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Pet store's Employee's advice :/

Merkavich

Merkavich

LIVIN' THE PUG LIFE
I was at a pet store today to buy a couple small critter cages. They had one desert, and one tropical (only visible difference was one had no heat mat, instead it had 2 heat lamps) So I asked a young man who worked there if they had 2 tropicals, as I prefer having the heat mat..because I already have an extra heat lamp.

Anyway I explained to him I'm buying two hatchlings and he told me I shouldn't bother getting two tanks, because they can live together..and according to him it's unheard of for corn snakes to cannibalize o.0 ...I've done dozens of hours of research on snakes and have read countless posts/articles/rants about why you should NEVER house snakes together. I told him that I personally didn't think feel comfortable with that and referred to some things I've read, and I believe he was getting a little irritated at me for politely disagreeing with his advice lol.

I thanked him and he just said OKAY, and walked away looking displeased..I ended up buying the two tanks as I intended anyway, but with my preferred accessories (as they were nice and took out the extra lamp and added a heat mat for me in the other kit)..

There is a point to this post..I was curious what others think about housing two hatchlings together, was he right? Should I have listened to him? I've only ever purchased adult snakes so after I left I thought maybe he could be right lol. :shrugs:
 
Cannibalism is rare, but it certainly does happen. I've had an adult try to eat another adult!
 
Every single breeder on here will tell you to house them separately. I would go with their advice over a pet store worker. No offense to pet store workers, as some may know their stuff, but his advice goes against the grain here, and I am more inclined to trust the folks here.

Odd, that he would discourage you on buying MORE from his store.
 
spyderk said:
Odd, that he would discourage you on buying MORE from his store.
Click to expand...

O.0 I didn't even think about that, but to the op you are correct! It isn't worth the risk to house them together. You did a good job at remaining polite and providing references :)
Maybe he will read too!
 
This is a touchy subject that can get heated.
Some of the established possible cons with co-habbing any snakes are: Possible cannibalism, possibly unwanted and too young breeding with unknown or mistaken mixes of genders. Breeding a female too small can have lots of bad consequences including her dying. Inability to figure out which snake might be having a problem, if one regurges or leaves a worrying stool. Closely related, if one snake becomes sick, it's almost certainly going to spread to all the cage mates.

Then there is stress from competing for the resources in the cage, males feeling the urge to breed can fight each other or harass a female incessantly during breeding season.

Some people do chose to house multiples in the same tank and may do so for years with no obvious problems but it is most definitely not something most would recommend a person new to snakes attempt. As its been said, "you never have a problem, until you have a problem!"

There are one or two species of snakes that some research suggests might get some benefit out of being housed together, such as most garter species, but corns are not one of them and even with those species, all of the above possible problems are still applicable and something that must be weighed and precautions taken with.

I'm also very surprised at this oft repeated advice from pet store employees, you'd think trying to get you to buy more complete setups would be to their financial benefit, if nothing else ...
 
As stated one hundred million times before, there are many reasons that cohabitation may be harmful, and zero reasons that it may be beneficial (to the snake, not the cheap-ass owner...)
 
spyderk said:
Odd, that he would discourage you on buying MORE from his store.
Click to expand...

AliCat37 said:
O.0 I didn't even think about that....
Click to expand...

I do this as well. My goal is to send the customer off with what they need. This results in a customer, that if they have done or later do their research will trust me, at which point I've gained both their trust and continued business. This is a win-win, as I was both not only professional with the customer, but I am potentially creating a long term buying history as well. Everyone's happy and I get to keep my hours for the week. :cheers:
 
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