• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Keeping snakes in the same cage

Status
Not open for further replies.
Wilomn said:
As I said, it's not for you to tell, as in hand down a decree, me anything and I speak only for myself. I suspect that others would feel the same, not about this thread and its subject, but the way you assume you are the be all and end all of how to keep snakes.
Click to expand...

I don't believe I stated that anywhere. My original reply on this thread was short, to the point and giving reasons why. I also replied to you in a similar manner, telling you my reasoning why. However, you could not let go.

Your reasoning behind posting?

"Because I did it."

I also noticed the question in the first post included: "Does anyone know if this would be all right?"

I think I answered it very well by explaining the risks involved.
 
I have to say, Stephanie, that you are coming off with a "because I said so" attitude. In many cases, while it may not be recommended (for a variety of reasons, and not limited to the ones you mentioned), one CAN house two snakes together. It CAN be done without either snake becoming ill, or eating the other. I have 2 adult female dumerils boas that I cohabitate most of the time now. I have cohabitated kings, milks, corns (king with king, milk with milk, etc...not intermixing) in the past as well. Do I recommend it? No, but it can be done if one is of a mind. Wes is correct on this one - keep in mind that nobody said it was without risk.
 
One thing I'm surprised nobody's mentioned as a problem is record keeping. I'm a stickler for keeping records on my animals, and maybe I'm just a touch obsessive-compulsive, but it would really bug me if I couldn't say whose poop was whose and suchlike. After all, if you find a weird looking / parasite-ridden feces in the cage, you'd have to either guess or treat both of them.

Henry
 
hhmoore said:
In many cases, while it may not be recommended (for a variety of reasons, and not limited to the ones you mentioned), one CAN house two snakes together. It CAN be done without either snake becoming ill, or eating the other. I have 2 adult female dumerils boas that I cohabitate most of the time now. I have cohabitated kings, milks, corns (king with king, milk with milk, etc...not intermixing) in the past as well. Do I recommend it? No, but it can be done if one is of a mind. Wes is correct on this one - keep in mind that nobody said it was without risk.
Click to expand...

I didn't deny that it hasn't been or can not be done without anything negative happening. Obviously Wes himself has not had a single problem cohabitating. You as another example have not had issues mixing the same species (however the question was on different species).

My point again is, why take the risk? Usually the answer to that is "I don't have the money for another cage." I don't believe that's a very good excuse. If you can't pay for an additional cage, how are you going to be able to provide long term care and vet bills that may arise?

I certainly agree that the reasons I listed are not the only reasons why it is not recommended. I named the top three on my list of reasons. Another major concern is breeding females to young and them dieing of egg binding (which I don't think that would be a problem considering the two species questioned in this thread...Hmmm, what would you call them? Cogs? :rofl: ).
 
Mokele said:
One thing I'm surprised nobody's mentioned as a problem is record keeping. I'm a stickler for keeping records on my animals, and maybe I'm just a touch obsessive-compulsive, but it would really bug me if I couldn't say whose poop was whose and suchlike. After all, if you find a weird looking / parasite-ridden feces in the cage, you'd have to either guess or treat both of them.

Henry
Click to expand...
First: if you can SEE parasites one of two things has occured. You either have super duper eyesight OR your keeping is pretty terrible. Maybe a third if the snake was recently aquired and you had no knowledge of it's parasite load BUT if you did that, you would be putting them together without any quarentine which is not the topic at hand.

Second: weird is subjective. I work with about a dozen species. Some of them regularly have loose stinky stools, some of them don't. Were I to combine these guys, knowing what their feces normally looked like when kept solo, there would be little problem telling who pooped what and when.

Third: you are a bit obsessive/compulsive, but that is not in and of itself bad, just your thing. I don't keep track, or a record of, poops in particluar, I just know that all my snakes do it far more than I would like them too.
 
Mokele said:
One thing I'm surprised nobody's mentioned as a problem is record keeping. I'm a stickler for keeping records on my animals, and maybe I'm just a touch obsessive-compulsive, but it would really bug me if I couldn't say whose poop was whose and suchlike. After all, if you find a weird looking / parasite-ridden feces in the cage, you'd have to either guess or treat both of them.
Click to expand...

