Pet store

[Siretsap]

Yes I know that, but if you always apply those, then what do you do about all the hybrids??? Cornsnake mixes with grey rat snakes or king snakes.... I mean those were animals from different grounds with different gut fauna... And yet many people were amazed by the beauty of the babies. The problem I see with this is if the baby tends to be more like the king parent, then it would prob eat some of it's clutchmates...
Anyhow, I doubt this problem along with the different species housing will ever be resolved.

Too many divergent opinions, some a little far fetched, some realistics, and some that might end up right down the road, but no one will know for a while.

[M_surinamensis]

I generally euthanize hybrids, when legally allowed to do so. They're dangerous animals, all it takes is one person who doesn't realize what they are dealing with that misrepresents some offspring and an entire population is contaminated. Look at what Creamcicle corns did to captive corn populations... Lots of people have animals with some emoryi in them, but have no idea they own hybridized animals.

[JDouglas]

WRX,
So you are saying it is OK to house multiples together if you don't have the space. I think this is poor advice. How do you quarintine a new animal if you don't have space? Just because someone sells you a snake and says it healthy and it looks healthy doesn't mean it is.

[Cruciform]

When I posted the question about the aquarium, I was just seeing (as devil's advocate) if there's anyone who's doing the same thing with fish that they're dead set against doing with snakes.

Anyone that is should stop preaching immediately

Not that I think anyone should keep mixed species of snakes in the same cage, it's just that this topic pops up every week and people throw a fit and in the end, nobody changes their opinion.

[MouseKilla]

I don't understand what all the fuss is about here, I'm keeping a retic, a pair of albino cobras, a bottle-nosed dolphin and a bald eagle all in the same dog kennel and they're all doin' great! lol!

[WRX]

"Mashing three continents together"?

Gimme a break. As for Bill Haast's Serpentarium, have you been there? Well I have, and while his venomous snakes on the venom extraction program are kept in racks, his display animals are in "comminity" cages. Rattlesnakes from N and S America in a desert type setup. There are cards @ the front of the enclosure that shows a picture and small desciption of each animal. I thought it kinda cool trying spot then different snakes, but I digress.

George VanHorne of Reptile World in Sanford also houses his snakes and lizards the same way. But, I uess those guys are members of the old fart club too.

Whatever.

BT

[M_surinamensis]

No... those guys are educated, and the exceptions which I noted.

You clearly weren't at the time you took the action and your seeming refusal to admit that it's not safe for the animals to mix the ones you did implies that you still aren't.

[WRX]

No... those guys are educated, and the exceptions which I noted

Actually, they are were not formally educated in Herpetology. Tom Huff also had no post secondary education in science. < r.i.p. >.

Frankly, antecdotal or not, keeping the species which were listed earlier in a single enclosure is just ignorant. Ignorance bordering on stupidity, "I didn't know any better" can only make up for so much before it becomes a kind of deep set ingrained refusal to learn.

Wow, not only are you a scientist, you are also a psychologist. I will admit to having limited education, but I work in a field that is creative, rather than what I perceive you "work" in. "A deep set ingrained refusal to learn"............ok.

keep nice, system specific aquariums and don't mix river systems or lakes, much less continents.

Hahahaha...you are kidding I hope. I was discussing this on the phone today with my Herp "mentor", we had a good laugh.

I admire your commitment to your charges, but , and please take no offence, you are the first Herp Nerd I have encountered!

Another quick note. I bought a RES and a Chinese Softshell a year and a 1/2 ago, and everyone local said "the softshell will remove the RES toes within a week".

Nope, both are robust 6" turtles.



BT

[Linds]

Originally posted by WRX
Another quick note. I bought a RES and a Chinese Softshell a year and a 1/2 ago, and everyone local said "the softshell will remove the RES toes within a week".

Nope, both are robust 6" turtles.

Well, I was planning on staying out of this thread, and didn't feel I needed to add to anything, Marisa and M_surinamensis covered pretty well all, but I have to reply to the above statement as I cannot even begin to understand it. Why would you risk putting two animals together, that everyone had cautioned you to be a possible hazard??? There obviously was some risk of that, what made you blatently ignore the warnings???

[WRX]

Yea, and The Boys are fine. I will post some pics / vids of my animals for you all to review shortly.

QUOTE]Well, I was planning on staying out of this thread, and didn't feel I needed to add to anything, Marisa and M_surinamensis covered pretty well all, but I have to reply to the above statement as I cannot even begin to understand it. Why would you risk putting two animals together, that everyone had cautioned you to be a possible hazard??? There obviously was some risk of that, what made you blatently ignore the warnings???[/QUOTE]
I ignore "warnings" from folks I take no stolk in.

[Oliverian]

Jesus. I don't have a lot to say about this, but honestly, how much does a new enclosure cost? You could do a cheap one and stay well under $50 in most cases. (if you try) Again, WHY risk killing one or more different snakes by keeping them in the same enclosure? Even if money is your issue, you lose even one of those snakes and it will probably have cost you more than an extra enclosure. You pay... say $80 for a new snake, and put it in a community enclosure. Let's say it dies (for one of the various reasons), and you're out a snake and $80. Wouldn't it have been much better to just have put it in a seperate enclosure to begin with?

I'm not advocating that it's totally wrong to keep different species together, but obviously there are risks. So why even take them if you can avoid them in the first place? Risking an animal's life to save a couple bucks? Come on, man. Why? That's all i'm asking.

-TammyR

[marisa]

"I ignore "warnings" from folks I take no stolk in."

Well trust me, you're the only one here in this thread I would ignore warnings from. You basically have thrown everyones very VALID points away and not even explained how you avoid the risks people have brought up, including ones brought up by Seamus Haley who posted an EXCELLENT reply in this thread. I guess we are all crazy!

"I always see different kinds of amphibians mixed up together, and I doubt people complain about those."

There is a HUGE difference here! Dart frogs don't come from "all over" there are not North American dart frogs living with African ones! I also rarely see people who know their stuff and have built success breeding programs with amphibians housing many species together. And yes, I would most certaintly would complain unless that person knew each inhabitant beforehand and carefully monitered each ones behaviour. Telling a newbie or possibly someone with little experience that you house a retic, a rat and a boa together and the backing it up with NO explanation is totally irresponsible.

And yet after all this thread, not ONE person has given ONE reason thats benefical to the snakes to house together. We can all see there are risks in housing together, and zero of those risks when not housing together. There are not benefits. So gee let me think which should I pick? Risks + no benefits? Or no risks and benefits? Real hard call...uh huh.

Marisa

[Cruciform]

Actually you're quite wrong about the Dart frogs Marisa. They come from many different tropical climes in both the eastern and western hemispheres. Some live in hot locations close to sea level while others live up in cooler areas on the mountains above the jungle.

I'm not arguing with the rest of your points, just that if you're going to use Dart Frogs as an example it might help to be more informed in their husbandry as well.

[marisa]

Well there you go, learn something new everyday. Thanks for the little lesson. It still doesn't change my opinion that most all people who have built successful breeding programs and long term collections with amphibians don't house a whack 'o species together.

Why? It's pointless.

Marisa

[Linds]

Originally posted by marisa
So gee let me think which should I pick? Risks + no benefits? Or no risks and benefits? Real hard call...uh huh.

That's the most important point in all the pages of this thread.