Reptile & Amphibian Forums

As pointed out below, some snakes don't like to be separated. Some of the baby racers I raised in the past felt so strongly about it, they ate their siblngs so they could always be together.

Occasional excessive munchies aside, several kinds of snakes do better in groups; garters especially. I've read that rubber boas do better in small groups as long as there are multiple hiding places in the cage so they can have some private time.

In contrast, snakes I've raised alone are conspicuously uncomfortable around other snakes when first introduced. I keep several female rat snakes together and although they now all rest in piles under favorite hiding spots or in their moist box, at first they acted like they'd been tazed when another snake crawled across them. I don't trust all snakes together anyway--I keep my Eastern kings separate except during breeding season and all my coachwhips live alone. Makes for less dominance at feeding time.

Racers and coachwhips make good use of their time to plan my destruction anyway. Some even apply their intelligence to learn valuable skills. One blue racer is studying to be a medical technician--here he is drawing blood.

I feed all my snakes in separate feeding containers, as I don't expect them to be intelligent enough to have read Emily Post.

Your little racer should be a medical technician. He has certainly done a nicer job of it than some nurses I have had the misfortune to know.
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire

Gee I have had a number of snakes that would do that. I never considered they were training for careers in medicine. LOL
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BigT
There is a difference between ignorance and stupidity. The ignorant can be taught, stupidity is beyond our control.
1.2 P. m. melanoleucus B/W N. J. Northern Pines
1.2 P. d. deppei Mexican Pines
2.2 P. l. lineaticollis Linis or Lined Pines
1.2 P. m. lodingi Black Pines
1.1 Drymarchon melenurus Blacktail Cribo
1.2 M. s. cheynei Jungle Carpet
2.6 L. p. pyromelana Arizona Mt. Kings
1.1 L. g. californiae B/W Cali kings
0.0.3 M. f. flagellum Eastern Coachwhips
1.2 G. m. bottegoi Western Plated lizards

Of course behavior is inherent, learned, and practived. In the case of snakes, Learning is key.

As you mentioned, reptiled raised together have a much higher percentage of living in captive conditoins better then those rasied seperately.

But, behavior is what it is. It always has exceptions.

The problem with being social, and that is with all types of animals and people. Social means to include certain individuals, and exclude others. So groups are by choice not by mechanics.

Also in captivity, we have some very misguided ideas. We are so very basic. That is, if you feed a snake, you assume its full. If you fed it yesterday, its not suppose to be fed until next week, thats when it should be hungry again. Theres one thing wrong with that, its about you and not the animals.

Folks with lizards and hopefully fast snakes, already know, they feed on a daily basis.

Most in captivity do not understand there is more to hunger then hungry, there are different levels, just like with us. Theres hungry, theres really hungry and theres starving. Then theres cannibillistic hunger. Most animals have these levels.

In many cases captive snakes eat their cagemates because their keepers do not understand this.

Couple that with lavyers of bonding. Truely bonded reptiles do not eat eachother, not even kingsnakes. There are different levels of bonding. Those levels are determined by how they work together. So one eating the other tells you, they were not all that bonded.

Bonded snakes, these INDIVDUALS, spend aprox half of every year, together, touching eachother. There is at least two blacktails and 6 rock rattlesnakes here.

This is the third year these SAME individuals are here. The point is, why aren't other individuals here, there are many many more individuals in the same area. They learn to work with some individuals and not others, That is a bond.

A captive bonded pair. I would love to see you mess with the girl. he would tear you apart, or at least bluff to, hahahahahahahaha

High-octane snakes like racers and coachwhips eat on their own schedule. I offer mine food whenever I see them show interest, which is nearly every day during high-metabolism cycles. They maintain a high body temperature and get robust air exchange, which I believe helps them maintain a high metabolism. During peak activity periods, they are much more like mammals than outdated impressions of reptiles.

I've seen snakes bonding in the wild, during mating season. I don't doubt that snakes kept together form some sort of association, especially social species like garter snakes. I've kept multiple coachwhips together and they seem perfectly content. I wonder what their lives are really like in the wild? We often see only one at a time and assume that they are solitary but they may be much more attuned to their surroundings and other animals in the area than we give them credit for. They may very well know exactly where others of their own kind are, and consider themselves to be part of a society just as we do even when we're "alone".

THis may surprise you, but I did the same thing with diamondbacks. They too returned daily for weeks and weeks, feeding everyday.

Whats so odd is. The gophersnakes stayed in the holes they fed from. So did the coachwhips. But rattlesnakes would crawl hundreds of yards away and then return.(I track them and at times follow them) They put a much larger effort in.

I also did this with roadrunners, and guess what. not much different. Got pics of them all. Cheers