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i have a female brb... probably about 2 1/2' - 3' long. i am getting a male brb sunday at the ny metro reptile expo. my female is enclosed in a 55 gallon tank setup. i want to house them together. the male was just born a few months back. will they get along or will they have a problem?

has anyone had any problems housing males and females at all?

It really is best to NOT house snakes together. They are solitary by nature and territorial.
Especially if they are not the same size it is potentially dangerous to the smaller of the two should the bigger one feel threatened by the territory being invaded.

If you still want to house them together (assuming they are close enough in size but it doesn't sound like they will be) then be VERY careful and watch them constantly for any fights that may break out. When feeding, be sure to feed them separately out of the cage and give them a bath in room temperature water (I also add a tiny dab of antibacterial soap in the water to get the smell off), and put them back in with as little handling as possible.

Again, if they are different in size please do not house them together. That usually doesn't work.

It's overall best to house them separately...also easier to keep up with who has shed, defecated and if anyone regurges, you'll know who did it.

Hugs!

Amanda Rose

I have to agree with the "Goddess" and would add your male should be quarantined from the female until you're sure it's healthy. Even then they should be housed separately.
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Hope this helps.

BigT

We obviously know that snakes coexsist in the wild and many instances people and zoos have be known to keep different species of snakes together. Like size pairs can be kept together with little or no problems at all, but....

The reason everyone suggests you keep your snakes seperate far outweigh the reasons to keep them together:

1)Small enclosures exponentially increase the risk of husbandry errors. If each snake is housed seperately then there is more 'sq footage' available per snake. This is hard to explain, but think like this, if a piece of equiment for one cage fails, then only one habitant will be affected, where as if all snakes where in the same cage, then they all would be affected for this failure, increasing your risk to your animals.

2) Separation increases observation. Separate enclosures let you observe with near 100% accuracy which snake is shedding, deficating, reguring, blistering, having an R.I., feeding, having parasites, etc. etc. etc. Then if you notice something is wrong, your other snakes are quarantined from this individual preventing spread of potentially harmful circumstances.

3) Possible cannibalization is prevented. Rare indeed, but I did read just last night about a ball python that was eaten by an identical sized BCI.

4) Prevents harm/death from crushing/smothering. As you have mentioned earlier, you have an adult and are accquiring a neo/juvie. You just wouldn't want to risk this.

This list goes on and on....

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I do keep some snakes together. Here's why I chose to:

1.) MONEY - I have the necessary housing for each snake to live alone already with the bare minimum requirements, but by putting pairs together, I am able to make much nicer display setups... that are more realistic and natural.

2.) SPACE - Adult boids need a lot of space and to have many setups makes things complicated, so I just built one enclosure that is bigger than is required for one adult but is smaller than two relatively adult sized enclosures...

Good luck....
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-Iman
1.1 Sugar Gliders (Gizmo and Nema)
1.0 Ball Pythons (Spot)
0.1 Guyanan BCC (TBA)
0.1 Brazilian Rainbow (TBA)

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Imans House of Herps

i understand all the negative aspects of housing together, but i do know of people that house them together. i do know that i have to keep the male seperate until i know he is healthy.

how do people get away with housing them together... i seen people ask the same question on the thread before and people said it wouldnt be a problem housing them together b/c of their opposite sex.

It seems like you want want someone to say everthing is cool, house them together. Although it may very well be perfectly fine, it is not suggested. My experience has been that my breeder pair has been fine up to this point. The sibling pair I purchased are also housed together and it has been fine to this point. I did separate the breeder pair when the female was decideably gravid. I also did quarantee the new ones for 6 months.
If they are not from the same place I would not put them with each other. If you have NO other option I would put the new one in a plastic shoebox type enclosure inside the enclosure of the established brb until it is close to the same size. When let out I would make sure it had it's own hide and I would never feed them together. If you do this, make sure you understand that this is NOT likely to prevent a disease pathogen from going from one to another but an alternative to providing separate caging.

Personally I would not reccommend this, unless I knew your diligence in obsevation.

If they are almost the same size, housing them together is no problem as long as you have enough space for them!

Housing an adult with a juvie is never recommended.
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-Iman
1.1 Sugar Gliders (Gizmo and Nema)
1.0 Ball Pythons (Spot)
0.1 Guyanan BCC (TBA)
0.1 Brazilian Rainbow (TBA)

Loving to Learn
Learning to Help
Helping to Love

Stimulate debates, stifle arguments.
Please be nice always.



Imans House of Herps