Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know most agree that one snake one cage is the way to go, but heres the thing.IM gonna be off to college and have to find a way to save some space in my small dorm. I have two burms that are about the same lenght... just over three feet. One is albino and the other is natural. I was wondering if I could let them share the same cage...a big thirtyfive gallon tank. Otherwise, i just might have to sell them...which i really dont wann ado...seeing as they are my pets and were bday gifts. Would it be alrite to let them live with eachother?

First off I will start out by saying that although it is done quite often it is strongly discouraged to house multiple snakes together. If one snakes get sicks or contracts some sort of parasites than the likelyhood that the healthy snake will contract the illness is increased dramatically if they are housed together.
Feeding your snakes becomes a whole ordeal. you can not safely feed your snakes within their enclosure because of the possibility of both snakes going after the same prey item. This means that you have to feed outside of the enclosure. This is extremely stressfull to the snake and can result in regurgitation. Also, it means that you, the keeper, must make contact with the snakes before and after they eat. Most snakes remain in feeding mode for quite sometime after they eat and if you present yourself to the snake to relocate it back into its enclosure then you are eventually going to have an incident where the snake mistakes you for a prey item and then you have a situation on hand that could be disasterous.
Even if you successfully feed and relocate the snakes back into their enclosures there is still one more disasterous situation that can arise. I used to house multiple snakes in the same enclosure until I had the following scenerio happen. Both snakes are back in there cage. They have both been fed and one smells the prey item on the skin of the other one. It strikes and starts to constrict the other. Now you have a situation where you as the keeper once again must put yourself into a less than desirable situation to remove the sttacking snake form the other one. let me tell you it is not a pleasant situation even when they are relatively small.
You also need to check with your dorm rules because I can almost guarentee that they will not allow you to maintain pythons within the dorms. If you plan on doing it sneakily you will get caught and they more than likely will confiscate the snakes and that just puts another bad blurp against all the herpers.
And finally you are living in a fantasy world if you think you can housea single burmese python, let alone two, in a aquarium. each snake will require atleast a 6'x2' cage by the time they are 12 to 18 months old. They are not fish and therefore should not be housed in aquariums. Either find someother way to house them or do yourself and the snakes a favor and give them to someone that can give them the proper care that they need. Todd

Im glad you were able to give such elaborate criticism. I just wanted to point out that I was simply asking for the sake of getting some feedback..which i did. I totally agreed with one snake one house but wanted some opinions if alternate means were possible. Another thing is though one may think it...im not stupid...i know that the snakes will need a much larger terrarium...but for now each is fine in its tank (terrarium if it fits better)....bc they are still small. My snakes havent grown much in the past months..but im sure they will so i have already saved the funds to build them bigger enclosures....as for the dorms I have already talked to them...they would allow one tank for the room...as long as it does not exceed fifty gallons...I was already making arrangements to leave the dorms after the first semester for an apartment that will allow me to house snakes...and offer me more room for each of the tanks. Anyways, thanks for the feed back...Ill be sure to keep the snakes seperated. If worse comes to worse....my brother..who is also an avid herp lover...has offered to care for them. Thanks again...and sorry if i wasted anyones time with the question.

1. You probably handle both at the same time so the issue of seperate for desease prevention is most likely moot.

2. Burms do fine in a snake pile, even with Boa's.

3. I travel most all of the time and take my baby Boa (4' now)with me. She lives in a poly tool box when she is not around my neck, or in my shirt, etc. The way I handle feeding and curb the feeding resposnse is to put the rat in a cardboard box, then drop here down into it to grab the rat. (wash hands & arms after handling rat) When she is finished, she regards every thing as food until I give here a bath. This serves two pourposes. One is to remove all rat smell and it is also a signal that feeding is done. After the bath she is ready to snuggle up and be nice.

I hope this helps. Consistant training may be some work but it is worth it. Most of the time when I reach down to pet her (yes she now likes this) she senses that it is me and often does not wake up. Nothing ever enters her house except my hands. I have also had Burmese Pythons (Sheba died last winter) and this method works with them as well.