Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've been reading up on corn snakes preparitory to getting my first one.

Some sources state not to house them together, but then I see people talking about housing together, with pictures that seem to show social behavior between the two.

What is best and why.

LizardMom

Their is no "social behavior" regarding Corns. That is a presumption that some owners make.

Our caresheet...
www.triplemoonsexotic.com/phpBB-2.0.17/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2

More then one?

Reptiles in general are solitary creatures, and this includes the Cornsnake. They do not get lonely, nor do they want a "friend."

Some issues to consider if you attempt to house more then one in the same enclosure...

- Canabilisum
- Stress
- Early breeding (can result in death)
- Transmission of parasites/disease

We at TME are 100% against houseing more then one Cornsnake per enclosure. A lot of herpers will say "It's never happened to me" and they are usually the next ones to post a thread stateing their female is only 200 grams and is gravid or their newest hatchling was eatten by its cage mate.

I wanted to add, their are no PROS to houseing more then one per enclosure. Only selfish reasons from owners (ie not wanting to shell out the money for another viv).

The main problem with housing 2 snakes together is feeding. In order to prevent fighting and injuries, you have to take them out, seperate them, feed them, then replace them into the cage. The other problem is if you plan on breeding them, for some reason snakes housed together year round tend to be less likely to breed. If you don't mind that, just make sure the enclosure is large enough with plenty of areas to hide so they can escape each other.

Chris
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0.2.0 Grey Rats-Lauren, Avril
1.2.0 Black Rats- Robert, Cady, Kylie
1.2.0 Albino FL Kings-Nick, Jessica, Ashley
1.1.0 Crimson Corns-Kane, Ruby
0.1.0 Het-Crimson Corns-Lola
0.1.0 White-Sided/Pos Het Albino Black Rat-Lita
1.0.0 Albino White-sided Black Rat-Rey
0.1.0 Albino/Het White-sided Black Rat-Stacey
1.2.0 Creamsicle Corns-Vince, Trish, Torrie
0.1.0 Fl King-Bonnie
1.0.1 Biak GTP-Brandon, Aru GTP-Orochimaru
1.0.0 Flame X Blood Bearded-Ruff
1.4.0 Ball Pythons-Kritsy, Gretchen, Alexis, 100% het for albino balls- Naruto, Hinata
0.1.0 Red-tail Boa-Xena
0.0.1 Savannah Monitor-Izzy

...read draybar's summary on cohabitation. It's a very good one. In general, not a good idea, especially for the novice. It can be done, however. You should be aware of the possible risks and things you need to think about. Read draybar's response. Good luck. Duffy

Everyone makes their own decisions but I just thought I would offer my opinion and a few things to think about.

COHABITATION
MY OPINION

I feel it is best to keep snakes separate.
I know a lot of people keep multiple snakes together without problems and it can obviously be done without being detrimental to the snakes. I just feel the possible drawbacks need to be expressed.
When a person gets the experience and knowledge of their individual snakes and wants to try cohabitation, that is up to them. They just need to be careful and able to read the subtle signs of their snakes.
There can be definite drawbacks.
If one snake becomes sick there is a very good likelihood the other/others will get sick as well.
It may also take a while (usually too long) to determine which one is the sick one.
If one regurgitates its food you won't know which one unless you happen to get lucky and see it.
If one has a problem stool you won't know which one. Once again one may have a problem but by the time you figure out which one the other/others could end up with the same problem.
Although this is only a slight possibility, it is still a possibility and has been know to happen, one snake could eat the other. The smell of a prey item could trigger one snake to eat the other. Or simple hunger accompanied by a ready food source.
Although uncommon, it has happened and is a possibility.
Another possibility is unwanted pregnancy. A female might get pregnant and you may not have the knowledge, desire or ability to incubate the eggs or raise the hatchlings. With hatchlings comes the responsibility to raise them or find them homes.
A lot of people rationalize by saying, "I will just put two males or two females together". That can work but mistakes can easily be made, especially with hatchlings. You could easily end up with a male and female.
There is also a chance of a female breeding too young or too small and becoming eggbound. Although uncommon, it IS a possibility and can happen.
With multiple snakes in an enclosure you stand the chance of loosing all of them if there happens to be an avenue of escape. Instead of losing one you could loose two or more depending on how many you decide to place together.
One or both of the snakes could be stressed by the presence of the other. Stress can cause a drop in appetite and lead to other health problems as well.
People will put multiple snakes in an enclosure and ask why one isn't eating.
When they are told it is probably due to stress caused by the other snake, the response is almost always the same "they like each other, they are always under the same hide together". Well this probably just means "that" hide or area of the tank has the optimum conditions they are looking for.
Snakes do not LIKE each other or ENJOY each other’s company.
There is no capacity for snakes to "like" or "enjoy".
I have kept multiple snakes together without problems but have made a choice to keep them separate. There is NO clear argument on why you SHOULD keep them together but there ARE clear arguments as to why you SHOULD NOT.
So, in my opinion, although people do it successfully I just don't think it is worth the risk.
If you decide to keep multiple snakes together, watch closely for any signs of appetite loss, regurgitation or any kind of "personality" change. These could all be signs of stress.
You would also want to feed them in separate containers and give them an hour or so before putting them back together.
My 2 cents
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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"resistance is futile"
Jimmy (draybar)

Draybars Snakes

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if you are going to have to quarantine them separately from each other at the beginning (to make sure that neither one is sick, etc), then you are going to have to buy another container anyway. Plus you are going to have to find somewhere to put the extra container. So why not just keep them that way after the quarantine period is over?
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phflame

Thanks to everyone who responded, especially to Draybar for reposting a very good response.

Guess I was just hoping that my husband (the 'nothing that doesn't have shoulders' guy), who brought up the 'won't one be lonely' question, would think it a good reason to get more than the one snake he agreed I could get. Oh, well. Back to the difficult decision of which morph to get....

LizardMom