Two snakes one cage ok???

[JuliusSqueezer]

There are always species specific quirks. There is no one rule that encompasses the husbandry of all species. Housing kingsnakes together for example...bad idea. Dumeril's boas...bad idea. Dumerils are very cannibalistic for the first 2 years and occasionally cannibalistic after that but cannibalistic just the same. Typically, boa constrictors get along fine as adults but now and then, very rarely...usually because of keeper interaction upsetting or causing an anxiety attack (wow...I just redefined "anxiety attack" lol) cage mate attacks happen.

I don't know about the rest of you guys but I get asked this a lot..."If kingsnakes eat each other, how do they breed?". It's simple. Brumate them through the winter. In the spring, warm them up and pair them BEFORE feeding them. One they first warm up, they have no appetite for food but a strong one for sex. Once they breed, you can separate them and feed them. If you feed them before breeding them or attempt to skip the brumation step, then the sex drive will be overridden by the appetite for feeding and you are likely to lose one of your snakes.

[razeraze]

One of the tricks I find monitor keepers do is to make the cage big enough it is equal to two normal cages, many times with a devider that can be put in should a fight break out.

[JuliusSqueezer]

Well that's a no brainer. If it's going to hold 2 snakes, it of course needs to be bigger. Thank God we have monitor keepers to figure these things out

[danktat]

I have personally never bought into the "housing together" thing for snakes (any snakes with the exception of garters that gather on purpose in the winter...I am not as familiar with venomous but I believe that certain rattlers den together as well). The exception to this of for the purpose of breeding as you can't really get good results from across the room . If the issue is space then perhaps lowering the number of animals is the best move. If you can have a cage that is "large enough for two" snakes then why not just have two cages large enough for one in each. If the reason/excuse is that you just think it would look cool to house them together then you aren't really thinking of your animals (just yourself and your own desires to see them live together). If you think it is because they have "feelings" and really would be lonely alone or would "enjoy" the company of another snake then [in my opinion] you are simply WRONG. Either way I believe it is better to "figure out" how to house them separately then to "figure out" a way to go against the grain and house them together. Again just my opinion but there are more reasons to house appart then to house together.

[JuliusSqueezer]

I agree Dank...except that like salmon returning to the birth place to spawn, or turtles returning to their birth place beach to lay eggs, snakes that den I believe are more drawn to the den through hardwired instinct than to the other snakes. Keeping two or three rattlers in a cage together isn't even coming close to simulating their annual denning routine. Those that are breeding often do so at this time and retain sperm till spring but somewhere between many and most females breed every other year...but still den in their ancestral den each year and share their dens with all sorts of other species.

Gartersnake dens in Canada are interesting. In the spring when they come out and get in those big breeding balls, there are only adults to be found. It is an unsolved mystery as to where the offspring from the previous season spends their winter.

[angelboa]

we had 2 of our snakes in 1 cage for breeding purposes and our male bit the female when he saw movement all because he was finely getting hungry it was one of the scariest times in my life. I was lucky enough that my husband saw it happen and our male snake must have realized what he did wrong because it was easy to get them apart and after a $100 vet bill the only damage was a small cut in the females side one stich and antibiotics to make sure it didn't get infected all in all I was lucky but it goes to show it's not a good idea to house snake together.

[JuliusSqueezer]

Again with the boas...Why is it always boas that do this? You never hear about ball pythons doing this...or non snake eating colubrids. I did have a copperhead get bit on the head once by a cage mate. Poor guy. His head got all swollen up. The only thing I could do for him was to keep silver sulfidazine mixed with a little lidocaine on it and let him tuff it out...which he did. I had a cotton mouth that every time I tried to hook him out of the cage, he would turn and bite himself where ever the hook was touching. Apparently, they aren't exactly immune to their own venom. He gave himself some nasty bites. Over the course of the few years I had him, I'd say he probably bit himself a dozen times. He's currently living with a friend in his educational program and still biting himself every time he's mucked with. I feel bad for him but you would think he'd learn.

[angelboa]

poor guy biting him self :(

[razeraze]

Julius, we are dealing with cannibalism and territory fights something crocodile and monitor keepers probably have more experience with than any snake keepers. So perhaps instead of being sarcastic and feeble minded you should take into consideration some of their cages, and how they house such large aggressive, cannibalistic species together.

Granted their diet is not exclusively the same species, but any reptile is fair game. They also have larger territories they fight over and do not breed well in captivity when housed separately. Many monitor keepers have a large common ground as well as separate quarters the monitors can retreat to and be sealed off. Just another example of monitor keepers out thinking the snake keepers.

[Botis]

I prefer to keep my snakes seperate to monitor their defecation, but I swear my BCI and ball python enjoy seeing each other from time to time as they were born within a few days of each other and lived together for 6 months. Egg mates

	Boa Constrictor Imperator