# taronga zoo herps



## borntobnude (Jul 19, 2010)

I have been led to beleive that putting 2 stimsons together in an enclosure is ok as they are a fairly freindly little snake , but at the zoo yestreday they had 3 bhp's together --which i have read on here could end in a snake circle . As an owner of 2 stimsons and only 1 bhp because of what i have been told and read is this just asking for trouble?


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## driftoz (Jul 19, 2010)

ive thought the same, reptile shop near me keep swomas and 2-3 bhps in one enclosure too. i was thinking of putting my male and female womas togeather but alot of people said not to.


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## WomaPythons (Jul 19, 2010)

i no the reptile shop ur talkin bout driftoz and they sed they have done it for yrs and havnt had a prob


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## Fantazmic (Jul 19, 2010)

ok read this article by Doc Rock from Southern Cross Reptiles and then decide if you want to keep your snakes together. Honestly maybe 99% of the time they will be ok but tell that to the 1% where they arent. After reading this artiel I wont be keeping mine together

http://www.southernxreptiles.com/Article PDFs/q&a_species_together_lr.pdf

Regards

Elizabeth


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## Dipcdame (Jul 19, 2010)

Why wouldn't they be ok, as long as you keep an eye on them for a while, our two MD's have happily co-habitated for over four years now, and they're still just as much snugglebunnies now as ever...... in fact one misses the other when separated!


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## Daniel_Penrith (Jul 19, 2010)

I put my 2 womas together at 1pm and watched them for about 20mins. The female was put into the males enclosures and he followed her for about 10mins of that time so i decided to leave them together just for today. For the last 4hrs ive been at work paranoid and hoping that when i get home i still have 2 womas!! cmon 99%



Spikey_Delight said:


> ok read this article by Doc Rock from Southern Cross Reptiles and then decide if you want to keep your snakes together. Honestly maybe 99% of the time they will be ok but tell that to the 1% where they arent. After reading this artiel I wont be keeping mine together
> 
> http://www.southernxreptiles.com/Article PDFs/q&a_species_together_lr.pdf
> 
> ...


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## sweetangel (Jul 19, 2010)

i keep my 2 womas together. so far so good  also at the zoo they have such a large enclosure that i think they have enough space to themselve aswell.


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## MrBredli (Jul 20, 2010)

Taronga Zoo also kept a variety of elapids together in an outdoor pit (still do), a few of them died (Red-belly and Tiger i think), turned out a Death Adder had nailed them both. So yes, there are risks.


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## Colin (Jul 20, 2010)

http://www.southernxreptiles.com/Article PDFs/q&a_species_together_lr.pdf
I think the article by Doc Rock (simon stone) is excellent and sums up the risks and dangers well.. 
i hear so many people say "I have my two together and they are ok" etc and I also keep a few together myself without any problems.. But all snakes are individuals and you cant base assumptions on a small number of success stories that all snakes will be ok together.. theres definite risks and you should know your snakes well before attempting this.. personally I'd never house sub adults together of any species.

the only animals I ever keep together are adults that are breeders or fully mature and then only in certain instances as I know the snakes. theres still a risk but Im pretty sure they will be ok otherwise Id never do it.. the rule of thumb usually is... If in doubt - then dont..


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## shellfisch (Jul 20, 2010)

Spikey_Delight said:


> http://www.southernxreptiles.com/Article PDFs/q&a_species_together_lr.pdf



Interesting. Thanks Elizabeth, I had not seen that before. After reading that article, it re-inforces my view that keeping snakes together is just not worth the risk.


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## Dipcdame (Jul 21, 2010)

Colin said:


> http://www.southernxreptiles.com/Article PDFs/q&a_species_together_lr.pdf
> I think the article by Doc Rock (simon stone) is excellent and sums up the risks and dangers well..
> i hear so many people say "I have my two together and they are ok" etc and I also keep a few together myself without any problems.. But all snakes are individuals and you cant base assumptions on a small number of success stories that all snakes will be ok together.. theres definite risks and you should know your snakes well before attempting this.. personally I'd never house sub adults together of any species.
> 
> the only animals I ever keep together are adults that are breeders or fully mature and then only in certain instances as I know the snakes. theres still a risk but Im pretty sure they will be ok otherwise Id never do it.. the rule of thumb usually is... If in doubt - then dont..


 
Well said Colin! I have kept my two MD's together since they were tiny, I always thought it was ok to do it as long as the two are of the same or very close, in size. However, what you have said makes a lot of sense, and the individual character of the snake should be taken into account. Thanks for that, good point.


