Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I would really appreciate a response on this. I absolutely love my colubrids:

Darwin, 50/50 Cal. King
Huxley, Albino Nelson
Diana, (Ruth X Thayeri) X Pyro

But, I'm curious if there are ANY colubrids that can actually be housed together without fear of one eating the other. I love the fact that you can house some of the constrictors together.

Are there any colubrids you can house together? If so, are there specific conditions which must be for you to do this? I see alot of pics of a hatched cluth with all the babies housed together, but after that I never see colubrids in the same tank. Can someone offer help??

Chris

I keep several together but always the same species. I have had mishaps but that has been the rare exception. When I did breed thayeri, one of my females killed two males. One each year after breeding. Kind of like a black widow.
There's always exceptions but in general, cal kings should be kept alone and only together during the breeding season. Also you should watch them carefully when you place them together for the first time.
As far as the group you listed, I would not suggest keeping them together. Keep those separate or you are likely to lose one.

No, I was not suggesting housing any of my current snakes together. I was just listing what I had. I would never house ANY kings together unless it was breeding.

My question was is there ANY COLUBRIDS that do well together generally speaking? If there was, I just figured it would probably be in the milksnake group. But, I thought someone up here might know.

I think you can house most of the American rat snakes and Pine/Gopher/Bull snakes together, once they are at least subadults. Babies would be an invitation to disaster.

Alterna are another snake that rarely (if ever) eat other snakes and could probably be housed together.

Some of the larger milks might be candidates for this (blacks, hondurans, etc) but I certainly wouldn't house something like a scarlet king, eastern milk or red milk with other milks I valued!
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Chris Harrison

I've seen people house adult rats and corns together without any problems. Heck, the Columbus Zoo has about 5 black rats in an exhibit together. Asian rats would probably do ok do given a proper setup. I'd personally stay away from housing Lampropeltis with other snakes. Too tempting for snake-eaters!

FWIW, I've housed corn snakes, bullsnakes, and plains garters with two or more snakes per cage on a long term (one year or more) basis. No problems with any of them, as long as they were fed separately. This is not guaranteed to work though, as sometimes one snake gets dominated by the other. You have to go on a case by case basis.

Once I kept a pair of adult red milks (L. triangulum syspila) together for nearly a year before splitting them up. Babies are cannibals though. And once I kept a pair of Sinaloan milks together for a month. Then I found the male's head an inch down the female's throat. He survived and got his own cage. 8-)

Paul Hollander

Bob Applegate houses various kingsnakes and milksnakes together without any problems. He keeps them in double compartment units. I wouldn't recommend this unless you have a lot of experience with kingsnakes.

Robert

The Philly zoo has an alterna exhibit with about 5 alterna housed together ranging in size from about 24 inches to 48 inches. The keeper told me that he had never had any problems.

Tom

The alterns here in Philly are not cannabals towards other lamp. species; as long as they aren't starved. Getualas like cals. are more prone to eat other lamps. & any snake for that matter. My friend keeps several species of lamps. together alterna, mexicana, calligaster,triangulum,etc. w/ no problems. Given he breeds his own mice so they are well fed. I keep mex-mex & calligaster prs. together for 6-7mos. of the yr. w/ no problem. Until the female is ready to lay. They are reunited next breeding season.