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more than 1 cornsnake

After careful thought, and advise from many people including "the woman who wrote the cornsnake bible" I've decided it is perfectly safe for my corns to be housed together in one cage as long as there is : enough room for both, neither is ill, and both eat well and show no signs of being under stress. I feed my snakes seperatley so they don't have to feel threatened or like they have to fight over food.
I currently have 16 corns and all but two are housed in pairs. The two that are seperated are only on their own because they didn't seem to "connect" with their cage buddies. Neither of them ever fought, stopped eating, or acted stressed, they just seemed to like being alone rather than curled up together.
I had many people telling me that my snakes were probably just hanging out together because the spot they were both in was the only spot in the cage that was the right temperature, etc. for them to be in at the moment and that they probably were not hanging out together because they liked each other. So I put in extra hide spots that were in approx. the same temperature ranges and my snakes still hang out together. I have one tank with a plant in it and both snakes curl up TOGETHER on all different branches.
My personal belief is that snakes are more social than people give them credit for and it may even be to their benefit to house them together.
If you take good care of your pets (and I'm not saying those of you who disagree with me don't) you will notice when one is stressed, not feeding, or regurging. If you have two housed together and you see this... seperate them to see which one it is- no big deal. I wouldn't be too worried about diseases unless your snake is wild caught as well. Cornsnakes are generally a very healthy breed. And cannibalism? How many times has this really happened? I've never met anyone with this being a problem. If your getting your information from just a few printed instances then you might as well be worried about your snakes eating themselves as well - check out Kathy Love's pics on her web-site.
I think that just like all people have different personalities and are different, so are snakes and you have to pay attention to that to make them happy. Just go by how each snake acts individually.
I think it's awesome that other people have snakes that watch TV too! One of mine was staring at the TV for about 10 mins straight the other night. I don't know how well they can make things out, but maybe they are attracted to the different shades and movements!! It's soo cute!
Sorry this ended up so long! Good Luck with your snakes!!!! :cheers:
 
I've housed snakes together, and you're right. The instances of problems arising are very rare, from a percentage perspective.

However, just so everyone realizes what we are talking about here, you have determined that those percentages are sufficiently low enough to risk on your animals. I have zero chance of my animals being stressed, sick, or injured from any sort of communal housing problem, because I removed that as condition of my husbandry practices.

I am not saying you are wrong. I am just saying that you are apparently willing to take risks that I am not.

You also raised the question about the possibility of corns deriving some benefit of living together. If that were the case, why would they not be found communally in the wild?

Respectfully,
 
If you take good care of your pets (and I'm not saying those of you who disagree with me don't) you will notice when one is stressed, not feeding, or regurging. If you have two housed together and you see this... seperate them to see which one it is- no big deal.
Click to expand...

Okay I have two corns who I have in seperate rooms. When ever We handle them We clean are hands in between. I know that people have there own idea on if it is safe to keep them together or not. I have not had my snakes get mites yet, (Crossing my fingers they never do) But I don't think I would want both to get them at the same time, Isn't one bad enough to deal with?
And to say the above quote sounds really bad to me. Okay so you wake up and one of your snakes has re-gurged, you are saying seperate them and feed them again so you can see which one re-gurged? and thats no big deal? Tell you snake that because it's very stressfull for them. Or one comes down with something and you notice some unusual poop, I don't know about your snakes but mine don't poop that often. so you have to wait a week or so to see which one it is to even treat, oh wait you will most likely have to treat them BOTH! I guess I am just not willing to take risks with my snakes.

One thing that gets me is when people get another snake but don't have enough money to get another viv so they stick it in with another snake, and lord forbid one is sick, if they don't have the money for another viv them how are you going to afford two trips to the vet? or double the meds?

Just my two cents.

Jaimee
 
I place a high value on socializing my corn snakes.
Currently my two are only 6 months old and in a 20L.
I care for these animals, do everything I can for them. When they show signs that the togetherness isn't working, we'll change the situation. Until then a separated life in two smaller cages instead of a together life in one large cage... Would be a poor choice for them.

What I've read about them so far indicates corns roam a LOT in the wild. I'd like to represent that to mine in captivity to the best of my ability. That don't mean tiny solitary cells. But it DOES mean lots of quiet-time/alone-time/hidey-time if they want it.

Giving them zero opportunity to separate occasionally would be bad. We're not there yet. This viv is plenty big enough for two... For now.

I wonder how much my opinions will change in the next three-to-five years...
 
Money, space, time, and energy are no issue with me at all and I happen to agree with you that people shouldn't be cramming a bunch of snakes into a cage just because they don't want to take up extra space or to save a bit of money. These guys come first- no matter what. I simply feel that the chances of any harm coming to my babies is sooooo slim that it's not worth freaking out over. Sure we could all live in plastic bubbles, sheltering our children from any possible situation in life that may cause the most minute bit of stress, running around being obsessive compulsive cleaners, etc. but like I said before, in the very small chance that something were to happen, I'd seperate the snakes affected... no big deal. I don't think that these pampered house pets are going to die from stress over any situation that can be corrected so quickly and easily.

All of the opinions I have heard make sense and I for the most part agree. The idea of housing snakes seperatley sounds very responsible. Like what was mentioned earlier you will have a 0% chance of anything bad ever happening to your snake as a result of housing it with another. I just don't think that all people who decide to house their snakes together should be lumped together as "bad snake owners" and we should definitly not be compared to those who irresponsibly own too many snakes than they can handle. I just felt I'd speak out for those of us who do house together because when I first joined this forum I was pretty much yelled at for the idea and after asking some very trustworthy and reputable people, I found out that it is not as bad as most people were trying to make it sound.

A while back, after wondering about the question of snakes hanging out in the wild together I tried to find any info on this that I could. I didn't find much, but I did find that while snakes are mostly only found together during hibernation and mating season, there are many instances where herpers will be out searching for snakes and find 2,3, or even more under the same rock, in the same area, etc. I agree that snakes are solitary animals, but I don't think that they can't stand each other, or even mind each other. I would think that they view each other as a potential threat when they are on the hunt or if their habitat didn't offer a great deal in the way of food. I'd love to hear what other people think/know about this- it's very interesting to me!
Have a good one!! :cheers:
 
Today I bought two used Apogee Reptariums. BIG ones.
I'm thinking one I may sell or give to a friend, the other I plan to keep to setup a 'safari-house' for my cornsnakes.
Not really sure how much they'll appreciate it now, but when they reach full size I am sure they will appreciate the chance to stretch and climb, without me pawing all over them.
 
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