First off, Todd, I respect you and thank you for your insights and opinions that you put to good use on these forums. It is greatly appreciated.



I think sometimes regular people on these forums lose sight of the fact that not all kingsnake.com users are breeders. Alot of them are actual pet owners. It would be wonderful to be able to keep our animals safe from diseases, unwanted bugs, scars, bad sheds, feeding problems, etc. Unfortunately we are dealing with exotic animals. Animals who have not been in the public care for much of a long time. It would be great to keep them in a disease free environment, but that is not really possible or maybe even healthy for the animal(s) in question. Sterility does not always mean healthy. Otherwise, how would animals build their immune systems?



Let me say this before I forget to type it: I am talking about housing similar species together. i.e. Colombian boas with Colombian boas. Not Ball pythons and Rainbow boas together.



People keep pets together all the time. Dogs, cats, birds, horses, etc. I don't think dog owners are going to keep their dogs in separate rooms for 15 years are they? I grew up with a Doberman Pinscher, a black Labrador, and a stray cat as pets. They got along just fine. The Dobie didn't really like humans though.



Eventually these "domesticated" pets will need to go outside as well. Are you going to immunize them everytime? One of the unfortunate happenings when you own an animal is that is will more than likely get sick at one time or another. This must be planned for no matter what kind of animal.



I do agree that some animals CANNOT interact with others. Dogs may be violent toward certain animals as well as cats and birds. Some animals are very susceptible to other diseases and/or bacteria that other animals may have. Birds are defnitely not immune to salmonella for instance. Fish are the worst about getting diseases from one another but I haven't seen many houses with 100 fish tanks and only one fish in each. You definitely would not want to house 2 male carpets together for breeding purposes as they may injure or kill one another. And so on and so forth...



In this instance, with two young Burmese pythons, with proper husbandry, I think they will be just fine. It really wouldn't matter if there was 1 or 10 pythons in the same cage if they were being cared for improperly. The result would be the same: sickness. The enclosure they are in looks just fine for now. It has a large water dish, good bedding, a thermometer, a hide spot and the animals (from what I see in the photos) look outwardly healthy.



Also, you said " As an expereinced keeper you should realize that young begining hobbyists will read your words and becasue it suits them better then others such as my self or Rob Carmicheals then they are going to follow your guidance.". that is why I tell ANYONE who is getting a new animal to RESEARCH everything about it. But I can only RELATE to my experiences in raising these animals and what has worked an NOT worked. And trust me, some things just don't work. But if people see my results, then maybe they can consider it. Never did I say it will work for everyone, or everyone should try it. It worked for me. It may have been more cost effective, but it was more work intesive.



Pet owners like to interact with their pets and sometimes like to see their pets interact with each other. I think that breeders lose sight of this fact and are so "disease concious" that it may take some of the fun from this hobby. Remember what brough most of you into this hobby; the love of reptiles.

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Derek Roberts

Sonoran Reptile Breeders

sonoranreptile@cox.net

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