Can you put two male gophers in the same tank

[~Just Curious~]

Forgive my ignorance please, I know you guys must hate these questions but I'm really new to the hobby (and this site) and I don't know much at all about pits

I met this guy at a local herp store who is thinning his collection and wants to get rid of two tame 4 year old cbb male cape gophers. He currently has them next to each other in a rack system. They're gorgeous and he's offering me a nice price for them as a pair.
I have a 120 gallon tank that's not being put to use and I just pondered with the idea for a minute. They are fairly small for adults and I could feed them in seperate tanks....

I'm guessing that I can't though because I know the answer to "can I put two ___ in a tank" questions are no 99% of the time and I can easily see problems arising. I really don't want to stress out the snakes, plus I think I read somewhere once that they're prone to cannabalism.

I just wanted to check with people who know though, cause it would be nice if it could work out somehow. Like my username suggests, I'm just curious~

THANK YOU GUYS!

 

[Utta]

not recommended to put any 2 males in the same cage/tank together.

 

[DISCERN]

Well, I don't feel you are being ignorant at all with inquiring, and it is itself, a very good question. My feelings are as follows.

While you CAN put the two gophers in together, in your suggested tank, I would strongly advise NOT to for many reasons:

1. Stress is the number one reason. While snakes are individualistic, some snakes really do not take well to being housed with others. Capes are more prone to being somewhat of a nervous and withdrawn species that favors a lower stress enviroment. Putting two capes together could really go against what they need, in terms of care, and reduced stress.

2. Sickness. When two or more snakes are housed together, and one of them is sick and takes a dump that is giving you clues as to their health not being 100% ( dump being way more smelly, nasty, and putrid than normal ), the first thought may be, " Who/which one did this? " That alone is crucial in determining which one is sick. Unless you actually see the particular snake leaving you a cage present, you may not be able to tell right away who is sick, thus making the time needed for care and attention to treating the snake much more compounded. Then, sickness can spread quickly to one another as well when kept together.

3. As far as cannibalism, anything is possible. You just never know when one cagemate may smell the scent of a recently devoured mouse on another cagemate and then, you have one big, fat snake.

Overall, I would simply keep them apart.
Here is a link to a very informative caresheet about cape gophers, as they do differ in care somewhat vs. other snakes:

http://www.kingsnake.com/capegopher/

Hope this helps! Take care!

 

[~Just Curious~]

Well, I don't feel you are being ignorant at all with inquiring, and it is itself, a very good question. My feelings are as follows.

While you CAN put the two gophers in together, in your suggested tank, I would strongly advise NOT to for many reasons:

1. Stress is the number one reason. While snakes are individualistic, some snakes really do not take well to being housed with others. Capes are more prone to being somewhat of a nervous and withdrawn species that favors a lower stress enviroment. Putting two capes together could really go against what they need, in terms of care, and reduced stress.

2. Sickness. When two or more snakes are housed together, and one of them is sick and takes a dump that is giving you clues as to their health not being 100% ( dump being way more smelly, nasty, and putrid than normal ), the first thought may be, " Who/which one did this? " That alone is crucial in determining which one is sick. Unless you actually see the particular snake leaving you a cage present, you may not be able to tell right away who is sick, thus making the time needed for care and attention to treating the snake much more compounded. Then, sickness can spread quickly to one another as well when kept together.

3. As far as cannibalism, anything is possible. You just never know when one cagemate may smell the scent of a recently devoured mouse on another cagemate and then, you have one big, fat snake.

Overall, I would simply keep them apart.
Here is a link to a very informative caresheet about cape gophers, as they do differ in care somewhat vs. other snakes:

http://www.kingsnake.com/capegopher/

Hope this helps! Take care!

Thank you very much! That was very helpful!
I won't risk it, I don't want to run into those problems.

Thanks again!