Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Can a male and female BRB be housed together?
Are there any problems with doing this?
Right now my set-up is an 4' x 2' cage. Would that be enough room?
I may have an opportunity to get another male BRB to go along with my female BRB and they are nearly the same size and age, but I don't want to do it if there are any foreseen problems or undue stress on my female.
Thanks in advance for any responses,
Uncloudy

Yes they can be housed together. I keep many of my Rainbows two to a cage. 4X2 cage is big enough. IMO the new one should be quarantined for several months. If one gets sick the other may get the disease. If one pukes or passes a messy stool you may not be able to tell which one it was. If you keep a pair together all the time they may be less inclined to breed. At feeding time they should be seperated. On rare occasions one BRB has killed another in it's cage. There are hundreds of examples of species that are not noted for canibalism eating their conspecific cagemates.
Jeff

>>Can a male and female BRB be housed together?
>>Are there any problems with doing this?
>>Right now my set-up is an 4' x 2' cage. Would that be enough room?
>>I may have an opportunity to get another male BRB to go along with my female BRB and they are nearly the same size and age, but I don't want to do it if there are any foreseen problems or undue stress on my female.
>>Thanks in advance for any responses,
>>Uncloudy

I house most of mine together no more than 2 to an enclosure. I think your cage size will be fine. I would not put put a new BRB with an established one until you know for sure all is well. If you have adequate hides and feed them alone they should do well together. Just be cautious when they are mature or you may have a gravid female that you didn't want to breed be bred before you know what's happening!

>>Can a male and female BRB be housed together?
>>Are there any problems with doing this?
>>Right now my set-up is an 4' x 2' cage. Would that be enough room?
>>I may have an opportunity to get another male BRB to go along with my female BRB and they are nearly the same size and age, but I don't want to do it if there are any foreseen problems or undue stress on my female.
>>Thanks in advance for any responses,
>>Uncloudy
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"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance- that principle is contempt prior to investigation." Herbert Spencer

That's for the responses, it helped with my decision. Right now, I don't have another cage to quarantine a new arrival and I don't want to put my beloved family BRB at any risk. So it looks like it won't happen. You guys both made good points and I learned something, because this is my only BRB, the rest of snakes that are colubrids have to be housed seperate.
Thanks Again,
Uncloudy

I currently house 7.2 together in a special cage I built, there are actually 8 seperate scetions connected together with 4" PVC. Used to be 3" PVC till one of my gravid females got stuck. She and her babies were fine. But did not want that to happen again. I currently have it split left to right with 4.1 on one side and 3.1 on the other. All the pipes have threaded ends and can be blocked. For birthing, I seperate them into one female/section.