Another wonderful example, Henry! If one snake has an odd defecation or regurges, how are you going to know which did it?
 
Wilomn said:
First: if you can SEE parasites one of two things has occured. You either have super duper eyesight OR your keeping is pretty terrible. Maybe a third if the snake was recently aquired and you had no knowledge of it's parasite load BUT if you did that, you would be putting them together without any quarentine which is not the topic at hand.
Click to expand...

Actually Wes, that is a good point. If they have to be kept in quarantine separate, you would have to purchase another cage anyway, correct?
 
So, all this is about purchasing a cage?

The possible combinations available that would lead to one keeping more than one species in the same enclosure are most likely infinate.

Why argue it further, I think I've made my point.
 
Henry's example is one of many that I, myself, have offered while recommending that people do not house snakes together (the ones you stated are in there, as well, Steph). I stepped into this particular discussion because of what I was reading here - you very authoritatively stated that two snakes should never be kept in the same enclosure, and went on to say "No. Don't even think about it". You continued on to say that no responsible keeper would ever cohabitate animals; and that if a person couldn't/wouldn't provide proper care (to include separate housing), they shouldn't have them. Those are pretty strong words, and not even a little considerate of the fact that your way is not the only way. (I also found it surprising that you were threatening to lock this tread because somebody was disagreeing with you).

Bottom line is that while it may not be recommended, it can be done. Cohabitating animals bears with it certain risks, as well as making some parts of husbandry more difficult. Ultimately, it comes down to the keeper's willingness to deal with the risks and responsibilities that come along with it. If they are willing to do that - and that includes separating them if the situation merits it for any reason - then it is not your place to call them irresponsible or say that they shouldn't have their animals.
 
Wilomn said:
So, all this is about purchasing a cage?
Click to expand...

No, of course not. Though the excuse of cohabitating is usually "I don't have the money for another cage."

Wilomn said:
The possible combinations available that would lead to one keeping more than one species in the same enclosure are most likely infinate.
Click to expand...

Agreed. You or I may have a quarantine room setup, but most individuals who ask this question are new to the hobby and don't have the "luxery" of such a room.

hhmoore said:
I also found it surprising that you were threatening to lock this tread because somebody was disagreeing with you
Click to expand...

That was not why I mentioned locking the thread if it continued off course. I mentioned it because of a comment made by Wes:

if you get off that high horse, which is in NO WAY related to the Whitest of White Steed ridden by the Masked Rider
Click to expand...

and his history for getting aggressive with snide comments and name calling. I do not want it here, and posted a warning. If my intention was to lock it because he (or anyone else) disagreed with me, it would have been done by now. Wes has remained civil, so I see no reason to lock it. I appreciate the continued discussion, it's good for the forum.

I stand by my position that I think it would is wrong and illresponsible of me to cohabitate reptiles. I don't even cohabitate my Leos and they are known to do very well in groups. :rolleyes:
 
TripleMoonsExotic said:
No, of course not. Though the excuse of cohabitating is usually "I don't have the money for another cage."



Agreed. You or I may have a quarantine room setup, but most individuals who ask this question are new to the hobby and don't have the "luxery" of such a room.



That was not why I mentioned locking the thread if it continued off course. I mentioned it because of a comment made by Wes:



and his history for getting aggressive with snide comments and name calling. I do not want it here, and posted a warning. If my intention was to lock it because he (or anyone else) disagreed with me, it would have been done by now. Wes has remained civil, so I see no reason to lock it. I appreciate the continued discussion, it's good for the forum.

I stand by my position that I think it would is wrong and illresponsible of me to cohabitate reptiles. I don't even cohabitate my Leos and they are known to do very well in groups. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
LOL

NOW she talks in first person.

I'm almost always civil. I just use more words than most, don't put up with people telling me I'm wrong when I have conclusive evidence that I'm right, and am not real fond of condecension or being TOLD I MUST do a certain thing a certain way.

You did all of those. Repeatedly.

As I've stated at least a couple of times, I don't think you were writing what you were thinking, or not conveying your thinking clearly anyway. Perhaps it was just me, but being as I have some agreement with other posters, I am confident it was not.
 
Wilomn said:
I'm almost always civil. I just use more words than most, don't put up with people telling me I'm wrong when I have conclusive evidence that I'm right, and am not real fond of condecension or being TOLD I MUST do a certain thing a certain way.
Click to expand...

