Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey everyone, I have a ball right now that ive had for about 5 months and now im hooked on it. This weekend at the reptile extravaganza Im pretty sure im gonna buy a baby blood. My ball (Bandit) is about 20 inches right now and Im assuming the blood will be right around that size too. I have a 20 gallon glass tank and I was wondering if it would be ok to keep them together for the next few months, or if I should get a new tank w/ the new python. Thanks for the help ahead of time, this is my first snake and Im a newbie to this forum.

You really should get a seperate tank for the new one and quarantine it for about 3 months. You wouldn't want to risk getting the baby you already have sick. I have a small girl BP and an adult male. I had the girl for about a month and then when I got the male I'm glad I quarantined him, because about a week after I got him he started to show signs of an upper respiratory infection. He has now gotten proper vet treatment and is on Antibiotics, but if they had been together, my little girl surely would have gotten sick also....

Ses01

They are 2 different types of snakes wich require different conditions. If you keep them together one of them will not be getting the right husbandry and will die. Not to mention there is the off chance that one will decide to eat the other, it does happen. If you can not afford another enclosure put off the purchase until you can. Also research what is required for the animals in the way of humidity and temps, as you couldn't have done so or you would never ask this question. Good luck there are some great caresheets available here on kingsnake just go to the top and click on caresheet/faq link.
-----
Nita Hamilton
4.13 Normal BP's, 1.0 Het Orange Ghost BP, 1.0 Het Pied 1.0 50% poss Het Orange Ghost BP's

OK, no 2 snakes in the same tank! got it, thanks. But Nita, i have reviewed planty of care sheets and I cant really find many differences other than mabye keeping a baby blood in a bit of a smaller enclosure as the like the feeling of added security. but as far as my research has gone, the humidity levels, lighting, feeding, hides, and temps have all been very similar. Is this wrong??
ps the money for a new enclosure is not an issue and i will definately do that. thanks again

i myself looked into getting a blood python at one time. unless i'm mistaked bloods need a very high humidity for proper health.
cheers,
pete

Higher humidity and lower temps. High for Balls are 95 and for Bloods 90. Humidity for bloods is 80% or higher, and only 60% for balls. Balls like small tight hides, not really sure of Bloods on that one, but if you give them sphagnum moss they will bury themselves in it and rarely come out!!
-----
Nita Hamilton
4.13 Normal BP's, 1.0 Het Orange Ghost BP, 1.0 Het Pied 1.0 50% poss Het Orange Ghost BP's

According to the NERD care sheets, bloods and balls should both be kept in cages "with a humidity level of 50%-60%." Id think that would be correct coming from them, and I havent even heard of anyone keeping a blood in 80% or higher. I bought the stuff for the cage last night and set it up, and even tried maintaining the humidity to 80% just to see if it worked. It stayed at about 82% for as long as i was awake if i misted it every few hours. Is that really necesary tho?

Ball pythons come from Africa and Bloods are Asian. Husbandry is different between the two slightly. Bloods seem to do best with a little higher humidity than Balls. I am not saying that Balls will not do good in the same humidity parameters, but Bloods definitly should not get as dry as what a Ball can get.
Also it is best to house snakes seperatley just for the fact that a more dominant snake will cause the other to stop feeding and become stressed which may comprimise its imune system. And finally with being new to all this are you ready for a blood python? Some can be aggressive and they become quite heavy bodied snakes. Good luck with things.
Wil Combs

OK thanks, I got a new cage set up last night just to make sure everything was working correctly. I had it set up and sprayed it down and had the humidity held at about 60%, then I read a response to a similar topic i posted on the ball python forum, and someone told me that bloods need 80% or higher.
According to the NERD care sheets, both should be kept in cages w/ 50%-60% humidity levels. From experience, can anyone tell me which one (60 or 80%) works best? so far Im going w/ the NERD care sheets.