2 corns in one viv

They don't compete for food because they are fed seperatly on the same night.
None of them have deseases, I check scales weekly for mites. I anti-bacterialise any new hiding or climbing log, I rinse new wood chips of dust before they go in the viv. I clean the viv with a reptile cleaner fortnightly. So there is very little chance of infection of desease.
There's no compertition for space or heat in a 5" viv. They can go where they like. Sit under the light, climb, get away from the lightor hid.
The water dish is a giant dogs dish (bought from new!) and is big enough for them all to drink out of at once or for them to sit in if they shed.

The canabalism. I don't have an answer for that because I don't know why snakes do it. I thought it was only Kingsnakes that do it. The only other explination I think of is that the other snake may smell of food... Let me know ^_^*

Luv
Jayde
-x-

the only thing I would say is essential is to feed the snakes separately. Chucking mice into a viv with more than one snake is asking for trouble.

Apart from that, whether you keep the animals together or not is a matter of swings and roundabouts. Some health risks are clearly avoided by using separate vivs, but my opinion is that corns do enjoy each other's companionship.

But that's the whole point, they don't enjoy company. they are solitary animals. As for having a big tank and space 'not being an issue' how can you explain to a snake that one half of the tank is his and the other half is for the other snake?? You can't! Two snakes may decide that they both want to occupy the same area and that results in competition. As for feeding out of the tank...it really doesn't make any difference. Snakes have pretty simple brains and when they see another snake they see them as competition. They don't understand that they have unlimited water, food and enough space to spread out and share the same enclosure.

I have my 2 in the same tank and there is basically no trouble. Feed them separatly and be sure both are healthy before putting them together.

Canibalism is very very rare with corns though it does occur. I certainly wouldn't put a hatchling in the same viv the inhabits a 5 foot corn. But other than that it's fine. When having mor than 1 male with a female there can be fights in spring. Although these fights are mostly not bloody I would avoid them by separating the males.

Acradon

i don't intend to personify the snakes, but i disagree with the statement that they do not like company. i have one tank with two snakes in it, they are too young to mate now, but i realize next year i may need to separate them. for now i will leave them together.

with the option of many hides, i usually find them sharing one together. sometimes when the male is out and gets starled by someone walking around, he will go to the hide the female is in and curl up with her.



i have another set, two males, that do not share the same cage. but i do take them out together from time to time. they also appear to enjoy each other's company (one more so than the other). the timid one will follow the other one around and wrap himself around the other. he also appears to be more calm when the other one is around.

now, these are just my observations from a very small collection. and i agree it should all be determinded on a case by case basis if two snakes should be kept together. but i do not think it should be completly dispelled that corns could possibly -like- being together!

whatsssss a viv

Viv is short for vivarium:

From the Dictionary - vi·var·i·um - a place, especially an indoor enclosure, for keeping and raising living animals and plants under natural conditions for observation or research.

So in this case, it's a tank.

Hope that helps!

thank ye very much

Hey Plastic,

looks like you stole my snakes lol. They look just like my two.

Acradon

*sigh* I don't know why I bother but....

The whole point of not keeping snakes together is basic animal welfare. Think about it, by keeping more than one snake per viv you are creating more chances of something going wrong. By keeping them separate, you are keeping the list of 'problems' to a minimum. There is NO benefit of keeping corns together. In your opinion it may be nice to see your snakes with 'company' but it's a FACT that they don't appreciate company. There are now quite a few scientific papers written on the subject of snake neurophysiology and ALL papers conclude that snakes are not capable of higher emotion so therefore have no possible way of being lonely, or in love or whatever. At the end of the day, you are adding more risk to your snakes health...no matter how minute. Anyway, they're your snakes and it's your call but can't you see why it's better to keep snakes separate??