Hi All, I was just wondering if there was any concern in housing the pituophis species together? Are they strictly rodent and other warm blooded prey feeders. Or do they also feed on other reptiles. do they feed on their own kind? Has anyone has a Pituophis eat one of its own kind? Not counting a feeding accident? Standard reading states that they eat rodents,birds,eggs,lizards. Any insight would be helpful. Thanks Jack
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Prey Items for pituophis?
kcaj
Sep 03, 2006 11:03 AM
Replies (3)
dan felice
Sep 03, 2006 07:31 PM
it can be done jack if one must, they normally won't bother each other. i did it for many, many years w/out a single incident but house everything separately now. i'd separate them at feeding time though & keep an eye on them afterwards in case of lingering rodent scent. if you have the space though it's just easier & cleaner to cage them individually.....
kcaj
Sep 03, 2006 10:53 PM
Hi Dan, Thanks for the info. I have 3 bulls that are going on 2years and was just going to house them in one large enclosure, 72x30x18 instead of three 36x24x18. I have seen pictures on this site that have shown good size bulls in sterlite drawer racks. Not that that is a bad thing since they are in their hides 99.95% of the time. I personally feel better with giving them the space just in case they want to use it, at least while I have it to give.
DISCERN
Sep 04, 2006 01:17 AM
I would house them separately, IMO. That way, you can keep better track of each one of them individually. If one gets sick, you may have a hard time pinpointing the cause. Also, it could get spread very easily if all are the in same cage and then you may not be able to find out WHO was sick first, and why, etc., etc..
Also, feeding accidents can happen. One friend of mine had his female hognose eat the male she had been breeding with for years. It was an incident that happened out of nowhere one evening. He had kept them housed together. Also, another friend of mine had a San Diego gopher eat another one when he was cleaning cages and getting cages ready and had put some together for a few minutes.
There is always the chance that if one snake smells food on another, a feeding accident can happen. It is not worth the risk.
Take care!
Billy
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Genesis 1:1
