Oops!!!

[midori]

Having been considering (and listening to my very persistant son!) for a year and a half, we bought our first Cornsnake last Thursday. It was more for my son really, although obviously with adult supervision.

Today we bought our second cornsnake.

So, now we have an a snow, which my son has sadly called 'Frostbite' and an Amel called BOB (as in bird or bloke, as we don't know what sex either of them are yet! )

The lady in the shop said they can live together, but I didn't think that was the case? Surely for quarantine reasons they need to be seperate for the time being anyway, as they came from different places? They are in seperate 'tubs', but nearish to each other, is this OK?

Here they are:

Frostbite first, 3 months old. (I was wondering if the dark area in her body was where she was fed two days ago? Also, does her tail give any idea if she is a she or she, or is that idea a load of rubbish?!)





BOB: (16 weeks old)

[rc10andy]

All snakes you buy should have a quarentine period......i do mine for a couple of weeks, see if i notice anything!

They can live together but if u end up having a pair living in the same enclosure the female may breed too early causing problems! Looking at the pics u wont have to worry about that just yet!

I keep 2 snakes in the same viv but tbh its a pain in the ass for me so as soon as ive built my stack they will be seperated!

[evilchild]

keep them seperate for a good few months to play safe, also lets you monitor them both.

no way of telling what sex they which out probing, the dark lump colud be food being dijested.

[emma_fyfe]

i never keep hatchlings together, and rarely keep adults together. Theres a chance they can turn cannibalistic, more likely in hatchlings.

Your right, they should be quaranteened. Best to keep in separate rooms if you can.

[rc10andy]

Originally Posted by emma_fyfe

i never keep hatchlings together, and rarely keep adults together. Theres a chance they can turn cannibalistic, more likely in hatchlings.

Your right, they should be quaranteened. Best to keep in separate rooms if you can.

Cannabalistic.....tis true, i saw a thread on it a while ago!

[emma_fyfe]

Originally Posted by rc10andy

Cannabalistic.....tis true, i saw a thread on it a while ago!

trust me, its not easy to split up 2 snakes(or more!) when they decide they want to eat eachother!

[tigger79]

Quarentine should be done when ever you bring in a new reptile into the house

if its from a source, where you know the person(not just i know them from the forum) and the way they keep (very clean) then a 3 months quarentine should be done but if the source is unknown or you do not know the way they have been kept, then i would suggest a 6 months quarentine.


As for living together, you are right its a biiiiggg NO NO, although some say they do it without problems - but there is always the chance of it happening - are you willing to take the chance

[goara]

I have an adult whos around 2.5 years old, a 8 -9 month old and a 5 months old one all in the same tank and they are fine. i would keep them apart for a month or 2. after that introduce them. I would keep them from seeing each other atm thio so if you can separate rooms. as for the dark path dnt worry my sister had a snow and he also had dark patches. If you want to sex your snakes you can always pop them i wouldn't reccomend doind it yourself but im sure if you take them to the a petshop they would happily do it for you, this isn't 100% but at least you'll have something to go off. when their older you can always have them probed.

[midori]

Thankyou. Seperate rooms isn't a problem if that's what's best.

I had expected to keep them seperately, so that is what I will do. I am a very novice snake keeper, these are our first (have kept lizards before for 15 years) so any way of minimalising potential problems is good.

The shop had the snakle in a glass viv with two other young corns, and when i told the lady we already had one, she said they could live together. I had heard of cannibalism in snakes (although I think that was King Snakes) so queried it, but she insisted it was fine. i think it's good that forums like this exiist, as they offer something books can't really, a very broad variety of specific experience.

Thanks for answering.

[emma_fyfe]

Originally Posted by goara

I have an adult whos around 2.5 years old, a 8 -9 month old and a 5 months old one all in the same tank and they are fine. i would keep them apart for a month or 2. after that introduce them. I would keep them from seeing each other atm thio so if you can separate rooms. as for the dark path dnt worry my sister had a snow and he also had dark patches. If you want to sex your snakes you can always pop them i wouldn't reccomend doind it yourself but im sure if you take them to the a petshop they would happily do it for you, this isn't 100% but at least you'll have something to go off. when their older you can always have them probed.

what about quaranteen? and chances of cannibalism? theres a big age gap there, not a good idea! They might be fine now, but there is always a chance they could harm eachother. what would you do then? would you be willing to get bitten and separate them? do you have money for vets bills? i just dont see why anyone would take that chance with living animals.

Also, do you know the sexes? what if the 5month old one was a female and got pregnant? it would almost definitely kill her. If they havent been quaranteened properly, they could end up passing diseases to eachother, that you just hadnt noticed..