Quote:
Originally Posted by bigsnakegirl785
Yes, I have actually. Back when I was still considering cohabbing Draco and Demigod together, I attempted to expose them to each other. Draco ended up striking at me multiple times (he's never done so any other time before), and becoming frantic. Demigod was fine. The second time I introduced them, it was Demigod who freaked out and Draco hid. The third time I introduced them on neutral ground and they were still wary. As long as they're in my hand, they're ok, but put them down and they get defensive.
In my example, Wayne said he was shying away from cohabitation and only cohabbed two single individuals, separating all his others. He later made an entire thread (iirc, could have been another thread derailed or something) and recommended several times outright against cohabitation, period.
Personally, the risk isn't worth it imo. I would prefer finding another way than cohabitation to calm a finicky baby. At most, I would only house a finicky baby with another garter until it was eating regularly, but even then I really would rather not.
Some illness don't pop up right away. If something goes wrong, how do you know which one is ill? Illness can pop up even with good sanitation. Say the snakes fought and the wound became infected, one of them regurged, or the power went out in the winter. Of the last one, you could argue that maybe all of them are just going to inherently become sick, I suppose, but some are hardier than others.
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Defensive and aggressive are very different reactions, especially in the snake world. At the end of day most of the experienced keepers I have spoken to do cohab for the lifetime of the snakes. They also seem to think that garters, especially males, do better in groups. Transmissible disease must be transmitted, it does not just pop up. With proper sanitation and buying captive bred animals, your risk of infection should be zero. People like to make excuses, but if a healthy snake picks up a communicable disease it is one hundred percent the fault of the keeper. As with any snake showing signs of sickness they should be placed back into quarantine. If you want to keep them separate, that is your opinion and I respect that.
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