# Cohabitation of snakes.



## goodwin1234 (Mar 23, 2008)

*I see this subject brought up almost on a daily basis in the snake section, so i thought i'd answer a few of the common questions, and the reasons why cohabiting is not a good idea, in general. Hopefully this will stop a lot of the repeated threads.*

*One of the most common reasons that snakes owners decide to cohabit, is because they don't want their snake to be lonely. The majority of snakes in the pet trade are solitary animals, they do not want or need the company of other snakes. In the wild they would only meet for breeding and possibly hibernation. Snakes do not have the brain capacity to feel effection as we know it. They may recognise scents and come to realise these scents are not a threat but that is all im afraid.*

*Another common reason for people wanting to keep snakes together is to simply save money on vivs, rubs, equipment or simply to save space. Now im not in a posistion to tell you not to cohabit but here are the reasons why it is NOT recommended.*


*Stress:*


*As stated above, snakes are solitary animals by nature and keeping two snakes together can induce a fair amount of stress, particularly with the more timid species like royal pythons. Just because two snakes share a hide together it does not mean that they enjoy each others company, they are simply there because they both want to be under the comfort of the hide. Snakes will also become territorial when introduced with another snake in an un-natural enviroment, and one snake will most likely become dominant of the other, this will obviously be detrimental to the snakes health and temperament. The stress on the submissive snake will most likely leed to non feeding, which brings us nicely onto our next point.*
*　*
*Feeding:*


*If your keeping two snakes together, unless they are taken out of the viv to be fed in seperate containers you will end up with a multitude of problems. You wont be able to take note of which snake has fed and and how much it's eating (obviously you could end up with a fat or skinny snake). Also as we already covered above, the dominant snake will most likely get to the food first.*
*You could also end up with both snakes getting hold of they prey item, and as you know once a snake reaches the point of no return the food can only go in one direction....downwards. Yes you guessed it, including the snake attactched to the other end of the mouse. Snakes have been known to swollow other other snakes bigger than themselves. I'ts simply not worth the risk. Speaking of snakes swallowing each other.....*


*Cannibalism:*


*Almost all of us will know that king snakes are renouned for being canibals, but did you know that every single species of snake has the potential to become cannibalistic if given the opportunity?*

**

*Be aware that a snake that has eaten a meal the same size or even bigger than itself will most likely result in regurgitation, so worst case scenario you could end up losing both snakes. Again not really worth the risk....*


*Desiese and infections:*

*Respiratory, fungal and viral infections are all contageous for snakes, and obviously if one snake should get one of these illnesses it wont be long before the other snakes in the same enclosure are infected too. Mites would also be a major problem with snakes cohabiting.*

*So to summarise, there are plenty of reasons given here not to keep snakes togther in the same enclosure, unless for breeding purposes. However even then it is not neccessary for them to be together all of the time. I genuinely did try to think of reasons why snakes should be kept together but i couldn't think of one. Im sure there is plenty i have missed out so if you would like to add to what ive already written feel free. (even if you disagree with anything)*

*Thanks for taking time the time to read this.*


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## SH8E8AN (May 31, 2010)

nice post :no1:


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## hillzi (Mar 14, 2009)

Nice post. 

I'd like add competition, many people think "Awh cute snake cuddled up" when this is mainly competition for the warmest/coolest spot, which again could cause stress.

Well worth the time and effort to post this, too many dont realise the risk.


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