I want your opinion

Psyche · 02-02-12, 07:16 PM

Sorry i've been posting so much today, i've just had a lot of things happening and i find this to be the best place for answers.
I want to get your opinion on housing two snakes of roughly the same size and age together (not for breeding).

exwizard · 02-02-12, 07:22 PM

Confession time...

I have to house 2 of our Dums (1 male and 1 female) in the same tub due to lack of tub space. I know its not ideal and its only temporary until I can get another AP rack. This need is so urgent for me. Anyway, that being said, if you can do it, its better that each snake has its own enclosure. Snakes generally are solitary.

Psyche · 02-02-12, 07:25 PM

I hear that the biggest problem aside from sickness is cannibalism

Gungirl · 02-02-12, 07:27 PM

Why do you want to house them together?

I think the risk out ways the benefit no matter the reason but I am interested in why you wish to do so.

BarelyBreathing · 02-02-12, 07:55 PM

The most common problem is stress. I would advise against it.

alessia55 · 02-02-12, 08:00 PM

From what I've learned, cohabitation of solitary snakes can result in stress, death of the "weaker" snake, and cannibalism. It's not worth the risk IMO.

red ink · 02-02-12, 08:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Psyche

Sorry i've been posting so much today, i've just had a lot of things happening and i find this to be the best place for answers.
I want to get your opinion on housing two snakes of roughly the same size and age together (not for breeding).

How big's the enclosure in relation to the snakes?

UwabamiReptiles · 02-02-12, 08:55 PM

The general rule one snake per enclosure unless for breeding. As said above, the risks involved out weight the benefits IMO. It actually ends up being more work in the long run.

shaunyboy · 02-02-12, 09:32 PM

i house together.....

males and females

females and females

all carpet pythons,the only hassle is seperating them at feeding time

also risking a feeding response putting them back in their tanks,carpets are pretty jumpy in feeding mode.first sign of a heat signature and they hit first,wonder what they're eating later

cheers shaun

KORBIN5895 · 02-02-12, 09:56 PM

Well this could all be wonderful advice or it could all be hogwash. The first question is what kind of snakes are you thinking about?

CDN_Blood · 02-03-12, 06:48 AM

I don't recommend it, but it really does depend on so many things whether or not you can successfully do it.

Factors: species/enclosure size/separate feeding spaces/time apart after feeding/individual species needs, etc.

For years and years I kept a large Retic and a large Burmese and a couple of large Boas in a very large room of their own, but did use a separate room for feeding them and they weren't reintroduced into the main (snake-proof) room after feeding until they'd had a good soak a few days later to ensure as much of the food smell was off them as possible.

The Boas would invariably be found on an enormous set of branches, but I don't think that in all that time I ever saw them curl-up with one another. They'd all just pick different spots on the branches to call their own.

The Burm and Retic would spend as much time curled-up together as they would apart, clearly indicating they were more social by nature than the Boas, but if they didn't have so much space that they could choose where they wanted to be without running into one another, I kinda doubt they'd have been so happy.

There was a common water source in the room, which they all had to use to drink and/or soak in, and it wasn't uncommon to see a Boa soaking in there with the Pythons from time to time, but the Boas really did prefer solitary lives - much more so than the 2 giants.

In summary, I still don't recommend it, but if you have the space and the know-how, you can pull it-off, but you'll always be running a series of risks and you'd need to accept that.

Psyche · 02-03-12, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gungirl

Why do you want to house them together?

I think the risk out ways the benefit no matter the reason but I am interested in why you wish to do so.

well its not that i want to, or that i really was even planning too >_< i was honestly just curious. As for the question on species i have a ball python.

Rogue628 · 02-03-12, 04:17 PM

Back when I first kept snakes and didn't know any better, I housed a burm, a ball, and a red tail together for a while until I was able to get enough enclosures for them. I fed separately of course. They were like that for about a month and I had no issues with them.

When I got my dumeril's I housed them together for about a week. I had bought enclosures for them, but the snakes were much bigger than I anticipated so I had to move some of my animals around to make use of the tubs I did buy and these two I kept together in the biggest one I had for a few days. They were housed together when I rescued them so I didn't think a few more days would hurt.

My burms were housed together for a little while at one time when I first got them, before I knew about tubs and that it's now frowned upon to house them together. Of course I fed them both in separate boxes and used a heating pad to give them a heat source. I left them in those boxes for a while after feeding since they're feeding responses are huge. I made sure that they had plenty of time to come out of feed mode before putting them back together.

Out of the times I've housed multiples, I never had any huge issues with them, but I did notice a few things people were talking about. Them laying together is not cuddling. One is dominating the other or even having an issue with heat. One would usually nose under the other for the warm spot.

I have seen snakes housed together before but they were in huge enclosures. Our local zoo had two annies housed together at one time but the enclosure they had them in was about the size of a small mobile home. The both could stretch completely out and not touch both ends at the same time. There was also a water pool with a small waterfall that was in the middle of it. Not sure how feeding them worked though. I know it's not like that now as they only have one annie and my daughter has no clue what happened to the other one. She's been a volunteer there for a few years and since she's been there, they only have one and she's mean. I'm not even sure if it's the same one they had there 10 years ago.

I'll go out on a limb here and say it's doable, especially if it's only temporary and the enclosure is big enough to give them both plenty of room. I wouldn't do it permanently though.