Housing two snakes together

[claireree]

I have two hatchlings that I have bred they hatched July 08, my son has decided to keep two of them and I wanted to know if they can be housed together I would like to know the pros and cons of this.

They are currently in tubs of their own but they now need bigger ones I also have a yearling which I have got a new tub today and was wondering if just for a while if I can put them together in her tub for the time being.

Any advice welcome.

 

[mike17l]

Do a search for "cohab" or "cohabitation"

 

[Jenstar]

I would suggest keeping them separate... You can keep a better eye on the individual snakes and whether they regurge, shed, deficate etc... Also there have been cases of cannablism between corns...

My personal experiences with it was that I kept two together for about a year they seemed to do ok until one started regurgitating it's food every time I fed it... I had no idea which one it was... Shortly after that one of them escaped while I was handling the other one... I never found the lost snake, but I still have my butter boy to this day, and he's happy and healthy all by himself...

I personally will never cohabitate corns again because I can not keep an eye on two snake's in the same tub as well as I can individully tubbed... It's your decision this is just my personal experience...

 

[Shiari]

It is not a very good idea. There is always a risk of cannibalism, and stress of being close to another predator that might want to eat them can cause them to go on hunger strikes. I cohab'd my first two snakes for about 2 months before separating them due to obvious signs of stress. The anery of the pair was fine, but the little snow was pretty much freaking out, not eating well, and eventually went on a 6 week hunger strike and has been an incredibly slow grower ever since. The anery is now around 80 grams... and the snow is only 20 grams, despite being a year old.

 

[starsevol]

The pros...
1) Only one cage needed (good for owner)

The cons...
1) Snakes are not social animals and forced cohabitation can lead to stress. which can lead to health problems (bad for snake)
2) It is rare, but snakes have been known to attack and eat cagemates. This usually results in the death of BOTH snakes (bad for snakes)
3) If the snakes are a male-female pair, the male may breed with the female too early, and she could become eggbound and die, or suffer health problems from breeding too young, or suffer stress from being constantly chased and harassed by the male. (bad for snake)
4) One snake gets sick, has a regurge or a health problem. How are you going to know which snake it is? (bad for both snake and owner)
5) If one snake gets sick, chances are both are sick from being forced to share space together (bad for snake)

Co-habbing is great for the owner who doesn't want to clean 2 cages...not so good for the snakes that rely on that owner though....

In my personal forum I posted a thread about my own experiance co-habbing a pair of snakes......

 

[claireree]

ok thats great and appreicate the advice, I am currently waiting for one of my bps to be rehomed so I think I will wait for him to go and then split his vivarium up and use that to rehome them instead, would rather be safe than sorry and house them seperatly.

My 2 bps that are 7 & 8 were both housed together when I got them and not in a very addiquate viv at that but since we have built a new viv and have now sep them they both seem happier wondering around a lot more and eating more as well, and like you say when they are together you are never sure which has pooped or shed etc.