Posted by:
snakesunlimited1
at Sat Jan 21 20:04:27 2006 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by snakesunlimited1 ]
You are right that people do it and do not post about it. I am one of those. I have many snakes housed in groups including milks but I would say, if you have the room and cages, house them separate. I have never had a snake eat a cage mate except for a boa.
As far as eastern kings I would never house them with any other snake. Their feed response is just to strong. Put it this way, have you ever had a milk miss a food item and then go hide because it hit the cage. I have many times. That has never happened with a eastern king. Instead I have been chased across the room by one when I went to change his water with no food scent around.
The downs in multi housing is not the cannibalism factor but instead the illness factor that was mentioned and also a possible loss in feedings. I have found over the years that I need to separate some of my milks because they just won't eat. They get to stressed out. After being in their own cage until the following breeding season I reintroduce them and they often take over the cage.
I am hoping to build a Applegate type whannabe cage with some variation for other reasons. I hope to be able to have a hot top end that is very hot and a bottom end that is in the 50 degree range so I can watch where my snakes choose to live at various times of the year. Over time I hope to be able to vary things and find the best setup for my snakes.
You see in the wild a snake that is fed the same as a captive grows more than the average growth for a captive. I have talked to people who studied western diamond backs that gave wild animals supplemental food with a control group in captivity and the wild ones grew faster. There are a lot of variables of course but our current caging has a lot to be desired.
Later Jason
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RE: People do it... - snakesunlimited1, Sat Jan 21 20:04:27 2006