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Will a corn snake eat other snakes?

boabass6 said:
Baroness, these are very convincing pictures, especially the boa. It might just be my perception, but the snakes in all those pictures including the boa look very skinny, despite the bulges of where other snakes have been ingested. I know some of the snakes are younglings, and they are usually skinny, but this is not normal behavior for boids to eat other reptiles. If it were a king snake or an indego snake it wouldn't surprise me. I wonder if the snakes were underfed?
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The boa was simply housed with another. It was fed on a normal schedule with appropriate sized food, and decided one day to eat the other for no apparent reason. Maybe it got tired of "cuddling." :shrugs:

Those snakes don't really seen skinny, it's an optical illusion because the food bulges are so massive.

I personally have had issues with hatchlings trying to eat each other while they were in a bin to be sexed. They were all clutch mates and had just finished their first sheds. They were in a large tub together while I sexed and labeled each one to be placed in a tub by itself. One of them tried to constrict and consume another, then two more started doing it.

I also have an employee that housed a bull snake and a gopher snake together. Both died from what looked to be fight wounds that turned septic. She also had a king eat a corn. After she told me what happened I went over proper husbandry with her. She no longer cohabs anything, not even the same species of snake.
 
Who was it that bought a couple of snakes at a reptile show and had them in a deli cup for the ride home?
When he got home, he had two dead snakes, from one attempting to eat the other.
They were expensive morphs, too, if I remember.

That is the other bad part- the snake who does the eating usually dies as well if the two snakes were about the same size.
 
I will PM him... I am pretty sure he was the one telling the story, as it related to someone who was considering popping a corn they won at the auction into a deli cup with another.
 
PM sent.

I am not sure what your reference to me was earlier. It IS the height of irresponsible animal ownership to put your animals into a situtation where they could serioues be injured.

That's not an insult. It's simple fact.
 
I keep a modest collection of around 50 snakes... this goes up to around anything between 100 and 160/200 snakes depending on how things go... We keep all the hatchlings together for the first day or so and then everyone has their own house....
Snakes will feed when the feeding response is triggered... That could be a truck going past your house, the phone ringing or a ride home in a car (Bp love a drive in the car to get them going when they decide to stress you (or certain 'Lady' products, or mens (I'm a new age guy, after all))
Any way.... You can't be there 24/7 and you couldn't stop it if you were, so separate....... The No brainer solution...
 
snakewispera snr said:
I keep a modest collection of around 50 snakes... this goes up to around anything between 100 and 160/200 snakes depending on how things go... We keep all the hatchlings together for the first day or so and then everyone has their own house....
Snakes will feed when the feeding response is triggered... That could be a truck going past your house, the phone ringing or a ride home in a car (Bp love a drive in the car to get them going when they decide to stress you (or certain 'Lady' products, or mens (I'm a new age guy, after all))
Any way.... You can't be there 24/7 and you couldn't stop it if you were, so separate....... The No brainer solution...
Click to expand...

^^ this is so true for many animals. You can never tell what will set them off. That is why I would never leave a large dog with a small child.

It is funny, because I used to have rabbits- and one of the ways to get rabbits to either bond or breed is to take them on a car ride. Apparently, car rides get THEIR motor revving.
 
BloodyBaroness said:
The boa was simply housed with another. It was fed on a normal schedule with appropriate sized food, and decided one day to eat the other for no apparent reason. Maybe it got tired of "cuddling." :shrugs:

Those snakes don't really seen skinny, it's an optical illusion because the food bulges are so massive.

I personally have had issues with hatchlings trying to eat each other while they were in a bin to be sexed. They were all clutch mates and had just finished their first sheds. They were in a large tub together while I sexed and labeled each one to be placed in a tub by itself. One of them tried to constrict and consume another, then two more started doing it.

I also have an employee that housed a bull snake and a gopher snake together. Both died from what looked to be fight wounds that turned septic. She also had a king eat a corn. After she told me what happened I went over proper husbandry with her. She no longer cohabs anything, not even the same species of snake.
Click to expand...

When I get done reviewing some things about this I will post some links to what I've found out about it. It looks like this forum community here doesn't like to house snakes together, but I've been reading the opposite, and sometimes both opinions on the matter from the same source, as I posted in an example above. There are a few reasonable possibilities why snakes will eat eachother. Baroness, I don't think the snakes ate eachother for no reason. Something was going on.
1. A kingsnake should never be kept with a corn because it is common knowledge that kings eat other snakes. A species known for eating other snakes frequently should not be kept with another snake, albeit my bulls might need separation after all. It is as of yet unclear just how often bull snakes eat other snakes, and if they are as aggressive as people have made them out to be. Very debatable.
2. Snakes might smell food on each other after a feeding. One snake eats another because they smell food.
3. Snakes can act strange when they are sick, and sickness can mess up a snake's perception, in this case, their aggression. If a snake goes into defense mode because it is sick, it might kill and eat another snake.

