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2 Corns Together?

C

csmaster

New member
Hello, I am wondering if I can put 2 corn snakes together? They are both very similar in colour (orange) and of similar size (around the 3' mark) I'm pretty sure mine is a male, but am not sure of the sex of the new one as I havent seen it yet. I only have a 2 1/2' tank, which i'm guessing will be too small when theyr fully grown. I rang up a pet shop which sells corns and was told a 3' tank with some branches would do for 2 adults, does this sound ok ?

Thanks In Advance :)

Dave
 
Greetings,

Look under the Misc forum heading and locate a post titled, "Do Corns like companions?" The simple answer is no, but you will find more information there. There's also an image Simon posted to the Photo Gallery titled, "This is why we shouldn't house more than 2 snakes together (Warning Photo)"


Cheers,
Jason
 
Sure if you like

Now this is a touchy subject you get mixed responses and views all I will say is yes, mine are fine and have been together since there were old enough to be sold and they are cool together they curl up borrow and even bath together there the same size but beat this there a diffrent morph one is an amel (orange and red) and the other is an anerthristic (black and grey)

:D :D :D
 
There seem to be alot of people from the UK who keep their snakes together, and without any problems. Someone on another forum keeps a male and two females together and has done for years.

I guess it's about how much you want to risk things. I wouldn't do it again (not because of any problems) because I know what *could* happen. I wouldn't want to take that risk.

There is no justifiable reason for keeping snakes together so why risk it?
 
The reason i'm wanting to keep 2 together is my m8 from work is getting rid of one, and the only way i can have it would be to put him/her in with my snake which i allready have as there is no room for me to put another tank in my bedroom (and my dad cartainly wont have them anywhere else in the house! ;) hehe)

Its quite worrying as 2 pet shops, inc. one which specialises in reptiles, have both said 2 are fine together. One shop said any sex corn can be with any sex corn, and the other said only male + female or female and female, and both of them said to feed seperatly out of their tank (which I do anyway)
 
csmaster said:

Its quite worrying as 2 pet shops, inc. one which specialises in reptiles, have both said 2 are fine together.
Click to expand...

Our local pet dealer also said it was okay to keep two Corns together as long as they were fed seperately and (gulp) "washed" before going back in their viv. They made no reference to size, age, color or sex. There are a lot of people who will offer advice and we just have to be careful who we listen to, or at least understand the consequences of it. (IMHO)
 
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Hey

I have my 2ft normal aztec and my 3ft miami together in a 3ft viv. They have been together now for about 3 months and they are fine together. You will get a lot of responses of people saying its ok and other people saying its not ok. My advise is as long as the 2 corns are roughly the same size you should give it a go and after a week if you can tell that they arnt getting on together (staying as far away from each other as possible), try nd get another a second viv.

Thanks

Alex
 
This is a touchy subject indeed. I have my adult male and female together, have been since the day I bought them. They are almost 3 years old never had a problem. I have 3 of my hatchling together 2fem. and 1 male they are @ 8 months old been together since they hatched. I have seen the pics of what happens, but I think it is mostly with hatchlings and not adults. I hope I don't learn the hard way.

Hoss
 
*shaking head*

With all these reasons not to house together, has any of you ever wondered why you have never heard ONE single reason (that is a benefit to the SNAKE) stating that you should house together? Ever wonder why? Because there is not one. There is absolutly not one reason that is beneficial for the snakes to house them together. All reason are human. I.E. can't afford, another tank, etc.

Here are *some* things that can go wrong
1. With two snakes living together you will not be able to tell who pooped out what. This can be a problem if you get something running through your collection or if one of the two snakes gets ill.
2. Two vets trips when one is sick, because you had to house them together, you need to treat two snakes now instead of one. Not only is this more costly, but I feel unfair to the snake who isn't ill.
3. Regurg. If one does, how will you know who? Frankly just "guessing" isn't good enough for me.
4. Early breeding. This can be avoided with sexed snakes in most cases. But almost 90% of the time people are throwing hatchlings together and the female can get gravid early which can cuase life threatening, costly problems and can kill the female in some cases.
5. Snakes are SOLITARY creatures with exceptions in a few species. They do not "like" each other, they do not care if they ever see anotehr snake. Another snake in their cage means competion for food, water and mates...competition = stress. Long term low stress levels cause problems in almost all animals, snakes as well, in the long run....over time...or in some cases right away i.e. not eating etc. Even if they are both eating, both could have stress because of the other one. If in nature they prefer solitary lives, why force them to live together? Not me. Thanks.

