How many snakes in a cage?

[BALLPYTHON]

Some people say one to one cage and some people have multiple snakes in a cage. What do you guys do? i know some people who have no problems at all with keeping multiple balls in one enclosure even 2 males. So what do you guys do and why??

[daniel1983]

One snake...One enclosure. These are not social creatures. The only time I ever want to see two snakes in one enclosure is when they are breeding.

[gncz73]

i agree with Daniel.

[chong_python]

I keep a male and female adult boas in same encloser
As long as you know what your doing in terms of feeding and quarentine.
Boas can be kept together in the same encloser

Having said that, i wouldnt house a Bp wit a Boa, and im not sure about other species of snake, but as for BCI, they are fine to house male and female all year.

Chris

[Smulkin]

If one of the boas is sick and has loose fecal how do you know which one did it?

One snake - one cage.

[Adam_Wysocki]

Some people say one to one cage and some people have multiple snakes in a cage. What do you guys do? i know some people who have no problems at all with keeping multiple balls in one enclosure even 2 males. So what do you guys do and why??

1 per cage .... ball pythons can eat each other if they become stressed. It's documented. There's also a case of a boa eating a ball python it was housed with. I would think that fact would be enough.

There is no benefit to keeping multiples in the same cage and a long list of reasons why you shouldn't, so why would anyone do that?

-adam

[BALLPYTHON]

well some people keep multiple snakes together and have no problems. I personally keep one snake to one enclosure for all these reasons but i want to hear form people who keep more than one ball in one enclosure.
C'mon guys speak up dont be afraid, i know your out there.

[Adam_Wysocki]

well some people keep multiple snakes together and have no problems.

You mean no apparent problems, or no problems that they will tell you about.

I can buy a dog and keep it in a closet in my house with no lights, feed it, provide it with water, take it to the vet regularly, walk it a couple of times a day and say that the dog has "no problems", but that doesn't make what I'm doing right.

I can buy a horse and keep it in my basement .... feed it, provide it with water, make sure it gets regular veterinary care, maybe take it out to ride a couple of times a month and say that it has "no problems" but that wouldn't be right either.

Just because someone claims to have "no problems" with the care they provide does not mean that the care they are providing is in the animals best interest.

You have to ask yourself, if a ball python gets no possible benefit from being housed together, every "expert" in the hobby/field of ball python husbandry recommends housing ball python individually, and there are documented potentially hazardous side effects to housing ball pythons with other animals, why would anyone even consider doing otherwise?

-adam

[DrEwTiMe]

Very well said adam, great point.

Ball pythons are known to be one of the more picky types of snakes. Many things can stress them and ultimatly leads to going off feed or one of the more drastic effects like adam says where they could eat eachother. when you have 2 snakes in a cage EVERYTHING becomes a competition, who gets what hide, who gets to be on the warm side, who gets the food ect. It doesn't make any sense 2 house 2 snakes together. I think its just an excuse so people can be lazy and not spend the money on the extra enclosure. hehe

[Ginevive]

I keep all of my Bps, and my boa, one to a cage. I can see no benefit from keeping them housed together, unless of course it's breeding season and you have two healthy, adult animals you're attempting to breed together.
Keeping them together longterm, can only lead to more stress on the snakes. Say they both want to be in the same hidespot (to thermoregulate.) They would both have to squeeze in there. Make a hidedspot big enough for both, and one would feel insecure in there because it would be too big.