Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, i have a gold ball python, about 1 year, and i was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on what OTHER type of snakes can be housed with him. i want another snake, and i want to add some variety, so i'd probably get the new one as a baby to tame it, and when it was big enough, house it with my bp. i saw some pics with boas housed with bp's... any suggestions?

The answer is there is absolutely NO other species that you should house with your ball python. Many people will tell you to never house even 2 ball pythons together (although I disagree, as long as their established feeding and healthy.) I keep a group of 1.2 balls together but would never even consider house 2 completely different species together. There's too much of a chance of unnecessary stress as well as the chance of passing disease on to each other. If you want to house more than one snake together, just make sure their the same species and make sure they don't eat other snakes (kingsnakes, etc.) I also have a pair of red tail boas that have been housed together since they were babies (I got them once they were already adults) and they seem to have become attached to each other (at least as attached as snakes can become ) Hopefully this answered your question. Take care, Scott.
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Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

"In any civilized society, it is every citizen's responsibility to obey just laws.
But at the same time, it is every citizen's responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
—Martin Luther King Jr

thank you for your quick and helpful reply, i'm glad i consulted this forum before deciding on my own! i'll be sure to listen to your advice, because i love my animals too much to unnecessarily endanger them even in the slightest way. thanx again!

When I recently had to leave one of my ball pythons at the vets over night for a minor surgical procedure (lance and drain an abscess, still not sure where that came from) he made a point of telling me that he hadn't had a boa in the office for some time and cleaned everything out since he last did.

I've gotten so isolated into the ball python world that I wasn't aware that IBD had become a MAJOR problem with boas. I guess he has been doing some studies and estimates that as many as 50% of them may have it now. Apparently boas can live with and transmit this disease for some time but pythons die quickly of it (i.e. if your python lives through a lengthy quarantine it doesn't have IBD). He mentioned that they think mites are the main way IBD is spread but even in a mite free collection I wouldn't want to risk having boas near my ball pythons. Used to keep boas and love them but not planning to get back into them any time soon after hearing that. What a shame it wasn't cleaned up years ago.

wow thanx for the response... that stuff is good to know. it really is a shame that so much of the boa population has that now; i had no idea. i'll be sure not to house any boas with other snakes after this. hopefully-- since you said boas themselves can live fairly long lives with it-- they'll still be safe to keep individually, because i do love boas as well. thanx again!

Good point Randy, Do you know if they can test for ibd in a blood test or only a necropsy?

I wish I had asked more questions and taken notes. I'm really not up on IBD. I remember him saying something about having a new technique to take liver biopsies on live snakes so I'm thinking no blood test. It really doesn’t sound like testing is much of an issue with pythons since they just die of it so quick and I don’t think there is a treatment. Maybe ask on the boa forums as I'm sure some there are working to get clean collections and testing would be more important since they can live with it longer.

I remember he mentioned that it has spread all over the world now. Darn mites!

I would have to disagree with that assertion. If that was the case then a fairly high majority of people who keep both boas and pythons (as I do) would suffer a high mortality rate in our pythons, while our boas didn't suffer any, or only marginally. (I have boas from all over the nation), and if that figure is even close to accurate then I would atleast have one boa with IBD, thus my ball pythons would be dropping like flys since they are kept in extremely close proximity to one another, and the transmission would have occured on many occasions.

I think an actual study needs to be taken before any assumptions regarding IBD in boas/pythons can be agreed upon.

Just my opinion on it..No arguement/flaming intended...

Later Randy T.
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You never experience life until you have kids..then you realize what you should have done rather then what you did do

I don't know the details but I think he has actually done studies on IBD (a well published vet). I'll ask for more detail next time I see him.

He said something about it being spread like AIDS, requiring fluid exchange, usually through mites. If you don't have mites in your collection I suppose your pythons might be pretty safe even if it does turn out that some of your boas have IBD. I would find it hard to believe that there are lots of big collections out there with mites but maybe it thrives in pet stores. I would suspect that the boa forum would be the place to ask for better informed information. I heard just enough to get a shock awakening to the idea that it is a very big problem.

I found the below linked page on IBD that looks good to me (but what do I know). It does appear to be about 3 years old from what I can tell. If anyone has a better link with updated info please post it. I will also double check with my vet on his current estimate of how common this is in US boas and also important details like how long a ball python must live to be sure it doesn't have IBD and if IBD could be passed to egg laying offspring (probably a moot point due to how quickly it effects pythons).
3 year old German IBD page