Cohabbing?!

[Corn89]

I think my sister does it to make me wig-out, she uses heat lamps instead of UTH too. she knows I have a mother hen button and loves to push it.

Sounds like she should pay a visit to this forum and do some research!

 

[TwinBlades]

don't worry, she's make it on here eventually. probably my fault she's not here already.
I've realized I'm a shove-it-down-your-throat-because-it's-good-for-you kind of person, and my sister is more of a "if your right, i'll find out. but if you keep nagging, I'll never do it." kind of person.
we've learned to coexist somewhat peacefully by me acidentally leaving books or info at her house, and her nodding a lot when she listens to me lecture. she usually tracks down the info on her own later, but if I say something, she will put off doing it.

 

[TwinBlades]

*She will make it on here eventually*
sorry for the typo

 

[starsevol]

*She will make it on here eventually*
sorry for the typo

If someone told me that what I was doing was harming my pets, I think I would make it on here just a bit quicker....just sayin'.....

 

[TwinBlades]

ahhh there is the thing, she isnt harming them at this point. they have the right temp zones and she feeds seperate so there's no stress. so far they have enough space, and will be upgrading to a much bigger tank- courtesy of moi- (which I'm putting dividers in before I give it to her, shhh don't tell her that shen she gets on!) she's not being a bad owner, just not useing the best methods that are known. she will come around, it just takes time, would have been less time if she'd found this site before me, but there it is. she does truly love her little guys, she's just tired of me. it's a big sis - little sis issue.

 

[Outcast]

You know, there is actually a site out there that they are studying rattle snakes and the bonds that they form with their young/others.... Here is their Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/SocialSnakes?fref=ts

And their blog. http://blog.socialsnakes.org/

They have lots of cool info from their findings there. And video's...

 

[Chip]

Snakes get exactly zero benefit from cohabbing, so why would any caring keeper do it?

I must spread more reputation around, etc., but this sentence sums up the consensus of all ten pages of dialog that usually come from this discussion.

 

[AliCat37]

In general I disagree with it, but as Diamondlil posted on the first page, if you have the room to do it safely and properly, with plenty of hides, waters, and heat sources, then I don't see an issue keeping same sex pairs together. But why do it in the first place? They wouldn't choose to be that close in the wild.

 

[NiklasTyreso]

The bottom line is we as keepers should strive to provide the best care possible for our pets.

True! The key is to keep the snakes healthy.

Snakes get exactly zero benefit from cohabbing, so why would any caring keeper do it? It makes no sense.

Snakes get no benefit from being kept in captive enclosures but we still hold them as captive pets. Being held in a captive enclosure is probably stressful for an animal that ...

move on. Having a few kilometers of land to run around on

It is also common to stress captive cornsnakes by handling them. Humans are a different species and snakes natural response is to avoid humans. They habituate to being handled, but it is probably stressful and unnatural.

Cohabing is probably also stressful.

If we take care and keep our snakes healthy, then they can handle some of the stressful events that we humans expose the captive snakes for.
But we have to keep the snakes healthy, sick snakes do not handle stress well, and we have to try to keep the level of stress low.

 

[starsevol]

True! The key is to keep the snakes healthy.



Snakes get no benefit from being kept in captive enclosures but we still hold them as captive pets. Being held in a captive enclosure is probably stressful for an animal that ...


It is also common to stress captive cornsnakes by handling them. Humans are a different species and snakes natural response is to avoid humans. They habituate to being handled, but it is probably stressful and unnatural.

Cohabing is probably also stressful.

If we take care and keep our snakes healthy, then they can handle some of the stressful events that we humans expose the captive snakes for.
But we have to keep the snakes healthy, sick snakes do not handle stress well, and we have to try to keep the level of stress low.

Um, Captive snakes DO benefit from being captive pets. I have never known of a captive pet snake that was hit by a car or eaten by a raccoon. They benefit as much from captivity as any pet does.

If their needs are properly met, there is NOTHING wrong or stressful in the world of an animal that was probably hatched in captivity anyway.
But by forcing them in close proximity to another snake is going against every instinct they have.
Sorry to say, but you couldn't be more wrong here.....