# Corn snake & Ball python



## L10452 (Nov 19, 2004)

I saw a pet shop with ball pythons and corn snakes housed together. Is that something that will work? I have ball pythons and thinking of buying a corn.

Lou


----------



## Guest (Jun 6, 2006)

Generally reptile keepers don't house snakes together. Only half-fast pet stores do things like that.

The reasons include snakes trying to eat each other, trying to eat the same mouse at the same time, different bacterial flora and pathogens, different environmental conditions, and stress caused by overcrowding because snakes aren't social animals.


----------



## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

Ball pythons and corn snakes come from very different environments. Don't do it.

And don't shop at that store. They obviously don't know what they're doing.


----------



## Mr_JT (May 10, 2006)

Ball pythons need an ambient temp of around 86 degrees, with a hot spot around 92 degrees and a cool end not much below 81 degrees. A corn would be seriously uncomfortable in these temps- studies show they suffer from nurological damage if they have prolonged exposure to temps of 90 degrees or above. 85 is an ideal hot spot temp for corns. There is no way it would work, even before considering the size differences of the snakes, the royal's tendency to go off feed if at all unhappy etc.

Basically, when considering species combinations (and for the record, there are virtually none that work in a small home enclosure), just look at where the animal comes from. In this example, we have Ghana, which is nowhere near Florida, therefore combining animals from these habitats is totally illogical and would be most unlikely to succeed.


----------



## huntx7 (Nov 13, 2004)

Bad idea... it's possible, but way too risky.
Not to mention, if you're even going to think about housing two snakes together for reasons other than breeding you should atleast go with the same species.


----------



## NeonGodzilla (Jun 8, 2006)

Mr_JT said:


> Ball pythons need an ambient temp of around 86 degrees, with a hot spot around 92 degrees and a cool end not much below 81 degrees. A corn would be seriously uncomfortable in these temps- studies show they suffer from nurological damage if they have prolonged exposure to temps of 90 degrees or above. 85 is an ideal hot spot temp for corns. There is no way it would work, even before considering the size differences of the snakes, the royal's tendency to go off feed if at all unhappy etc.
> 
> Basically, when considering species combinations (and for the record, there are virtually none that work in a small home enclosure), just look at where the animal comes from. In this example, we have Ghana, which is nowhere near Florida, therefore combining animals from these habitats is totally illogical and would be most unlikely to succeed.


I own both a trio of ball pythons and a single corn snake and couldn't agree with you more


----------



## L10452 (Nov 19, 2004)

cool!! I'll just house them separate.

Thanks!


----------



## psychofish (Jun 5, 2004)

Not a good idea to keep them together 
and I definately wouldent buy anything from 
that store.


----------

