Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What are your opinions on housing corn snakes together? I have a female and I am considering buying another (same size female?). While I don't want to deny my snake the opportunity of a companion, I don't want to risk my snake getting hurt, stressed, or EATEN! I know they are solitary...but do they ever want frinds?

YOU may well wish to eventually get another snake (most of us do)
When you do, keep it in its own tank. An adult male snake will probably want a "friend" for a brief period of time in the spring, but that's another story..........Duffy

it is full grown and gets ready to mate and then as duffy said she'll want a male. I started with one, i'm up to 5, but all have seperate cages. I'll agree with duffy though, your snake doesnt want a friend, but you may want another
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)

i have a male hypo and a female albino shacked(both 4.5 feet long) up in a 40 gallon together and they have been cage mates their whole lives. never once have they been mean to eachother or ever tried to get their freak on. i dont winter them so im not expecting them to mate. the thing is that they have been cage mates since juviniles so ... that might have something to do with their behavior. *shrugs*

~JQ

Well...that's odd. How old are they now? Corns dont need to be brumated to breed either. Honestly your tank setup is a one in a million, however being together they may be more stressed, therefore shorter life span.

A good analogy would be my friend wasnt wearing his seatbelt and got in a wreck and flew out the window of his truck...he would have been killed if he had been wearing it. but thats like one of those one in a million times not wearing it saved him, comparing to you keeping them together. it may work this time, but not for the most part.
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)

they are about 5-6 years old now. they curl up on each other alot and just chill. i wasnt aware that they were solitary. though i was thinking of splitting them up so that their familiarity with eachother goes away so i could possibly breed them this comming season. anywho catch y'all l8er.

~justin quesada

>>they are about 5-6 years old now. they curl up on each other alot and just chill. i wasnt aware that they were solitary. though i was thinking of splitting them up so that their familiarity with eachother goes away so i could possibly breed them this comming season. anywho catch y'all l8er.
>>
>>~justin quesada

Justin,
I usually caution against keeping corns together.
Too many things that can go wrong.
But, if they have been together for this long, they are both healthy, they are eating regularily and shedding without problems then it is obvious that there is no problem housing those two snakes together.
Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't.
I have done both with success but have made the decision to keep all of mine separate. There are more reasons to separate then reasons to house together.
But, the main thing I wanted to bring up..If they have been together for 4 or 5 years it is very possible that they are the same sex.
Corns do not need to brumate to be ready and willing to breed.
This makes me think they are probably both male or both female.
Anyone you can take them to that could probe them?

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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"resistance is futile"
Jimmy (draybar)

yeah there is someone i could go to. i will just need to get in touch with them. though it would would make me sad if they were both the same sex, deep down inside i really want to be a grand daddy . however my dads coworker has a corn in a 55 gallon tank, he doesnt want it anymore,so if they are both same sex then i can hope for the other to be a different gender. GF wants to breed them. anywho thanks for the info. ill get back to wether they are same sex or not.

~JQ

ok i just got done feeding my corns and when i put them back into the aquarium they both started to twitch, parts of them were on each other. i have never seen this before in all my time with these snakes. any ideas of what this is? thanks in advance.

~JQ

The twitching is an action of defensiveness/agression. It seems as though your harmonious setup may not be quite as cozy as you originally believed.

Please do not misunderstand, I am not saying that you HAVE to separate them as soon as possible. They may well live together for many more years to come without difficulty of anything at all. The real problems with cage sharing are found in the very young, the disproportionally sized cagemates, the sick animal, and the breeding issues already raised here. In a closed system such a yours, I think there is little risk as it stands today.

However, corns need neither brumation, nor romantic separations to build interest in one another in order to breed. If you've had them together for multiple breeding seasons, with no production of eggs, I would strongly suspect that they are of the same sex, as has been suggested. However, since they have not been fighting or chasing one another, that make me think they're probably both females. Males, especially young males, tend to fight with one another in the spring, even int he absence of females in the vacinity.

It's not a 100% conclusion on my part, mind you, but I would say that the odds are with me on this.

Hope that helps --
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Darin Chappell
Hillbilly Herps
PO Box 254
Rogersville, MO 65742

Actually, there are many stories of people having good luck doing just what you are doing. There is always the risk of various problems, and it is usually not a good idea...especially for the beginner. That said:

Are you sure you have a male and a female? If so, don't be surprised if they do start mating some spring. The good news is that the female is now large enough to be OK with it. One major problem with keeping small/young "pairs" is that the female may become eggbound and die. Yours seems to be well past that problem stage. Sounds like a nice setup. Duffy

np.

They are perfectly happy flying solo so why stress them out.

i'm not trying to sound like a jerk here, but when was the last time you saw some snakes "going out to lunch" with a few pals?
never.
they are solitary animals, except when mating or fighting for a mate.
they don't require company like cats or dogs.
it would be best for her to be alone.
it's all she knows.

It was so nice to get everyone's opinion on whether or not "Corny" would like a companion.

Based on the general consensus of this forum, I have decided not to put another snake in with Corny. I love her way too much and would just die if anything bad happened to her. (I'm not a breeder, just fell in love with my little snake!)

However, I know I will get another snake soon (and another and ANOTHER!) because I love them so much! I have found corn snakes to be very hardy as it is the one snake that (apparently, this is my first snake ever) is a great eater, handles the stresses of me taking her out to play, has never bitten, and is very cute!

Thanks to everyone who lent me their opinion!
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Melissa and Corny