Snakes kept together??????????

Byost86

New Member
Messages
88
Location
USA
Hello all I was just wondering if one can keep multiple female ball pythons together in a large enough cage. Also does anyone keep male and female pythons together year long, and not just for breeding? This thought just popped into my head and thought I'd ask the people of the site. Thanks again.


-Brian
 

Eyaliss

New Member
Messages
29
Location
Canada
It's never a good idea to keep snakes housed together as they will compete for the best spots in the enclosure - ideal hot spot, cool spot etc. Also keeping them separate allows you to keep track of their health better. If there's something weird going on (not normal looking excrement for example) you don't know which animal has done it.

Males and females kept together may breed anyway, whether it's breeding season or not. And if the female is too young or not up to breeding size you risk her life.

I hope that helps :)
 

Tongue Flicker

Hardcore Animal Lover
Messages
608
Location
Madina't Isa, Bahrain
Agreed. Snakes should never be housed together unless it is for breeding purposes or unless it is a huge enclosure wherein the 2 snakes will never meet i.e. one is arboreal and one is aquatic. 2 snakes in the same terrain in the same enclosure can cause problems like territorial issues, parasite or disease or just casual clash encounters
 

JBReptiles

Member
Messages
44
Location
France
I'll give a total opposite wiew point and I'm not agreeing with the few comments below, i keep my morelias in groups since long years and i never got any problem (even my breeders are in groups in big vivs), they'll not compete anything if you provide enough of everything for everyone and tke all the important factor in count as the size of animals, sexe, maturity etc...and actually group keeping (especially male and female together all the year together is a way and technical that many people use and who proved to works well for keeping and breeding, and actually it's keep the male from several mating as he'll not breed the female just because he's horny but when they live all time together, they get used to each other and somehow are pretty much more receptive and the male will breed only a few time a year, exactly at the moment it's needs to be done (for sure also if here all the condition are respected)) and we usually remove the male before females lay to let them lay in peace), i've severals morelias here and keep some alone and others in group, by past i also used to keep a big terra with a group of ball female while others where in rack. i never noticed any difference in growing by keeping in group or alone, actually never noticed any negative effect if all the animals are healthy and have all the conditions needed for each of them...

Just link some pictures from my fb page of group i keep here (or couple i used to keep together by past)

this one is a group of 4 subs Carpets (only 3 on this pic but just to say)
https://www.facebook.com/www.JBRept...0.1397961556./756170217728299/?type=3&theater

few groups of 4-5 subs
https://www.facebook.com/www.JBRept...0.1397961866./705593386119316/?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/www.JBRept...0.1397961989./628838713794784/?type=3&theater


Carpet of 4 female and 1 male breeders
https://www.facebook.com/www.JBRept...0.1397961558./743558518989469/?type=3&theater

Same group during mating
https://www.facebook.com/www.JBRept...0.1397961783./717388014939853/?type=3&theater

same group again with another female we didn't saw in other picture
https://www.facebook.com/www.JBRept...0.1397961825./713581058653882/?type=3&theater


Now i also kept few groups of balls by past:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...44030974148.2010060.1026835394&type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...44030974148.2010060.1026835394&type=3&theater

Groups of cornsnakes also from past
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...32224799001.2007687.1026835394&type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...32224799001.2007687.1026835394&type=3&theater

this was a group of 5 breeders, we see only 2 here together in a melt box
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...32224799001.2007687.1026835394&type=3&theater


As you can see on all pictures (or most of them), it's several hides and in case they all goes in the same hide, i just put a bigger size one where they all can fit in, big vivs for the size of the snake, the warming place is large enough for everyone to enjoy it so there's absolutely no problem, one of the disavantage is when you keep in group, it's way much more workfor everything, more cleaning, more time to feed them as you need to take them all out of the enclosure...Some peopel talk about parasit, this is not a valuable argument as a snake should be controlled and kept parasit free alone or in group, group doesn't make more risk on thsi point if you do the things in order...After the argument of the female too young is also to take on a relative way, exactly as for the parasit, if you do the things correctly, you are aware that you must not put a young sexually mature female with a male or mature male together as they'll fight in some species but nothing remove you the possibility to keep female groups or males groups in some species, and there the risks are gone for this point too if you do correctly...
 

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