Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am purchasing an adult male ball and would like to put him in w/ the my female. Problem is my female is only 800 grams and not ready to breed. Does any one forsee a problem w/ the two of them in the same cage together and him attempting to breed w/ her?

There are more problems involved than just him trying to breed her too young...

www.pinkladyconstrictors.com/multsnakes.html
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

Like what? The cages I have are HUGE so I have limited room and I'm trying to conserve as much space as possible

Click the link.
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

Get smaller cages. Ball pythons don't need huge cages. I use rack systems. They each hold 4 - 10 ball pythons seperately. Don't house them together.

wow, i never knew that balls could do either of those things
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jake barney

my addiction:
1.1 ball pythons
0.2.1 corns
1.0 cal king
0.0.1 wc garter

No offense Jen, I think you share a lot of great info, but most of those things are worst-case scenario. Can they happen, yea. Will they, most unlikely. Especially when it is a male and female housed together.

I have housed males together and females together. Never a real problem.

With the males, when they reach sexual mayurity, they may try to breed each other. I seperated them at that point.

With the females, they were mostly fine. I had anywhere from 500 to 3000 grams together. They were all fed in seperate enclosures and it worked fine.

This is speaking from experience, not from what I've read and seen. Most people would not suggest it, and neither would I, but when you are in college and short on space, you do what needs to be done.

I keep them all in racks now, seperately. And I still have all the animals that were once housed together, all still alive and eating like champs.

-John B

They may be worst-case, but still enough for me not to take the risk.
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

Simple. Stop acting like an irresponsible keeper and don't get another snake if you cannot properly house it.

One snake.....One cage

If you cannot accomodate that, then you cannot accomodate an additional animal.

n/p
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Cheers!
• Chelsea Lynn Gardiner
(and Frank M. Wood)

Funny, theres always one in the bunch. A irresponsible keeper, as you put it, would have never taken the time to post a question on a forum PRIOR to making a possible mistake. Also would a irresponsible keeper pay 600 dollars for vet bills and medicine in an attempt to save the life of a $200 snake which was very ill? People post on here w/ concerns and questions to educate themselves not to be judged by people who are probably so fixated on one 'hobby' or 'passion' they are obviously lacking important social skills. Do everyone a favor when you get on here, read...dont type.

Don't fret too much about housing multiple balls in the same enclosure. While I would agree that it is best not to, the risk is actually very very low no matter what anyone says on here! When you can get enough cages to house your animals individually do it but if it may take a while don't lose sleep about housing them together....just make sure to feed them in seperate areas and you'll be just fine.

Jason

My biggest concern for this situation is that you're going to have to house them separately during your 60-90 day quarantine (you do plan to quarantine, right?). So why not KEEP them housed separately?

Quarantining your animals is the best thing to do.....but.....in all honesty its probably just as "nonrisky" to not do as housing multiple animals together, IMHO, unless your getting the animal(s) from horride conditions, like a rescue or something.

Again, just my opinion and by all means quarantine everything if you have the means to do so but its not something I would lose sleep over either.

Jason

I can't imagine not quarantining new animals, no matter the source. But that's just me.

... why scrape for reasons to house together when there's a whole arsenal of reasons not to?

Lonely Ballz

The ONLY real concern I would think you'd have with this situation is the adult male trying to breed with the too small female.It IS breeding season after all and that could be hazarous, to say the least. I would find him another place to live.

All other mentioned concerns are valid, and I think most are extreme, Certainly they may happen, but not likely unless you just don't monitor your charges. And if that's the case you shouldn't own animals to begin with.

That being said, housing two ball pythons together isn't a big deal. I don't own hundreds of snakes, I don't even own dozens, so some may think I'm talkin' out my arse here, but I have a pair of balls that have comfortably coexisted in the same 55 gallon tank for 16 years. They have heat, they have cool, they have water and both eat in the same tank without problems. Maybe I'm just lucky, then maybe everybody else is just a bit anal. Which, by the way, is their right. Just my opinion.

Quig
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Don't interupt me when I'm talkin' to myself

Maybe you could put sheet of plexiglass in one of your existing cages as a divider? You said the cages you already have are huge so this could be a good non-risk solution to your problem.
hope this idea may help...

This is probably the best answer yet, at least temporarily

Quig
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Don't interupt me when I'm talkin' to myself

I was looking thru some posts, and I don't even know if anyone is still following this, but.....
I built all my tanks. My display terrariums were taking up a lot of space. I got some corrugated PVC and siliconed it into the tank that I house juvis in. Now its perfect size for two, it's as easy to clean as glass, they are separate, and can't even see each other, plus it ended up looking great!!! All for about four dollars! (use the black stuff)
Its a really good alternative to adding a new tank, but I would strongly suggest a quarantine, since they are in very close proxemity. I have to agree with the quarantine idea, but hey....I'm no pro!
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James.....
"Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought the beast back."