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Last minute additions? What to do...

ShesCountry89

ShesCountry89

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I am getting two snakes from someone who have been housing the two snakes together their entire life, one is a 5 yr old boa who is probably about 6ft and a 5 yr old ball python who is about 5 ft. Should I keep them together in a vision cage, or seperate them? The boa should be a lot bigger than she is, but since he didn't have much money he only fed her once a month.

The kid violated parole, and is going back to prison so his mom called me to come take care of his snakes or she'll get rid of them.

So, should I keep them together like they have always been? Or seperate them.
 
The general recommendation would be to house them separately...but, obviously, they can cohabitate, lol. The decision on what to do is really yours - are you planning on keeping them? Do you have the space to house them separately? Caging available (or obtainable) to do so? Do you want to house them separately?

What's wrong with a 5 yr old boa being around 6ft, or being fed monthly?
 
Well, they were never really in a CAGE together he made his closet into a huge and crazy looking enclosure. That's what they were originally in. So i know they can get along. I have room to house them seperatly and together so that is no problem at all. I will be keeping them.

Well, she's skinny to me I guess. He wasn't feeding her the proper sized food, either. She's HEALTHY, but she should be bigger. Even if she is 6 ft i'd be feeding her every week in a half to 2 weeks. My 7ft female gets a large rat every week in a half.
 
just remember, should you choose to feed the new boa more, its probably a better idea to feed smaller size, but a little more often. and wean down to it. meaning, the first few feedings i would feed a little smaller size prey, but every 3 weeks instead of month. then after a few feedding, knock it down to like every 2 weeks, then knock it down to every 10 days, or whatever your maintenence schedule you want to put it on. pounding an normally underfed snake too hard, too quick, can send the body and organs into, almost a shock defense, and be worse off for the snake
 
Oh yeah, of course I wouldn't do that. I am going to give them a few days first to settle in, I picked them up this morning the boa is having some bad shedding problems. I've been soaking her a bit already and tryin to help get it off. The ball python is really skinny, both are really docile though. I need to clean out this vision cage then set it up for them, i'll keep them both in it for the time being. So we will see how things go.
 
bad shedding is usually due to one of, or both of the following reasons: poor diet (nutrition), and/or inadequate humdidity. seems to be both, in this case. good luck with them. if they have survived this long in those conditions, they should do well as you nurse them back to health. snakes are very forgiving animals, as far as care taking, and husbandry issues
 
In this case I believe it's both, I soaked the boa for awhile today & his old shed is already coming off smoothly. I hope I can get them back on track here within the next few months! Wish me luck :)
 
My opinion would be to house them separately. Just because they are 2 totally different species. the bad shedding and poor size could be due to the stress of have each other in the same enclosure. If they were 2 of the same species there would be a little more room for allowing it. If you can afford to do so I would do it just to be one the safe side. It just seems like it would be asking for something to go wrong.

I could almost bet that if they are housed separately and given the proper diet and care you will have them back on track in no time. I have seen snakes that would have probably died in a month bounce back and look like nothing is wrong in a few weeks. It is good you took them in and I hope it goes smoothly for you. Good luck.
 
hey

Yeah, I will probably be keeping them seperatly from now on. The enclosure they were in previously was just an entire closet with a series of shelves the guy had created in an actual enclosure. Not a cage, or a tank. They had tons of room, when I had seen it awhile back he had plenty of heat and everything seemed fine but obviously he neglected them within the past 8 months. They both are doing well right now, got most of the old shed off the boa. Tomorrow I will be bringing home rats to see if they will eat for me, so we'll see how that goes.
 
Personally I'd leave them together: I kept these species together for years without problems, and if they've been fine so far I don't see a reason to change more than you need to.
 
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