Communal Snakes

[Jfrazier614]

Are there any snakes that are communal?? I kept garter snakes together all of the time when i was younger, and never had a prob with them, but they were in huge tanks, and possibly only seen eachother twice a week, if that. Quite specifically, any breed of rat snakes?? Usually I would never keep any snake together, but someone told me that they were certain snakes that were communal. Thanks.

 

[Crotalus]

Garters and a few other species gather communally at a den site when they hibernate, othervise they are not communal animals

/Lelle

 

[ReptileMan27]

Snakes for the most part are solitary animals and keeping more then one together is never a good or safe idea. Snakes are only usaully put together for breeding and then seprated. So to answer your question, its a really bad idea .

 

[aliceinwl]

Sharp-tailed snakes and ring-neck snakes are somewhat communal and are known to utilize communal egg laying sites. But, they have kind of specialized diets.

-Alice

 

[Stardust]

Hmm..and i tink Whip Snakes and Cornsnakes are communal too....Hope i am rite abt this...lolx....

 

[Cirith Ungol]

Corns arn't communal either as far as I know but it works if there are enough hiding places and the tank isn't too small. When I received my pair they had been living together for more than 7 years and I let them continue living like that because I didn't have and still don't have an alternative. I has gone alright but if I had the space I'd separate them because I believe that in the long run they'd benefit from being on their own.

 

[Hedorah99]

I have never had a problem with housing snakes in the same tanks. I have only had problems when you try feeding them both in the same place at the same time. Its best to seperate when feeding. I have had rat snakes and pythons living in the same tanks with the same species for many years with no problems.

 

[Empi]

Garter snakes are very communal. I have kept 6 of them together at a time. They love hanging out with each other. They will even hang out in the same hide. If there is any true communal snake it would have to be the garter..

 

[Kid Dragon]

I have kept two corn snakes together with no ill effects.

I have two ball pythons together with a huge size difference, no ill effects.

Never keep pythons and boas together because of boid encephalitis.

The problem of keeping too many snakes together is one of husbandry. I use to keep four corn snakes in a big tanks, and there was ALWAYS feces in the tank. Five minutes after I cleaned it there would be feces. Its probematic because they are living in each others' waste.

One per enclosure is ideal.

 

[Bigboy]

For the past year my Spotted and Childrens pythons have happily been sharing the same 75gallon tank with no problems.

 

[MysticKigh]

I have several P regius... most of them live in sets of two quite nicely. They frequently are coiled together in their habitats and I've never had any problems.I do allow for plenty of space for them to get away from one another should they choose... they just rarely choose.
I also attempted to house two young BCI together which went well enough for a short period of time, but I ended up separating them because they became agressive with one another. Now... I am fairly sure that one of them was mislabled and is actually a tarahumara (I'll never understand how these things happen) which perhaps has somethign to do with the 'clash', but I find it even more likely that it was a territorial issue.

 

[Ravnos]

Several of my rescued snakes came to me because the previous owner freaked out when they ate their cage mate, which is why I never recommend housing snakes together. I've seen boas (especially dumerils), burms, balls, and rat snakes all become cannibalistic without any real reason. Not saying it can't be done, but its not a risk I'm willing to take.

I've seen arboreal enclosures with groups of green snakes that do quite well together, even with green tree frogs and green anoles in the same tank if its large enough. Often in the wild I find smaller snakes like earth snakes and ground snakes all crammed together under the same piece of debris. I've found emory's rats and coachwhips in small groups (3-4 snakes) together under the same pieces of tin during breeding season - but once it warms up in the summer they're solitary.