The "almost" part is what raised my concerns. I did not mean to imply that you are always uncivil or aggressive.

Also, please show me where I said "Wes, you must never cohabitate your reptiles because I said so."

You won't find it. In fact, I told you that I don't care what you do.

I also said...

TME said:
In the end, each owner will do as they please...However I choose to not risk the health and "happiness" of my animals by forcing them into a cohabited situation.
Click to expand...
 
You speak many times of implications. I think you need to rethink your process of assimilation. YOU thought I implied something that I never did. YOU made a mistake and then posted over and over and over to try to prove you did not.

I am a fairly literal guy UNLESS I'm toying with someone, which was not the case here as even you acceeded.

YOU chose to take my words and interpret them to fit counter to your views instead of taking them at face value, which is all the value I place upon them.

You made the mess of this by not listening, figuratively of course, to what I was saying and instead hearing what you, figuratively, wanted to.

Whose fault is that?

I'm pretty good at making my point and had it been that species mixing was a good thing that everyone should do, don't you think I would have made a statement very VERY similar to this one?

Since I did not make any such statement at any time, you reached conclusions without reason.

You ASSumed and were wrong.
 
Last edited:
You know how you could have cleared it up, Wes? You could have said in your second post something along the lines of "I wasn't implying that anyone should cohabitate. I was stating that I was successful at it."

See how simple that was explaining your position?
 
OR, you could have taken what I said as what I meant instead of making ASSumptions about what you thougt I meant.

That would have worked too.

In fact, that's my choice for the future.
 
This thread needs a new title, or maybe its own place in Hell, but I don't mind one way or the other.



I have seen on multiple occasions different species of snake being cared for and kept in the same cage. I may not personally recommend doing so with different species, I do keep same species of animals in one cage. For me this only happens after quarantine and I have decided which animals I want to pair up for future breeding. I have not seen a female that was too small impregnated before it was ready to, they have a good idea of when to do it.

After seeing an entire facility set up for kingsnake breeding and all adults were housed together with an opposite sexed kingsnake, my mind was quickly made up. I can certainly be done without incident. I have even seen hognose snakes kept with other species of snakes.

If you decide to keep them together, feed both often and separately. Keep them separate until the feed response is gone, usually an hour after feeding they are okay to put back together. This was told to me by a large kingsnake breeder I know.

As far as the reasons why not to keep them together, they have been stated and it is a caution you should seriously think about before making your decision to house them together.

Of course the concern that there is not enough money for a cage and that is why these questions are asked, my response is "Buy a shoe box or sweater box from Target"
 
Junkyard said:
This thread needs a new title, or maybe its own place in Hell, but I don't mind one way or the other.
Click to expand...

I would say this one is definately applicable for the hell forum! Haha Astara, your innocent question apparently started a war.

When I first started keeping multiple reptiles I asked about keeping two snakes together. Within minutes of my post I had been bashed by several people just for mentioning it. I though have kept some of mine together, but only temporarily. As of now all of mine are separate, because I have no reason or need to keep any together, not to mention that it would actually complicate things for me.

I never had any problems caging snakes together, I have only kept corns & corns and boas & boas together. I think it would make record keeping harder caging them together, not to mention feeding would take longer. I would definately only keep them together consistantly under two conditions: both snakes are known to be healthy, both are of the same species, and they are of the same gender.
 
Chris Steele said:
When I first started keeping multiple reptiles I asked about keeping two snakes together. Within minutes of my post I had been bashed by several people just for mentioning it. I though have kept some of mine together, but only temporarily. As of now all of mine are separate, because I have no reason or need to keep any together, not to mention that it would actually complicate things for me.
Click to expand...

Which is not how your question should have been answered. I see that a lot in forums where people are out right attacked for the question or simply told "no" without an explanation. However, I also see people who ask for advice, don't follow it and then the animals suffer. Really at times it seems as if it's a no win situation.

When I first started keeping cornsnakes, I kept the three I had in the same cage (not knowing any better). After more research and talking to other keepers I learned why it's better to house the separately. I have a decent sized colony now of healthy snakes who are easier to monitor since switching my husbandry practices.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top