Reptile & Amphibian Forums

can 2 water snakes be permantly housed together? if so how would feeding work out? also do water snakes need winter cooling to breed? how big would the housing need to be?

Any time you house 2 snakes together you need to watch them for the first week to see if they are acting aggressively toward each other.

If they are roughly the same size, put them together and see if they get along. Mine actually calmed down when they were together (which I was grateful for because they liked to chew on me).

You'll likely find them coiled into one big ball most of the time. Watersnakes seem to like the company of other watersnakes (and even moccasines).

For feeding, ALWAYS separate the snakes or feed them while you have the cage open. Do NOT leave food in the cage. I've heard of two cornsnakes that both tried to eat one pinky rat. One snake started eating one end, then the other snake bit onto the other end. The result: on snake ate the rat and most of the second cornsake. Both snakes died.

If you feed them in the same cage, watch them for several minutes after they have finished eating to be sure that neither snake has a feeding response on his roommate.

Also, increase the size of your enclosure.

Another thing, watch them carefully. If one snake gets sick, it can quickly spread to every snake in the enclosure. I had 4 broadbanded watersnakes (1 hypo, 3 normal). One got sick and I immediately quarantined them all. Within 2 weeks, the three normals were dead. The hypo was the only one that never got sick.

A good source for more watersnake info would be Scott Felzer. You can find him in the garter snake forum.

Good luck.
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1.0.0 Great Plains Ratsnake
1.0.0 Corn, Lavender Aztec het for Amel
0.1.0 Black Ratsnake
0.0.1 Texas Rat (tame)
1.0.0 Broad Banded Water Snake, Hypo
1.0.0 Black Bassador Retriever
2.1.0 Godchildren, 1 Evil, 2 possible hets

thank you for the info. do you have any expirience breeding them? do thet need winter cooling to breed?

no experience breeding them.
I've heard mixed opinions on cooling for them. some people have told me that cooling was not required. some said that it was. Personally I do not know.
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1.0.0 Great Plains Ratsnake
1.0.0 Corn, Lavender Aztec het for Amel
0.1.0 Black Ratsnake
0.0.1 Texas Rat (tame)
1.0.0 Broad Banded Water Snake, Hypo
1.0.0 Black Bassador Retriever
2.1.0 Godchildren, 1 Evil, 2 possible hets

how big should an enclosure be if it is going to be housing 2 snakes?

how long are the two snakes?
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1.0.0 Great Plains Ratsnake
1.0.0 Corn, Lavender Aztec het for Amel
0.1.0 Black Ratsnake
0.0.1 Texas Rat (tame)
1.0.0 Broad Banded Water Snake, Hypo
1.0.0 Black Bassador Retriever
2.1.0 Godchildren, 1 Evil, 2 possible hets

i don't have any snakes yet i was just looking for general estimates

If you're starting off with babies, you could use the Sterilite 6 quart boxes. I use the latch boxes because the lids are more rigid and there's less chance of escapes. Item 1882 is perfect for babies.

For snakes longer than 16", I'd suggest the 35 quart tubs, like item 1886.

If you end up with a large snake I'd go with the 66 or 74 quart boxes like item# 1995 or 1996

of course you'll need to make some ventilation holes in the sides with a soldering iron or a wood burning tool.

use a setup similar to a cornsnake. Aspen substrate. heat pad under one end, water bowl large enough for the snake to soak and hide boxes.
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1.0.0 Great Plains Ratsnake
1.0.0 Corn, Lavender Aztec het for Amel
0.1.0 Black Ratsnake
0.0.1 Texas Rat (tame)
1.0.0 Broad Banded Water Snake, Hypo
1.0.0 Black Bassador Retriever
2.1.0 Godchildren, 1 Evil, 2 possible hets

will an adult water snake eat another water snake that is similar in size

>>will an adult water snake eat another water snake that is similar in size

no they seem to do well communially as long as you feed them seperate or watch them carefully... mine also seem to calm down alot because they are use to being touched all the time by their cagemates
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albino water snakes

14 babies 2 adults

thank you for the info

Sorry to add to this long thread. I kept 4 water snakes of different sizes with a blacksnake and a garter in a 100G tank by using layers to increase the floor space, and taking them out for exercise. If you've seen how much time a snake spends underground or in a hiding box, the amount of space isnt that important if the tank is just where the snake spends his "down time". At feeding time my snakes crawled out of the tank, took fish from my hand and ate them on the floor. I also used my bathroom as an exercise room (sealing all exits of course), where they could climb and swim as they pleased. Two years they produced babies and one year only slugs, with no heating device besides the sun. This is still a mystery to me because I never once saw them mate or show any interest in each other.

Len

PS- I discovered it makes a big difference to put the tank on a stand rather than on the floor. When they were at eye level even the mean ones let people handle them, but on the floor it was like "here comes the hand" and they never tamed.