Again, I'd love one reason to house together. Just one. There isn't one. Can't afford another tank, then don't get another snake. I realize some of you have "sucess" housing together but frankly with all the possible problems noted above why even take the risk? Not for me, not for my snakes especially when its so simple to avoid those problems by just having two cages.

bmm
 
Alex- Also staying away from each other, or close together has literally nothing to do with them being stress free or not. Nothing at all. It simply means both choose the same exact temp range and location, or they don't. Period. Snakes don't make friends.

bmm
 
Thanks for the advise Bmm, lol, i have made about 7 3f vivs in my Garage in the last few weeks, so i dont keep them in the same viv because I cant afford another viv. I just keep the in the same viv because i like too see them together plus i only have those 2 corns and a bp at the moment anyway. IM getting 3 more corns at christmas so I will then start using my new vivs.

BTW have you ever had 2 or more corns in the same viv (not hatchlings) Bmm?
And if so, how long???

Cheers

Alex
 
Most certainly NOT! I have in the past kept hatchlings together, by the time they were adults I had already learned my lessons in not keeping snakes together. I would never keep my adults together aside from breeding purposes. I won't even risk it to try it. Too many bad stories for my tastes. Not to mention with the hatchlings I did keep together, the stress was especially obvious in one individual.

bmm
 
The reason why those pet shops are all suporting housing two snakes together is because they want you to buy the snake. If they tell you that you need a whole new tank, they probably won't make the sale- so they tell you it is fine so they can get there money.

So thats why I listen to experienced people on these boards instead of some kid at petco trying to make a buck or two.
 
Playing devils advocate here but i can give you a reason to house snakes together

2 snakes in a 3ft viv is much better than 2 snakes in 1and half foot vivs. Alot of breeders keep there adults in spaces far to small for the snake to ever be able to stretch out. In keeping with the argument about if you cant affrod another via etc then dont buy anohter snake then it is fair to say cant house all of your 50 + snakes in the space they require then you shoudl nt have them this would in effect mean that alot of breeders would no loonger be able to breed.

I have to agree though that corns although seem happy together nearly always seem to do better sperate.......i have a few exceptions but then that is exceptions!
 
I would like to make a comment on the large viv. It has been my experience that with cornsnake adults, even if you put them in a large container, they usually just curl up in one corner, and don't really stretch out. In the wild, the corn snakes will prefer hiding places that give them a small cramped quarters. So in my opinion, the large 1m viv's are more for the aesthetic benefit of the owner of the snake than for the cornsnake himself. I think that as long as the space is big enough for him to properly thermoregulate, and has a water dish large enough to take a bath in, and a couple of hides, then he is perfectly cared for, and content to just wait for the next easy meal.
Mark
 
Putting the snakes into cages together because you cannot afford large enough cages is not a reason to keep together.

two snakes in a three foot viv is giving each snake only half of the tank if they want to be apart, effectively cutting the cage in half. Its the same thing but worse since now your snake must share with another.

There are no non human reasons that are beneficial to the snakes to house together. They do not like each other, they do not make friends. Breeders keeping in too small of cages has nothing to do with housing together, thats another problem entirely. A suitable sized cage is also a highly debatable topic whereas housing together is so obviously wrong I can't believe anyone still does it.

bmm
 
Well alot of people do so start believing :eek: Actually, over here corns are generally thought to be the one snake that you can house together. Dunno why, but that's the way it is so sometimes you're words will fall on deaf ears I'm afraid.
 
hmm seems you may well be right there :),this definately one of those arguments where people are putting human emotions on animals and like i said i was playing devils advocate.
Very few of my corns share (i have 30+). But i will say one thing and i do believe it for what ever reason and it seems to be a repeatable phenomina (sp?) if i put a reasonable feeder in with a snake that is all you can eat (ie a power feeder) the reasonable eater will all of a sudden up its eating in what seems like a bid to keep up. I dont know if this a behavioral response or a physological one (ie snakes sometimes poo in the water and if the great feeder is eating as a result of having superior gut bacteriaand the other sanke drinks and then generates better gut bacteria).

I think the point being is though that alot of people keep corns as purely pets and for those people keeping two adult corns together (assuming there the same sex) then thats fine. After all the stress of having to live with anohter corn is surely goin to be alot less then being dragged out your house and handled by a great big pink monster every night - at least the other corn is identifable as another snake! , and one of the points that should be made also is that the corn has become so wide spread and accepted because of its good nature and its ability to adapt - if you couldnt keep two corns together then the'd be alot less sales which means less effort into breeding etc etc .

just my 10 pence :D
 
Well I am not sure about it affecting breeding but then again most breeders don't care what happens to the babies. O.k. not most but a lot of them.

Personally, this year when I sold my snow babies I could have EASILY sold quite a few pairs to people who were willing to get another if they could house together. And I told them straight up its not a good option and all listened to my advice thankfully! :D

bmm
 
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