Milks and corns

[Pueblo]

Hello Everyone

I have been keeping my pair of pueblan milks together and my pair of corns together so far everything seems good. I take each of them out of there tanks to eat. I never feed them together in there tanks. I have a seperate tank with carpet for feeding. They are all about a year old and doing well.
I have read that some people agree its fine too keep them together and some do not agree. if anybody has some feedback I would be greatfull.
both of my pairs tend to sleep together in one hiding place although I have about 5 or six in each tank.
and i do have one interesting question for you guys. I have a friend who has a corn and a milk and he houses them together and has no problems I told him I think thats a bit risky but he told me he's never had any problems does anybody have an opinion about that situation. id love to hear from you guys.
thanks guys your friend

[Pueblo]

Also I don't have anybody on my friends list yet so if anybody wants to just let me know.
thanks

[Aaron_S]

Um you do know milksnakes can and will be eat each other? It's recommended not to keep snakes together. Just because you never know what might happen. It's easier to find out if one of your snakes is ill or not if it's alone.

[Pueblo]

Aron thanks for your advice.I will most likely go out and buy a new tank for my peublans. I have been lucky so far I guess but I don't want to take any chances thats for sure. What about keeping corns together other then noticing health ishues is there a chance they will eat each other?????
any advice you can give me would be great. Ive had my milks for two years now and id hate to loose them unecpectidly.
please forgive my bad spelling.

[DaemoNox]

Milksnakes are closely related to kingsnakes. It is actually very risky keeping males and females together before theyre mature enough; as males will mature faster then females and females will ovulate even if theyre not ready to breed and lay eggs. The male can breed with the female who then may become eggbound which needs to be seen by a vet and even still you could loose her.

There is absolutely no benefit in housing them together, but there are feeding risks, health risks, breeding risks, and overall stress risks by doing so. These snakes are solitary, nature intended them to be alone and by forcing them to be together in a small tank is opening doors to problems. Things may seem fine, but that doesnt mean things wont happen because they can and have happened more then they should.

I dont get where people think housing two completely different species from totally different enviroments and different parts of the country who would never ever encounter one another in nature is a good idea. I strongly advise you talk to your friend about it, its not good for the snakes. Like I said just because nothing has happened yet doesnt mean nothing ever will happen.

[DaemoNox]

Yes cannibalism is known in corns too.

[gonesnakee]

All snakes are best kept seperately except for breeding purposes. You will find most all snake keepers/breeders have this same opinion. There is a multitude of good reasons why not to keep them together. The only good reason to keep them togther is for breeding & even then they are to be kept seperate & juts put together for breeding purposes. Most common reasons people keep them together is they are too cheap or can't afford proper enclosures for everyone, they don't have the space, they just don't know any better or just don't care. The biggest risk of keeping them together is cannibalism (& all snakes can be cannibals ;)) & unwanted breedings risking eggbinding in the females which can & will cause death if she is too young/small when bred. Mark

[Aaron_S]

Just to touch on the fact all snakes can be cannibals. There were pictures of a colombian boa, a baby, that ate it's cage mate. Which was a ball python, of similar size. I wonder if I can find these pictures of the net still.

[DaemoNox]

These ones?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v614/DaemoNox/cohab.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v614/DaemoNox/cohab1.jpg

[DaemoNox]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v614/DaemoNox/cohab2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v614/DaemoNox/cohab3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v614/DaemoNox/cohab4.jpg

[Pueblo]

Thank you all very much for all those tips. I am going out tonight to buy two new tanks and suplies I need. I am blessed to have the money and space to house my babys properly. Plus I care for them a great deal they are part of my family and mean the same.
I also want to thank you all for being such great people and friends Its been a while since I have met some great people.
And although my friend has been told already I am going to keep trying to convince him to seperate his snakes.
God bless

[Aaron_S]

Yeah those ones! I found one of the after pics of the snakes after it was regurged. Sorry I was mistaken. They weren't quite babies. Where did you find them?

Also, show him those pics. It will make him think twice.

[gonesnakee]

As for the whole cannibalism thing snakes are most likely to be cannibals when they are babies Vs subadults or adults. I do know several people that housed pairs of adult Boas together for years then came home to one fat one & then the next day a regurged one & the "eater" dead as well. The "eater" if it regurges quite often dies after as well so both snakes are then "lost". very gross & not worth the risk IMHO Cheers Mark