For the first part, SCIENTISTS and NATURALISTS are saying that these animals are solitary animals.
And sure, a calmer less bitey snake benefits YOU, but what if the snake is high strung by nature and by housing it in with another snake it is not allowed to exhibit it's true disposition. What if what you are doing is forcing the snake to act in a way it wouldn't act naturally?
Some snakes are naturally calmer and nicer than others. Some aren't. What you might see as a calmer animal might in fact be an animal that is stressed into being something it isn't.
As for snakes not being solitary animals - I'll come back to the cat example. They are solitary creatures in the wild, yet TONS of people house them together. Do you go around telling those people that they are killing their cats because of stress? Or how about dogs, who naturally live in packs. Do you go around telling people who only have one dog that they are killing their dog because of stress?
Back to snakes - I'll go for the more scientific approach then. Abnormally high heart rates and breath rates are considered signs of stress (not taking into account the breath rate when snakes are smelling their environment, as it's a lot higher then). If the snake is obviously stressed, bity and "high strung", that doens't benefit the snake in any way. It does benefit me personally if I don't get bit every time I pick up my snakes, but that's not why I like them to be calm (honestly, corn snake bites aren't that bad). I like them calm because it benefits THEM. High stress hormone levels aren't good for any creature. Biting me all the time won't help them either (possible issues with accidental tooth extraction, etc).
You keep bringing up how a snake "would act naturally". The thing is, we're taking them out of the wild and putting them into a situation where they cannot act naturally. They can't hunt (unless you release them onto a large patch of land with live mice?), they can't explore, they don't face dangers such as predators or physical injury by sharp objects. The behaviour you describe (biting, being high strung, etc) are a direct result of those threats in the wild. Being stressed helps them to survive, there. In captivity, none of that is necessary as they don't face any threats (or at least, not if we can help it). I'm not "not allowing my snake to exhibit its true disposition", I'm putting them in a situation where they get used to touch so they don't get stressed out every time they are picked up.
I do think that if people want to cohab, they should keep in mind that each snake is different. My male, for instance, does not respond well to cohabbing - he displays some barely noticable signs of stress when cohabbed, so he has his own viv. Not all snakes will be suited for living together, just like some humans aren't.
Of course you can't SEE stress. You can only see its effects. The whole point is, (and after this, I GIVE UP-) there is NO benefit to keeping snakes together. There is actual or potential harm. Whether you can define or quantify the harm depends on how acutely observant you are of your snakes, who are programmed to never show stress at the risk of becoming prey. If you want to accept that risk for your animals, who don't have a choice, who depend on you to provide, not the most convenient living conditions, but the most optimal living conditions, then no amount of reasoning is going to change your mind. Whatever. As Beth says- they are yours to put in harm's way. You're the human, you have dominion- go for it. Just don't expect most educated keepers to pat you on the back for putting your animals at risk.
I'm very much aware of the fact that you can't see stress. Like you said, you can see its effects. If you, however, don't see any effects over a large group of people that are properly cohabbed (enough space, enough hides, enough food, fed seperately), that may not be proof that cohabbing can be done without increased risk, but it surely is an indication.
As for noticing signs of stress, I'm very much aware that I'm not an expert. I do, however, have a lot of experience in noticing small things, small changes in behaviour, breathing, feeding pattern, etc. as we were taught these things in veterinary medicine. Furthermore, I've raised each of my snakes myself and am very familiar with their normal behavioural patterns - changes in those could also indicate stress. I love my snakes to bits, and if I thought that cohabbing them did any harm, I certainly wouldn't be doing it. Telling people who cohab that they are killing their snakes or that it's animal cruelty is, in my opinion, an unnecessarily harsh and harmful thing to say.
Again, I understand that people have different opinions, but I just wish people would be at least somewhat respectful to one another without resorting to guilt-tripping someone into thinking they are doing as much as KILLING their snakes. When a simple question like "how long does it take for scale rot to manifest itself" is asked, no one asks you to start spouting opinions about cohabbing, ESPECIALLY if the OP already asked you to stop it and stay on topic. I know many of you bash Carpe Serpentis for bringing up the hybrid topic when it's not related to the original post, but the exact same thing is happening here... I'm half waiting for the "show pics of your collection then!" -.-
