Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi guys, I just had a question. I have had a Ball python for about a year, and so far he is pretty nice and gentle and all that. He is currently about 2 feet long. I just wanted to know if Balls that are in the same cage will they like attack eachother if they are of different sizes? At the store, he was in with another ball, and they were pretty peaceful, but they were both the same size. At the Michigan reptile show they were too. Any ideas? thanks a lot

No, balls don't eat each other when put together. Although it has been know to happen. I read a post somewhere about balls that were fed together and both tried to eat the same prey. One just swallowed the prey and the other snake...they both died.

If you are thinking of keeping two ball pythons together...there are lots of reasons not to. Try a search of these forums to see what people have said before. I think the bigest reasons are stress and health. Another snake may stress one or both of the snakes. It would be hard to monitor the health of each snake if they are kept together and if one is unhealthy, the other might become inflicted as well.
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Oilfan94 - Big Mike

You live in MI? Me too! Where?

Anyway, out of my 7 ball pythons, I keep two pairs together. The two sets I have together now seem happier than before - however, I've had one that didn't do well when housed with another, so now it's alone. I've never had any of my snakes do anything more than curl up together. I even house two sexually-mature males in the same cage with no cases of fighting - the either lay together or comletely ignore each other.

However, if you do house two together, they have to be close in size, fed at the same time, and NOT fed in the cage together. Also, don't put a new snake in with one you already have until it's been quarentined for 3-6 mo.
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-Irish
Email: animistdragon@sbcglobal.net
AIM: VoodooDragon137
YIM: [same as Email addy]
3.3.1 Ball Pythons

Michigan too? I'm in Southfield, the most boring place on earth

Anyway, thanks for the tips. At the reptile show recently, they had balls for 35.00 and down. I was pretty frustrating seeing them at that price while I got mine for 75.00... So anyway, there were many youngsters there that were 20.00 a piece about a foot long, and I was going to buy one maybe next time and wanted to know if I could save space if I put them together. At the pet store I got my python from, he was in an enclosure with another that was smaller. All the places on the net say "Never believe what a pet store does or says", so I wanted a second opinion

"Never believe what a pet store does or says"
If the store is like PetCo, Pet Smart or Scamp's, where they don't specialize in herps, it would be a SMART choice to seek advice around herp circles, but look also for books from qualified individuals....

BPs are not KNOWN to be cannibals, but then neither was the Donner Party until the time presented itself. Feeding responsibly will usually keep ur BPs from eating each other...