Posted by:
amarilrose
at Fri Feb 23 08:57:35 2007 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by amarilrose ]
I can't tell you for certain what will stress your snake and what won't. You said he is 3 years old, right?
Would you know if he was kept in a large cage or a breeder's rack system before you bought him? I ask because he is large enough, that there is a fair chance the 55 gallon tank wouldn't be too big... but if he has lived all of his life in a rack system, he won't be used to anything like that kind of space and there is a good chance that that much space would be scary to him.
My 3-year-old female lives in a 33L tank, which is only slightly smaller than the footprint of a 55. Since we are talking about ground-dwelling snakes, it is the footprint of the cage that matters most.
Definitely, if you try the whole 55 gallon tank on him, ensure that he has plenty of hiding places to increase his feelings of security - and snakes like to have cramped places to hide in too, so don't use a whole bunch of hides that he 'rattles around' in. 
There are a few signs snakes will give that they are feeling stressed, but a lot of it isn't easy to explain. If you run into feeding problems after changing his cage, there is fair chance that stress would be to blame, and you should scale back his cage. That being said, this is still late winter, and plenty of mature Ball Pythons are fussy about eating at this time of year anyway. 
Others here may be able to advise you better on this. I just know that few tank dividers are up to the kind of push-and-shove exploration that a snake will probably use - and therefore the tank divider may well turn out to be more trouble than it is worth.
Whatever you decide to do, watch his reactions. If he takes to hiding not only all day but also all night for over a week... it may be because he feels overwhelmed... or he's just a lazy BP. 
A lot of these little nuances are something you just need to develop a feel for.
Good luck with him! I'm not sure how helpful this may have been.
~Rebecca
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0.1 Dumeril's Boa '04 (Courtney)
1.2 Ball Pythons
[1.0 '05 Orange Hypo (Specter)]
[0.1 '05 Het Orange Hypo (Sylvia)]
[0.1 '03 Normal (Sue)]
0.2 American Pit Bull Terriers (40lb darling lap dogs:Brandy&Mara)
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RE: to amilarose - amarilrose, Fri Feb 23 08:57:35 2007