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Housing Kings and Milks together

D

Deme

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This is a classic question so I thought it best to get the latest 2015 knowledge and opinions about it. I'm about to get a pair of Desert Kings c.b. 2015 and a pair of Honduran Milks c.b. 2015. All have fed exclusively on live and thawed pinky mice. Would it be a major risk to house them together (I mean each pair housed together, each species will be in different enclosures) because these species eat snakes in the wild? I do plan on breeding them, can she harm herself by breeding too young if he's in there with her? My only other experience was keeping a hatchling pair of Sinoloans together 10 years ago, they never harmed each other and went on to breed and produce viable eggs which hatched beautiful babies (I sold them soon after I sold the babies), was I just lucky or are the risks highly exaggerated, what's your experience been? Thanks for any info/tips.
 
The risks are real; but, with precautions, it can be done (that isn't to say I recommend it, or that the "precautions" will eliminate the risks)
Pairs kept together can breed, and our thoughts whether the female is too young or small won't prevent that. If you want any say in when breeding can occur; separate them.
 
Let's say they are two hatchling brothers or sisters so that breeding is not an issue. If you feed them separately as an added precaution, how high would you consider the risk of one trying to eat the other? Could they potentially share the same enclosure throughout their lives or are you only asking for trouble?
 
I don't know that them being siblings matters...but why would you purchase a sibling pair when you intend to breed them?

Feeding them separately, and keeping them separate for a period after feeding, will help a lot; though it doesn't eliminate the risk.
Can you do it? Yes.
Is there a guarantee that you won't look in one day to find that one has been eaten? No.
 
I meant only in regards to housing siblings, my breeding pairs are unrelated. I was illustrating a best case scenario. Although I'm sure some here would argue against your disapproval of breeding siblings but that's a whole other discussion.
 
I'm sure they would - the world is full of short sighted people willing to take the cheaper, easier path.
There are a few legitimate reasons for pairing siblings - convenience (single purchase, minimizing shipping costs, lower price, etc) is not one of them. Yes, I know that it can usually be done for a few generations without obvious negative effect...but how often does a seller state/admit that the parents are siblings (the point being that a purchased pair could be 4th generation siblingxsibling without the buyer's knowledge).

Best of luck with your snakes.
 
Snakes are opportunistic feeders. Even snakes that are not known as snake eaters do occasionally eat cage mates. You are talking about housing snakes together that are KNOWN snake eaters. Why risk it?
 
In order to be on the safe side I've decided to house everybody separately. In laboratory tests just the smell of a Desert King makes rattlesnakes go into panic mode and hide their heads under their coils (DKs are also supposedly immune to their venom) so we're talking about natural born snake killers! LOL I also decided to change my order a bit, I got a pair of albino Desert Kings instead, what amazingly attractive snakes! They look like they've been chiseled out of pink marble with rubies for eyes and wearing intricate sparkling gold chains that run the entire lengths of their bodies. Stunning! I also couldn't resist the Hypo Tangerine Hondurans and got a trio instead of a pair, I had to pick up another little gal, their coloring is out of this world! These snakes can glow in the dark! ;-) I couldn't be happier. Thanks for your input.
 
Just a quick update, the pink appears to be more on the lavender side now, definitely has a purple glow. The Desert Kings are remarkably calm for babies, the Hondurans have the usual milksnake quick head twitch on occasion but I expected a lot worse, they take to handling with no problems and I didn't get crapped on once, LOL! Awesome snakes!
 
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