Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all. I have one seven month old normal female which I just moved into a 48"x24"x24" cage. I wanted to get a 100% het male (albino or piebald) and house these two together. Is this a good idea? I would put more hides on both "hot and "cold" ends, So they could have space if wanted. Or would they get into a bawl over who's turf is who's? I would try to breed in a few years. By the way........Even though my female is not of breeding age/size should I still drop the temp a few weeks a year like a breeding adult? Because I haven't. Thank you. Brian

There are mixed ideas if you can house together (read the thread a couple down). All I can tell you is to read care sheets and make your decision from that. Good luck!

Just kidding, Tasha! LoL

-Bill

IMO two snakes should not be housed together. If one gets sick, the other one gets sick. Why run the chance of doubling your vet bill? If you plan on breeding these animals think about this one too. You don't miss what you already have. As far as a temp. drop, I wouldn't worry about it untill I'm ready to breed. Remember, a snake that is warm is a snake that is more likly to eat. Go ahead and try to keep her on her regular feeding schedual as long as you can. Then when she's old enough to breed go ahead and start to worry about temp. drops and things of that manner. I hope this helps, good luck!

Quinton

Along with what everybody else has said don't feed them together. I once had a boa go after a rodent that another boa had half way down. Seperating feeding boas sucks. I can't imagine it being anymore fun with pythons.

It is my opinion that you can house two snakes together if done properly. My first snake I had for over 20 years, 10 of which she shared a cage with my boyfriends snake (he took the snake when I booted him out). Both snakes were very good eaters, they shed well and showed no signs of stress that everyone talks about. Neither snake was ever sick so I never had twice the vet bills, but IMO a sick snake would be a sign that you aren't caring for your snake properly. Of course there is more work involved in keeping two snakes together but if you are dedicated it can be done. They of course have to have separate hides, in hot and cold zones, they have to be fed separately, and you have to keep a close eye out, just in case they do need to be separated (I have a separate 20 gallon that I keep on hand "just in case".

With that being said, if you intend on breeding them, don't bother putting them together now, keep them separate. And I may be wrong, but I don't think you need to worry about dropping the temps until you are ready to breed, but that's a question for someone with experience breeding.

I hope this helps.
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Tosha

1.1.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy)
0.1.0 Siberian Husky (Kita)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Dessert Tortoise (Pope)
5.4.2 Fish (1,2,3,4...)
0.0.1 Frog rescued from pool skimmer
0.0.2 Lizards rescued from pool skimmer

Basically, it comes to this. Every caresheet, book, breeder ect. will tell you not to house 2 BP together. There are reasons for this. Yes, there are situations where a BP will be housed with another and be fine for 20 years but the chances of injury or disease is higher. It may not even be more than 10 percent higher but its higher. For instence: Can you have sex with someone who has an STD and not contract it? Yes. But is that a good idea? Its up to you and you alone. Lets stop talking about this topic. People are going to do what they want when they want anyway. Sorry, just letting off a little steam from the day at work! Arrrrrrrrrrrrr!

-Bill

Thanks all who replied. I'm still up in the air about housing together. Any more would be great. Off to pick up a feeder...