Posted by:
karm
at Thu Jan 22 16:46:02 2004 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by karm ]
To emphasize... 3 square feet for 2 AVERAGE size adult balls IS less than ideal, but is functional nonetheless. However, YES (once again) you should feel free to provided more space with the equivalent floor space of a 55 gallon aquarium much better.
Also, I must disagree in discouraging captive breeding of ball pythons. There are still tens of thousands being imported each year. That considered in addition to the rewards received in captive breeding your snakes, I always advise one to breed their ball pythons if they have the desire. These considerations are apparently subjective in nature, and we will all probably never agree. So I say it's your choice.
Here we see the true advantage of the forum... we can disagree all all can contribute in order to find the best answers. I agree that IT IS BEST to house ball pythons singly (I house all of mine singly). However, I have known others to keep pairs and breed them together long term with no problems. If you wish to do so, then I must say that the likelihood of your running into problems is low. Once again, I believe this to be a matter of choice. You don't HAVE to keep them singly if you don't want to. But if, like myself, you have more than just a couple, then keeping them single becomes much better for management and, therefore, much better for their well being.
As for the quarantine advice... certainly there could be problems in assuming a captive born ball to be healthy, and I concede that my saying "you don't have to worry about it" is NOT ACCURATE. The statement was based upon a statistical consideration. Of the hundreds of captive born snakes that I've kept, I have personally never encountered problems. But, of course, there are no guarantees. So, if you wish to be EXTRA safe, then quarantine all incoming snakes. Then again, even a quarantine period will not guarantee anything.
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RE: Actually, initially JLC but meretseger as well. - karm, Thu Jan 22 16:46:02 2004