Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My buddy and I were debating today whether it's ever ok to house a pair of big snakes together. While we agreed no way could you house two males together, we couldn't agree on a matched pair. I used to house a pair of carpet pythons together, and a pair of false water cobras, and never had a problem.

So now I've built a gigantic cage for my female retic, and would really like to add a similarly sized male.

As for what I've read online, it's fairly mixed, with a lot of acclaimed breeders housing a few couples together year round. So just let me know, I want to get a general consensus from y'all.

BTW, yeah I tried searching here, but it found nothing.

Oh yeah, and we both agreed that for feeding they'd have to separated.

How long would you plan on keeping them seperated for during feeding? Reticulated pythons can and will stay in feed mode for up to 48 hours. Are you equipped to handle that?

Just curious. Which "acclaimed" breeders keep snakes in pairs over long periods of time?

I have seen this done many times at zoos, however there is a very large enclosure involved. IF I were to do it, I would make sure that its a male and female first. Then a large cage would be needed. I would go with a custom built 16'x5'x6-7' cage. The cage would have two hot spots, one on each side of the cage, and two water sources, again one on each side. I would keep them in this and a day befor feeding I would move each animal to a different side and then insert a large plexiglass/glass, whatever, barrier seperating the 15' cage into 2 8 cages. Then they would be feed the next day and the following day, after feeding the barrier would be removed. The barrier would also be used to separate the two should a fight break out, while still alowing the appearence of two animals in one cage.

That is how I would do it if I did, but I dont think I ever will, bc thats more of a pain in the ass then just keeping two animals in 2 cages and working w/them individualy.

That's what I was thinking, actually - the cage is currently 12'x 5'x3' - and is designed to be expanded as necessary. Or maybe have a clear acrylic barrier, to create the illusion of them together.

However, in retrospect, what I'm going to do is build the expansion cage (they're designed to work independently, or to be bolted together). All aluminum construction, so they're super light too. And I may give it a try with the cages bolted together,and if it's not going well, I'll unbolt.