belly problem

[nic247306]

i cant belive that guy he wont stop he wrote me a private letter

it bothers me when people are not open to opinions and think they know it all

[recycling goddess]

wow, $8,000 worth of snakes... you must have some very nice snakes

most people on this forum believe that keeping snakes together in one enclosure is not in their best interest. ball pythons are not social critters... and one will show dominance over another (and we look at them and think they are cuddling). often it leads to feeding problems and stress related problems.

the bottom line for most people is that IF one of your snakes becomes sick... then chances are all the others in the same enclosure will also get sick - if you have a runny stool... you don't know which snake's poop it was. if you get parasites or mites... everyone ends up with them.

balls really like a nice enclosure (a rubbermaid or sterilite sweater box works great and is very inexpensive) with two identical hides. one of the warm side and one on the cool side. with some UTH or since you have so many snakes a nice rack system would probably do a better job for you with some flexwatt tape for heating.

any chance you have a pic or two of your snakes belly so we can perhaps see what it looks like. it 'sounds' like belly rot to me... but pics would sure help a lot.

if it was me... and i had $8,000 worth of snakes... i'd want to protect my investment with proper housing and husbandry

[lillyorchid]

No one is claiming to "know it all". We all just want what is best for our animals in the long run. We are only advising you that what you are doing, may not be the best for those animals.

Cannibalism in snakes does happen. It also is NOT a pretty sight at all. I know if I had that amount of money wrapped up in a collection, I'd be making sure they were all getting the best proper care from myself.

Also if you talk to any good, well known breeder.... 99.9% of all of them will tell you that they do not keep their breeders together or any of their other snakes together at all times, but only match them up when it is breeding season.

[joepythons]

i cant belive that guy he wont stop he wrote me a private letter

it bothers me when people are not open to opinions and think they know it all

I find this funny.You should really practice what you preach then.I do not know it all but i know enough to properly care for my reptiles.I am not the only one here that will agree its not good to keep any snakes together ever unless its breeding time.I wish you the best for you and your reptiles

[nic247306]

i have two male babies in a 30 gallon tank .......im sorry i dont have pictures i did see a vet and they ruled out belly rot and scale rot ..it is something uncommon that they hadnt seen before i keep them clean and do worry about them getting sick and being with the other snake ...its not like i have a bunch in one tank though ...joey i thought you were not going to bother me anymore ....i have had the other balls for 10 years and usally keep two together and havnt had a problem yet so ill cross my fingers and hope for the best ...

[Aric]

if you ever read a book on ball pythons it tell you to quarantine any new ones before intruducing them to other ones

I think you took the info wrong, it does not mean after quarantine that you can put the snakes together, it means you can move the new snake into the same area as the others.

[nic247306]

i do understand your points ...but it is not contagious and i feed them outside there tanks ..some pepole may disagree about keeping them together but alot of people think that keeping two in a big tank will cause them no harm except if one gets sick ...i dont want to come across snotty but i go to alot of shows and no one has ever said anything about keeping two together unless it was male and female ..

[recycling goddess]

if i may ask...

how many people do you ask at the shows if your husbandry methods are okay?

[joepythons]

i have two male babies in a 30 gallon tank .......im sorry i dont have pictures i did see a vet and they ruled out belly rot and scale rot ..it is something uncommon that they hadnt seen before i keep them clean and do worry about them getting sick and being with the other snake ...its not like i have a bunch in one tank though ...joey i thought you were not going to bother me anymore ....i have had the other balls for 10 years and usally keep two together and havnt had a problem yet so ill cross my fingers and hope for the best ...

My name is JOE.I guess i have a soft heart when it comes to reptiles .Tell ya what lets start over.Hi welcome to the group .Your snake with the belly problem sounded like belly rot at first but you vet says its not hmmm.If you ever find out what it is please let us know just for info purposes for the future.Since you have another snake in the same enclosure as the one with the belly problem you might want to set them each up in another room or something.I say this incase you find out it is contagious(spelling) i would hate to see your others get it.

[recycling goddess]

i do understand your points ...but it is not contagious

curious... if you vet has no idea what it is... then how do you know if it's contagious? you mentioned that it could not have injured itself to cause the problem... so perhaps it is something contagious. i would hate to see all your snakes get sick.