it. I guess if Dave Barker was telling people this it would be a different story since Dave has worked with thousands of snakes so I would say unless you have worked with thousands of snakes its a bad idea to tell anyone anything that goes agents what captive husandry has taught us in the past 30 years or so.

[karma279]

Does anyone has some advice on what material (plexiglass, polystyrene, etc) should I use for separating my tank ?
Should the pythons see each other or not ?

Is a 26gal tank ok for one small BP ?

Thanks

I used plexi and silicone.... they can see each other. It should be fine.

A 26g is plenty for a small bp.... depending on how small you're talking; maybe too big.
I have mine currently in a 20g and he's a big boy.

And the large tanks are harder to heat. And the lamps kill humidity. When mine housed bps I had to spray it more frequently.... and kept the water under the lamp. But I had the lamp on a dimmer and also used a UTH so it didn't have to always burn as hard. I switched to smaller tanks because of the bulk of the 55g mainly... it was really in the way, very heavy and a little because of the extra maintanence.
It can be done... and can work just fine. Some people are just way too anal about things....
No offense to the anal

[DamienF]

I used plexi and silicone.... they can see each other. It should be fine.

A 26g is plenty for a small bp.... depending on how small you're talking; maybe too big.
I have mine currently in a 20g and he's a big boy.

And the large tanks are harder to heat. And the lamps kill humidity. When mine housed bps I had to spray it more frequently.... and kept the water under the lamp. But I had the lamp on a dimmer and also used a UTH so it didn't have to always burn as hard. I switched to smaller tanks because of the bulk of the 55g mainly... it was really in the way, very heavy and a little because of the extra maintanence.
It can be done... and can work just fine. Some people are just way too anal about things....
No offense to the anal

Thanks, I think I'll go with the plexi/silicone solution, seems fine.

My BPs are ~23 inches long, so still quite small, it should be ok.

I'm actually having the two of them in the same 55g tank, and it seems ok to maintain temps and humidity. But I think I'll just keep two UTH heat the two separate sides of the tank once divided. Ambient light should be fine too.

[Funky#2]

Not to mention the fact that you have to disinfect all that stuff and maintain cleanliness in a cage full of ten thousand things. You know it really sorta irks me when you take the time to teach or guide someone who has been given bad advice or has never been given any advice what so ever on how to care for there animal correctly. You spend the time trying to tell them what they are doing is going to run them into trouble at some point and how they should do it. Then you get someone who comes along and undermines you by telling them what they wanted to hear in the first place so now they think its ok to keep snakes in cages that are to big for them as long as you pack it full of enough crap.Even though that may not be exactly how you ment it thats what they take from it. I guess if Dave Barker was telling people this it would be a different story since Dave has worked with thousands of snakes so I would say unless you have worked with thousands of snakes its a bad idea to tell anyone anything that goes agents what captive husandry has taught us in the past 30 years or so.

This thread was started by DamienF, and he already had a 55 gallon tank, and (by the time I read it) he had given one of his BPs to his brother, and wanted to know if he could use the 55 gallon tank for just the one snake, because he didnt want to have to buy all new stuff. I dont see any reason someone cant use a 55 gallon tank as long as you make it into a secure home. I have agreed several times that a large tank is not needed, however you can make it work.

[DamienF]

Thanks Funky#2 !
I kept the 55gal tank, but instead of giving my brother one of my BPs, I just divided the tank in half, just like karma279 advised. And I think it's working well.

Here some pictures of the tank now:
(the water bowls aren't there yet, but soon)



And, as a supplement, some pics of Nelson :

[karma279]

It looks great!