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## Kenshin (Jul 21, 2010)

over the last 8 years i have been seriously keeping reptiles i have kept afew species together without incident (accept one unknown) including olives, cheynei, imbricata and stimpsonii the only incidents i have had is

i have a pair of wildcaught imbricata that are kept together one is an absolute phycotic biatch as soon as you walk in the room shes at the glass trying to smash you one day she hit the male she was housed with and i had to unwrap them all has been fine well over 2 years later

i had another imbricata pair housed together and a female was found dead i had only had her 3 weeks and she was fantistic in looks, feed response and temperment...... i dont think it was the male that killed her but the fact the WA dealer she was purchased off is one dodgy mofo.......... so i dont count it but i will include it for warnings sake

other then that all pythons i have housed together have been fine although i do not ever recommend they be housed together as i always recommend they be kept seperate but such options are not always economical for various reasons


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## Waterrat (Jul 21, 2010)

I kept two red-bellied black together for nearly 3 years without a problem. Then one day I found one of them gone and the other one suspiciously fat and dead. I lost them both - that's the 1% I didn't need.


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## Peterwookie (Jul 21, 2010)

Waterrat said:


> I kept two red-bellied black together for nearly 3 years without a problem. Then one day I found one of them gone and the other one suspiciously fat and dead. I lost them both - that's the 1% I didn't need.



Red Bellied Black Snakes Arnt GREEN I dont belive it HaHa


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## Cheyne_Jones (Jul 21, 2010)

IMO if snakes wanted to be with other snakes all the time you would find them in pairs in the wild all the time... Which is not true for most of our species so dont risk it. You have to remember that a snakes only defense is to bite, if they get a bit worked up with the other snake in their enclosure you are going to wind up with an injured animal or a well fed single animal that will most likely die...

Just my opinion though...


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## impulse reptiles (Jul 21, 2010)

i know a guy that keeps black headeds together...
well fed hasnt had any problems, he thinks they will be fine.
then on the other hand few people i know keep large amounts 
of adult Childreni together under one light in one enclosure ,
they would get plenty of eggs from them ,all feeding fine...
they said that they the odd one would latch on to another 
one but it happend rarely...i think this is ridiculas ,

some keepers are so careless and dont give a rats about their animals...its sad.

house them seperately ,its only another small enclosure or large click clack....
but at the end of the day, they are in your hands.


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## Chris1 (Jul 21, 2010)

i have 2 female bredli clutchmates together (identical size since i weigh their food to make sure its the same and neither has ever refused), its been about 3 years now. They seem to be inseperable, even when i put them in the aviary at opposite ends i find them curled up together within an hour,...theyre both really calm girls though, fed seperately and bathed after feeding to get rid of any smells,...i really hope they dont eat each other cos i really dont think they'd be happy if i seperate them now!


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## Waterrat (Jul 21, 2010)

Cheyne_Jones said:


> IMO if snakes wanted to be with other snakes all the time you would find them in pairs in the wild all the time... Which is not true for most of our species


 
Good point mate, although some species congregate for mating or brumation, in both instances they are in the "off food" mode. Some species are known never to be cannibalistic (e.g. taipans, GTPs, etc.), so the risk of keeping them together is minimal but others, particularly reptivorous species can be a problem. Why to take any risk?


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## borntobnude (Jul 23, 2010)

thanks all this has made good reading and resulted in us not really wanting to put any snakes in together in a permanent enclosure /breeding only


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## Torah (May 25, 2011)

guess its a "*At your own risk*" thing


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## SamNabz (May 25, 2011)

I can't understand why people house snakes together indefinitely. I find it pretty irresponsible...

If you can't afford to house them properly or don't have the space, it is not a reason to consider housing snakes together.

Sure there have been plenty of success stories, but there are also a lot of horror stories; and to risk something like that is wrong IMO...

There is *always* a risk even if they live in harmony for years, there could be one day that you come home to find 2 (or more) dead snakes.


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## wokka (May 25, 2011)

SamNabz said:


> I can't understand why people house snakes together indefinitely. I find it pretty irresponsible...
> 
> If you can't afford to house them properly or don't have the space, it is not a reason to consider housing snakes together.
> 
> ...


Perhaps some keepers consider it is best to have animals which are consistantly used to each other rather than introducing them for breeding and finding that they defencively attach the other animal.


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## welchy94 (May 25, 2011)

do u think they can sometimes be like humans that they just cant tolerate a certain snake?


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## Armand (May 25, 2011)

Keeping the same species of the snake with similiar sizes are fine as long as they don't go too hungry (in a BHP and woma case). Stimpsons arn't know for eating other snakes as BHPs are. Putting 2 BHPs together is fine, my mate has his 2 womas together and they cant live apart (they seriously become agitated and nervous when they are apart).. its a personal risk imo and something Iv tried (2 diamonds) and has worked well for me.


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## BARRAMUNDI (May 27, 2011)

Keeping snakes together comes down to the individual temperaments and ease of them becoming stimulated into a feeding response. If you have an individual who assumes it is being fed everytime something moves within the room, then its not a good idea to house that animal with others.

It also comes down to time of year, your not going to get a snake on food response during winter if its cycled properly.

Basically it can be done, but care needs to be taken before and after feeding and when moving around the room or near the enclosure. Also individuals need to be carefully selected......


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