Housing snakes together.

[MR_IAN_DAVO]

There has been discussion on other posts about this issue.
I would love to hear stories about peoples experiences on different species.

I is a common perception that any snakes should not be housed together as they can & will eat each other.
I have not experienced this myself, but i have seen photos where this has happened.

Personally i house my BHPs & young Morelia seperately.
My adult Morelia of the same size are housed together year round & i have not had this happen to me yet.
I am however very carefull & watch with caution at feed time as i have had hungry snakes go for the same food item at feed time & sometimes mistakebly latch on to each other therefore having to seperate them, once they have thier feed they all settle down. I have housed my Morelia like this now for about 6 years with no problems once these feeding conditions are understood & monitored. They are also housed in reasonably large outdoor or semi outdoor enclosures.

Please share.
Cheers
Ian

 

[Venomous1111]

I keep diamonds,coastals, redbellies together in outdoor species pits/enclosures never had a problem.

 

[JUNGLE-JAK]

my mate keeps all his jungles (honey) together and his brown tree snakes together i would never keep a blackhead with another snake though

 

[chickensnake]

I know a bloke who keeps everything together from a scrubbie/coastals/jungles/BHPs(hatchies to adults) all the way down to childrens and spotteds in a big display enclosure and they all have been fine.

 

[Chris1]

i housed 2 female bredli together fro 4 years, (from hatchys), always washed tehm before putting tehm back after feeding to minimise the risk of a food related response.

tehy were always curled up touching, seemed to be fine together, one was aggressive towards me, but would always dodge its flatmate to make sure it got a clear shot of its target. (me. lol)

earlier this year they'd spent a few days in the aviary, and i brought them back in to their indoor enclosure an hour apart.

the snake (the biter) that was in first seemed to have decided it was time to live alone, nothing happened, because i got a vibe that stopped me from putting the other snake back in with her, but she was coiled to strike and very alert, i just knew it was a bad idea.

im not risking housing anyone with that thing, the nice snake has temporarily moved in with Loki my gorgeoulsy calm boy, and they seem really happy, (for now, her enclosure will be ready befoer breeeding season since i dont want eggs) seeing her now i do think she was intimidated living with bitchface.


in the meantime ive noticed that bitchface now reacts this way to her waterbowl, guess thats all shes got left to boss around,...

 

[raycam01_au]

I have a small stimmie pair housed together and they are fine, i have a 7ft BHP which is housed alone, and a hatchy Hypo carpet python, i have never had an issue with the Stimmies and will keep them housed together for awhile and see how i go.
BHP is a no no i dont want someone being a breakfast bite.

 

[MR_IAN_DAVO]

Doc Roc at Southern Cross Reptiles wrote an article with photo attached about housing pythons together.
He shared his view with myself at one piont & does not advocate keeping pythons together at all.

I just checked the SouthernX website & the article is still there, too much to copy & paste here, but is well worth a read.

Cheers
Ian

 

[raycam01_au]

I read that article Ian, was an eye opener, when i was in melbourne went to a few places, and saw some pythons together, decent sized ones as well, so always good to hear others stories.

 

[serpenttongue]

I guess it depends on the size of the meal and how long the snakes are occupied with swallowing it. Smaller meals will be swallowed quickly and leave the snakes still hungry, while larger meals will leave them very satisfied with what they swallowed.

When I kept diamonds outdoors, they were very impatient, and occasionally they would grap and wrap each other before I had even unlocked the aviary door! Once they knew it was feeding time, it never took them long to travel from one end of the aviary to the other, for food (and this was in a 6 metre long aviary). I ended up feeding them all on the lawn, but then found myself waiting another 30 minutes for them to settle down and stop thinking of food before they could be returned to the aviary. It became such a headache for me. But this is how serious their feeding response was.

All my indoor pythons were housed individually to avoid accidents during feeding, but also so I wouldn't get bitten by a hungry individual while trying to get its cagemate out for whatever reason.

 

[MR_IAN_DAVO]

Serpenttongue,
I know what you mean about the Diamonds. They have allways been my most difficult feeders & i have encountered strong food bites from them & as you say grab each other on what i reckon is movement based as soon as they smell food.
They are just hungry guted buggers & deserve watching.

When not in feeding mode, they are the most placid snake i have ever had, but whatever you do don't pat a chicken or rat before you handle them.

Cheers
Ian

 

[Cockney_Red]

Hey ST, as you know,I keep my Diamonds In pairs and feed them under supervision on the hoist....they always get a large feed, and by the time they have swallowed and climbed down, they are out of food mode, and good as gold with each other....

 

[smeejason]

Can I ask why people do keep them together other than at breeding time.
Is it to save money on enclosures or do they think their snakes need company.
I just cannot see any need for it but each to their own and I am just interested to know why?

 

[GSXR_Boy]

Hey ST, as you know,I keep my Diamonds In pairs and feed them under supervision on the hoist....they always get a large feed, and by the time they have swallowed and climbed down, they are out of food mode, and good as gold with each other....

Hey lee,I'm still trying to grasp the concept of a Diamond out of feeding mode!

 

[Morgana]

When I bought my Murray Darling boys they had been housed together since small, and I was advised to keep them this way. They are 3 years old. For the largest percentage of time they are cuddled up together, and squeeze into the same hide, often both of them poking their heads out like some double-headed weirdo. I always feed out of the enclosure anyway - just my preference - so, they are separate at feed times.
There is never a sign of aggression or trouble, although I do stay aware of their activities just in case.
I have to say that these 2 are a bit special, and will probably want their own float for the Sydney Mardi Gras next year :shock:

Cheers
Morgana

 

[MR_IAN_DAVO]

Can I ask why people do keep them together other than at breeding time.
Is it to save money on enclosures or do they think their snakes need company.
I just cannot see any need for it but each to their own and I am just interested to know why?

I like to give my large pythons a good size enclosure, some people keep in tub racks etc, not for me.
So there can be a huge cost involved in housing large snakes if all were kept seperate. I am talking Morelia now, not BHPs.

When Paula gets home i will ask her to post some enclosure pics to give an example.

Cheers
Ian

 

[serpenttongue]

Can I ask why people do keep them together other than at breeding time.
Is it to save money on enclosures or do they think their snakes need company.
I just cannot see any need for it but each to their own and I am just interested to know why?

I guess when you have a huge collection, you have to cut corners due to lack of space. I think that's how all these tub racks became so popular.

Hey lee,I'm still trying to grasp the concept of a Diamond out of feeding mode!

You have to get it's body temp down to 10'c before it stops thinking about food

 

[longqi]

Most of my snakes of similar size lived together

Even though they had lots of hides one very noticeable thing was that they frequently coiled up together
Usually where one particular snake went the others would soon follow
Put the theory that snakes are solitary animals definitely into question

Never had any dramas

 

[pottsie]

coastal carpet and intergrade housed together, no problems

I have housed an adult pair of morelia - coastal and intergrade - with no issues whatsoever. They seem to enjoy curling up together, and have never shown any aggression at all. Factors to consider include genders - obviously, male carpets may combat if in breeding condition, and feeding responses. Provided these factors are catered for, I think it can be beneficial both visually and for behavioural enrichment to house them together! Ofcoarse, ample cage space must be provided.