Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok, i'm fairly new to the hobby but have been reading everything i can find online and have come to value the opinions and thoughts expressed on this forum so i come to you with a question...

I have 2 balls that are 26 1/2 & 28 1/2 inches...i got them a little over a year ago as hatchlings and they seem to be doing exceptionally well...no problems feeding or health wise. I have been housing them both in the same tank (30 gallon)...from what i've been reading it would seem that i need to be putting them in separate cages. They've been housed together since i got them and when i got them they were housed with several clutches all together . I am in the process of trying to find someone locally that can probe them for me to determine the gender. so my question/s is should i separate them soon? Leave them be if same gender? separate when they get bigger? with being housed together all this time will separating them cause them undue stress?

your thoughts and opinions would be appreciated!
thanks!

You need to seperate them ASAP

Ball pythons are solitary animals and the only time they should be put together is male being introduce to a female during breeding season and during breading season only. Even then this is not a permanent housing situation as the male introduced briefly to the female (This also require that both are the proper weight)

There is absolutely no benefit in housing multiple snakes together however it can create problems such as stress, going of feed, spreading of diseases and parasites, premature breeding, you are also at risk for serious injuries, death and even cannibalism.

http://www.geocities.com/gaballpythons/Cannibalism1.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/gaballpythons/Cannibalism2.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/gaballpythons/Cannibalism3.jpg