Communal Housing ?'s

Hey Everyone,

I just wanted to get everyone's opinion on housing multiple Ball's in the same tank? I currently have 3 - '04 baby balls setup in the same tank and wanted to see what everyone thinks about it? So give me your thoughts, cause so far it seems to be working out great. The first male I got was a little hissey and sometime struck out at me, but now that I have the other 2 in with him he is very calm and chill. The other 2 I recently aquired, were very tame though, so I wonder if that has anything to do with it? Oh and I do take them out for feeding. (In case you were gonna ask).

Thanks Nevans

My opinion... its asking for trouble. People have a difficult time keeping their animals eating in the winter housing them individually. In a group, stress is higher, its harder to monitor individual animals, accidental breeding... I personally wouldn't do it.

Do you know their genders? If you have 2 males they will fight as they mature.

It's generally not recommened to keep ball pythons together in groups.

By housing multiple balls together you eliminate your ability to keep accurate records, increase the risk of disease transmission, and force them to compete for optimal hide and basking spots.

Hope this helps.

-adam

I don't believe the idea of housing the babies together is a good one. First of all, you mentioned putting the recently acquired 2 '04 calm babies in with the one that was more aggressive. How long had you had the new snakes? I believe it is a good idea to follow a quarantine procedure with new animals being introduced into your collection. Like the above post said, disease transmission can be a problem. They could have worms or other parasites that you don't know about, and with having them all housed together, you won't be able to discern that from feces found in the cage, as you may not know which snake defecated at which time unless you catch them in the act. I have even read strange stories of snakes eating each other in cohabitational situations, which is very rare, but I know I would not want to take that risk. Just my opinion. I wouldn't do it.
Thanks,
Melanie Brown
mom to Osiris, Isis and Akasha
(my 1.1 columbian bcis and 0.1 normal bp)

I agree with Adam, I am anal at keeping records on my animals. If one farts I want to know who did it what time and then write it down...

UMMMMM,

psssst, hey Matt, that was me.


All the info is dead on thus far. I do not know of ONE good reason to house this species together other than breeding.

Its cool Al it happens.. mabey a cough to hard in a public place... now that sucks..lol..