Giant ball python

[starmom]

dude.....its dead

[davevh]

No, not really. But I'll let others explain.

Is that one of your kids in your avatar? What's with it's eyes?

Photoshoped eyes to give her that big wet doggy eye look

[stangs13]

Lol pat, commonsense would say the live ones... sooner or later they I'll go off feed, breed early, and perhaps even eat each other, stress out. There are many more reasons, but I am on my iPod and canttype well.

[ladywhipple02]

There are many, many threads on this forum that state why it is not healthy for multiple snakes to live in the same enclosure. You can do a search for the reasons... here are a few:

1. If one snake gets sick, they will all get sick. How are you going to be able to tell who got sick first? You won't.

2. Snake are NOT social creatures. They do NOT enjoy each other's company. That cuddling up they're doing in your pic... nuh uh, that's them competing for the best hot spot in that hide. And they ARE competing. One is going to be dominant over the others, is going to get the best hiding spot, the best hot spot, the best cool area... have you noticed them following each other? That's why.

3. You may experience feeding problems. If you haven't you will. Against, the dominance issue.

4. Snakes are incredibly sensitive to stress... putting them in a situation where they have to compete stresses them out. This lowers their immune system and asks for all sorts of troubles.

5. It's not best for your kids, so why would you do it?

[ladywhipple02]

Oh, hey, I forgot about the documented cases of cannabilism in BPs... where the dominant snake ate the submissive one.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

I have observed various species in nature that share communes, for example termite mounds.

Yes and wild and captivity are 2 different things, in captivity when placed in an enclosure they obviously have no choice and nowhere to go.

Housing multiple ball pythons together can lead, stress, going of feed, spreading of diseases, mites, premature breeding, injuries, the inability to tell if one of the individual is impacted, the inability to tell which individual regurgitated if one did.

Cannibalism has also been documented among same size ball pythons.

In other words there are more risks than benefits which is why the majority of Ball Pythons owners will not jeopardized their animals by housing them together.

[davevh]

There are many, many threads on this forum that state why it is not healthy for multiple snakes to live in the same enclosure. You can do a search for the reasons... here are a few:

1. If one snake gets sick, they will all get sick. How are you going to be able to tell who got sick first? You won't.

2. Snake are NOT social creatures. They do NOT enjoy each other's company. That cuddling up they're doing in your pic... nuh uh, that's them competing for the best hot spot in that hide. And they ARE competing. One is going to be dominant over the others, is going to get the best hiding spot, the best hot spot, the best cool area... have you noticed them following each other? That's why.

3. You may experience feeding problems. If you haven't you will. Against, the dominance issue.

4. Snakes are incredibly sensitive to stress... putting them in a situation where they have to compete stresses them out. This lowers their immune system and asks for all sorts of troubles.

5. It's not best for your kids, so why would you do it?

I agree with your statements. However, most of those issues are related to keeper care, inadequate monitoring of environment, infrequent feeding (which leads to cannibalism - which occurs with a starved snake or when feeding snakes together). Your statement of dominance is an interesting one - something I have never observed in the dozens of species and hundreds of specimens I have kept.

I know snakes are not thought of as social, thats obvious.
Only snake I ever experienced feeding problems with was the wild caught ball and that is a known problem that is hard to rectify.

I put into practice what I find from practical experience and what works. I have never had a snake die on me, and the only illness I came across was a parasitic worm passed on to my Boa through live feeders (which was an issue because I kept many live feeders and freezing was difficult at that point.)

I appreciate the concern you all have. In researching this issue there is a great divide among those who think you should and should not keep balls together. I do not want to debate. I have seen entire collections wiped out through infection of separately houses snakes, a lot depends on the keeper. I know people are concerned for their animals but I strongly believe some things are dramatized (and dont even get me started on belly heat)

Peace to all

[JenH]

I've read the opinions of keeping them seperate, but I've also read of folks that breed harem style where they keep one male to a group of girls for mating season - months at a time.

As long as the cage is big enough and they aren't all piled up in one spot fighting for heat or hides is it that big of a deal?

[bsd13]

I am curious to know some scientific or observed truth behind that statement? Convince me why?
I say this because I have observed various species in nature that share communes, for example termite mounds. House snakes, pythons and even black mambas in africa have been found in tight quarters. Ever heard of a pit viper ....

Forgive me for redirecting to another site, but I think this might be the evidence you seek. Yeah?

[davevh]

Oh, hey, I forgot about the documented cases of cannabilism in BPs... where the dominant snake ate the submissive one.

Can you send me the link to that, I am curious to see what the circumstances behind that were?
Why would any animal cannibalize if there is plenty of available food, Certain species are known for cannabilism, I would LOVE to see some primary literature to back that up in BP