Can two corns live together

[Rhiannon]

Hi There
I am new to this and need some advice.
About 6 weeks ago I bought my 1st corn - it is about 6 months old and has always fed well. After two weeks, it managed to escape ( we think by flattening and squeezing out between the panes of glass on the tank as we're sure we didn't leave door open)
Anyway after about three weeks missing ( despite extensive search, food left out etc.etc) we assumed it must have got right away or died - we live in North of England and weather can be quite cool - also live in big old victorian house with renovations going on so lots of holes in walls and floors.

So, we bought another one! younger, about 3 months old who has also settled in well. Yesterday our neighbour from 7 houses(terraced houses) away turned up with the original corn in a jar - luckily her husband is a zoologist so they weren't too freaked out to find it in their bedroom. Unfortunately, she had knocked on all the doors in between who probably won't be happy to have had a snake crawling thru' their roof space.

We fed both separately then put them in tank together. They have been ok but old snake Cinnamon is obviously bigger than new snake Tango and is taking over the hide, the water bowl and log. Poor Tango spends most of his time up on a ledge keeping out of the way although he does come down occasionally.

Can anyone tell us- Will they settle down? or is Tango going to be dominated for the rest of its life? We have no idea if they are male or female but we will worry about that later!! Sorry about rambling on but we have no one locally to advise us.

Thanks Rhiannon

 

[sonic1966]

corns no probs

I started with 2 corns which were bought at the same time & live in the same viv, I've had them about 6 months, a month ago we were given a ratsnake who was put in with my 2, after a few weeks they all seem happy together wrapped up in a hide. My girlfriends children have had different corns over a long period & are all in the same viv at the ex husbands house. I think there are 6 or 7 in that viv. As long as there is enough space & extra hides there should be no probs. One thing I do is to feed them seperatly just incase there is any fighting over the food. Hope this is ok for you.................Nick

 

[Rhiannon]

Thanks for your reply Nick - sounds as though they might be OK together but I'm going to take your advice about hides - just sorting out somewhere for Tango to call his own.

Rhiannon

 

[Snaker180]

another view

Many members feel that it is not ok to keep corns together. There have been whole threads and debates on this issue. check other threads in this section. Most feel it is less stress on the snakes to be separated. As well as safety concerns. I just had to separate my two as ther were justing turning one this past summer and where starting to show some signs of stress. even though their viv was big and they had lots of hides and were fed separate out of the tank. One behavior was a shaking when they saw each other.

Congratulations on the find of your snake! I lost a snow last year that I only had for a few weeks and never found him I think your lucky

 

[Iris]

Rhiannon,
Sometimes people keep corns together with no problems, but in your case, I suggest that you separate them. A smaller snake can easily be intimidated by a larger snake and it seems that Tango is very much so intimidated by the bigger Cinnamon.
Also the possibility of them mating too early..I know they don't seem old enough to be capable, but in the Corn Snake Manual, I believe it says the youngest recorded breeding of a female accidentally occurred when she was 5 months old with a sibling brother.
So in my opinion, the sooner you separate them, the better, ESPECIALLY if you don't know their sexes.

 

[Rhiannon]

Thanks to everyone who replied. I've also read previous threads on this which I hadn't before being new to the site.

To be on the safe side I think I am going to separate them - last night I put Tango in a separate container within the vivarium and he seemed much more relaxed.

Cinnamon is so confident - just because he has been " out on his own" for three weeks, he thinks he knows it all . Both seem very happy being handled which is good - all members of family are enjoying them even youngest who is 6.

Off now to investigate getting another vivarium.

Thanks for this site - it is really helpful.

 

[Missymonkey]

2 is cool (mine are together and they may get a new roomie soon)

I saw the same "confident" behavior in my corn after she took a weekend romp throughout the apartment, I felt bad that she was back in her tank, of course so did our cat (no more playmate)... I think it's so neat how snakes seem to have these little personalities....

I am very happy that you've found your snake, it's nice to have herp friendly neighbors

 

[bmm]

I

Wouldn't keep them together myself.

The smaller one is stressed by the larger one and he will be happier when you seperate them.

I had two corns both same ago although one was just SLIGHTLY smaller than the other, maybe half inch and a tiny bit less around. Anyways, I thought no probs. Wrong. I put them together and the smaller one was stressed out and didn't have a huge appetite. I didn't notice since they had always lived together I thought that was how each behaved. But once I seperated them, I saw a whole new personalitly come out of the smaller snake.

It pays to keep your corns seperate. Keeping them together is taking a risk I personally don't want to take with my collection.

bmm

 

[Kodsferty]

Thank you foryour posts!Very interesting!

 

[smigon]

Why NOT to cohab corn snakes!