My experience has taught me snakes don't seem to mind each other's presence, and if they are kept healthy and clean, they are ok. I am not saying it is impossible for there to be danger, but I can't automatically accept the fact that snakes go cannibalistic for nor reason or because they hate the other snake. I believe this depends on the circumstances of the owner's animal care practices, the animals' health, and what kind of snakes are involved.

@Hypancistrus: I like your style buddy, but its not a fact until you prove it. A thorough review of collected evidence is necessary to prove it. I don't know your methods, I could just as easily say your not a good snake keeper either, but assumptions don't get us anywhere. Evidence is what I am trying to acquire. Perhaps you will contribute to the effort.
 
boabass6 said:
When I get done reviewing some things about this I will post some links to what I've found out about it. It looks like this forum community here doesn't like to house snakes together, but I've been reading the opposite, and sometimes both opinions on the matter from the same source, as I posted in an example above. There are a few reasonable possibilities why snakes will eat eachother. Baroness, I don't think the snakes ate eachother for no reason. Something was going on.
1. A kingsnake should never be kept with a corn because it is common knowledge that kings eat other snakes. A species known for eating other snakes frequently should not be kept with another snake, albeit my bulls might need separation after all. It is as of yet unclear just how often bull snakes eat other snakes, and if they are as aggressive as people have made them out to be. Very debatable.
2. Snakes might smell food on each other after a feeding. One snake eats another because they smell food.
3. Snakes can act strange when they are sick, and sickness can mess up a snake's perception, in this case, their aggression. If a snake goes into defense mode because it is sick, it might kill and eat another snake.

My experience has taught me snakes don't seem to mind each other's presence, and if they are kept healthy and clean, they are ok. I am not saying it is impossible for there to be danger, but I can't automatically accept the fact that snakes go cannibalistic for nor reason or because they hate the other snake. I believe this depends on the circumstances of the owner's animal care practices, the animals' health, and what kind of snakes are involved.

@Hypancistrus: I like your style buddy, but its not a fact until you prove it. A thorough review of collected evidence is necessary to prove it. I don't know your methods, I could just as easily say your not a good snake keeper either, but assumptions don't get us anywhere. Evidence is what I am trying to acquire. Perhaps you will contribute to the effort.
Click to expand...
I'm so glad you are here to educate us.... And your experience is exactly what... Apologies pre empted if you turn out to be a prof of herps.....
 
snakewispera snr said:
I'm so glad you are here to educate us.... And your experience is exactly what... Apologies pre empted if you turn out to be a prof of herps.....
Click to expand...

I've been taking care of snakes through out my life and have never had a snake suffer sickness or ill fate because of my practices.

In any case, I just talked to my veterinarians. One of them has been breeding everything from anacondas to garder snakes for 10+ years. They've practiced same-species co-habbing on a variety of species with no report of snakes eating each other.

I will continue the research. This is where I close the topic because I am tired of checking back to see if there are any intelligent replies, and only receiving useless, close minded, rude and cynical inquiry.

Good day.
 
boabass6 said:
I've been taking care of snakes through out my life and have never had a snake suffer sickness or ill fate because of my practices.

In any case, I just talked to my veterinarians. One of them has been breeding everything from anacondas to garder snakes for 10+ years. They've practiced same-species co-habbing on a variety of species with no report of snakes eating each other.

I will continue the research. This is where I close the topic because I am tired of checking back to see if there are any intelligent replies, and only receiving useless, close minded, rude and cynical inquiry.

Good day.
Click to expand...

Just for future reference, the correct spelling of "garder" snakes is garter. :headbang: Also, if a veterinarian told me they supported co-habbing, I would immediately find a new one...
 
reptile65 said:
Just for future reference, the correct spelling of "garder" snakes is garter. :headbang: Also, if a veterinarian told me they supported co-habbing, I would immediately find a new one...
Click to expand...

I am 100% with Kyle. It's one of the first things my vet asks anytime we take in an ill snake.
 
Well all I can say is your screen name suits you and the way you are acting.
I know that is not a debate just an observation.
 
susang said:
Sooooo go for it, but why in the world did you start a thread knowing you would not change your mind and few would agree with you.
Click to expand...


Good point Susan.

But this is done to stroke the ego. When the ego is ""low"", usually from nonco-habbing, it must prove itself of worth. If the ego was able to live a solitary life this process wouldn't be necessary. (There's the twist)
Overall, if the OP did a research on the topic on this forum, they would of understood that this thread is moot.
 
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