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Snakes living with other pets?

Katie612

New member
I've been surfing the forums and see that a lot of people have other kinds of animals in addition to their snakes. I've even seen a picture or two of a snake with a dog close by.

I have a small dog and a cat... I assumed that when I add a snake to my household, I would have to keep them completely separate. Is this the case or can then co-exist more peacefully than I imagined?

My mom is convinced that, when I get a snake, my little dog will need to come live with her to avoid being eaten.

How do you guys deal with having both snakes and other pets? Are snakes interested in other pets? Do other pets show much interest in the snake? Should I worry about my snake getting pet hair stuck to it off my furniture or my clothes?

This probably sounds dumb to long-time snake owners, but oh well. I'm a newbie. :)
 
I'd probably be more worried about the cat or the dog munching on the snake then vice versa personally...

My cats and my snake don't show much interest in each other unless the snake is moving around in his tank, at which point the cats watch with rapt attention and frequently paw at the glass. When he's out and being held, though, they run from him. I personally wouldn't want to risk letting my snake and my cats interact, it may be fine or it may take only a little while for something to go wrong, it all depends on the personality of the animals involved.

I'm a newbie to snakes myself, but I have had other types of small animals and I've watched how they react. Cats especially love 'playing' with smaller animals.
 
keep them apart... Snakes eat animals and animals kill snakes....
Sometimes they ignore each other but I wouldn't chance it....
A corn will not eat a dog but a dog or cat may injure your corn...
Pet hairs are not a worry.....
 
I have cats. The cats think the snakes are "cat TV". Humphrey & Icabod don't care. I think Attitude thinks the cat will eat him or her so I have Attitude's viv where the cats can rarely get near it. Cat fur on my clothes does NOT bother Icabod or Humphrey at all.

Unless you're planning to own a big burm, your dog is definitely safe from your snakes.

Beyond that, I don't know much, because I am relatively new to snake ownership.
 
The only major problems I've heard of people having are:

1. Cats jumping on top of vivs and crushing the lids
2. Cats and dogs going after snakes that've escaped from their cages
 
I haven’t had very good luck keeping my snakes and my mice together. I figured with time they would come to like each other but they didn’t.
 
I haven’t had very good luck keeping my snakes and my mice together. I figured with time they would come to like each other but they didn’t.

It's because you didn't train them right, Wade. There no bad snakes, only bad owners.
 
I haven’t had very good luck keeping my snakes and my mice together. I figured with time they would come to like each other but they didn’t.
Darn it Wade, you made me spray tea all over my laptop!

My snakes looove my cats. If my cats are nearby they go straight towards them and curl up in their fur. One cat is curious but doesn't try to hurt them, the other doesn't even notice them. I always supervise and hold the cat just in case, though.

EDIT: The dog wants to eat them though. She "sits pretty" whenever I take them out.
 
My dogs completely ignore my snakes. However, that is not to say that if one got out I would trust my dogs not to hurt it, but when I'm around the dogs could care less.
 
Well for me, (I dont have snakes yet but am getting 1 in lie 2 weeks) the cat and dog will be staying out of where the snake will be.

1. My dog is a clumbsy crazy lab that puts his paws on the counter, so i would be afriad of him nocking my viv over.
2. my cat kills anything she finds. everymorning she brought us a new dead animal.
 
My dog enjoys my snakes. He'll usually let them crawl around on his head and back with no problem. I'm sure my rats would kill the snakes, so they're kept separate (aside from the whole predator-prey issue). When I fostered kittens, they'd enjoy nothing more than to watch the snakes roam around their vivs, but otherwise they never had any physical contact.
 
my cats would destroy my snake well duchess would olive wouldnt because olive is a runt half the size of a normal cat and meows high pitched lol
 
This is how I deal with it:

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I wouldn't really suggest this to anyone else though. I just have a really laid back snake and a dog that's just the coolest ever.

Having a dog or cat shouldn't ever stop someone from having a snake or other reptile. The worst thing that's ever come of it in my home is just a cat that loves to watch my lizard. If everything is contained properly, there shouldn't be a problem. If not contained, prepare for your other pets to have a snack.
 
My cat is absolutely enthralled by the snakes. Whenever she catches them cruising around she stares intently, chatters her teeth at them, and occasionally stands up with her paws on the end of the table I use for one of the vivs. The snakes don't seem to really care about her at all. I lock her out of the room if I have a snake out because she's a little too interested in them.

I haven't even thought to introduce the snakes to our dog, I can imagine the dog being afraid of them though. :p
 
we have a variatable zoo at my house 4 kids 2 cats 1 snake and 1 rabbit and every body sorta does their own thing i wouldnt suggest putting your viv on a lightweight stand that can be tipped over ( cats jump ) but for the most part our pets have learned to live and let live
ps. we dont have gerbils or mice though either lol
 
Darn it Wade, you made me spray tea all over my laptop!

My snakes looove my cats. If my cats are nearby they go straight towards them and curl up in their fur. One cat is curious but doesn't try to hurt them, the other doesn't even notice them. I always supervise and hold the cat just in case, though.

EDIT: The dog wants to eat them though. She "sits pretty" whenever I take them out.
My much-missed dog Ellie used to 'sit pretty' like that around small pets, she would carefully tuurn her head away from them as if trying to lessen the temptation!
 
We have pretty much every type of critter you can imagine here. We keep the cats split out from the birds and small mammals. My older male cat is fine with everything and ignores cages critters, but the younger female is a hellion. She would definitely try to claw at the birds and one scratch could kill them. She also bothers the rats, so we keep them in the PC room with the birds.

So far as the snakes go, they are all caged. We don't let them roam around, and when we have Carlos, our 6', 13 lb boa, out of his cage, we make the cats go upstairs. He could constrict them easily. Not that he would, but better safe than sorry. I don't worry about our smaller snakes at all, except the cat tries to bat their tails. Beyond that there's no issue, and they are never alone together.

Your cat and dog will be fine. If you use a heat lamp, just make sure that the cat cannot knock it off the top of the cage onto a rug, where it might cause a fire. Since giving the cats access to the basement herp room, I have been doing a check of the heat lamps every morning to ensure that they are in the right place and not lying on the floor.
 
The only major problems I've heard of people having are:

1. Cats jumping on top of vivs and crushing the lids
2. Cats and dogs going after snakes that've escaped from their cages

I just wanted to second this. The bolded part has actually happened to me with my 20L viv. One of my "genius" cats jumped on top of the screen and fell straight through. Luckily, the snake wasn't injured and we were able to fix the lid. We've also since adapted by putting a piece of wire shelving (slightly larger than the viv dimensions) resting on top of the screen.... something like this:
8ad34b0b-4059-40f6-b750-e4356a1d6ddd_300.jpg


Even then, we still usually keep the door closed to the snake room, since my cat really is too smart for his own good and I fear he will still figure out a way through that if given enough time to think on it.

The other cat is mildly curious, enough so to watch but that's it. The dog doesn't really care at all, will sniff if I have the snake out, but doesn't take long to lose interest. If it was only those two, I wouldn't be so concerned, but the one cat is so interested in the snake that I would never trust them alone together. I also take a lot of precautions against escaping because of this.

You may not have any issues with your furry critters... as others have said, it really just depends on the individual personality of each animal. As long as the snake enclosure is secure and precautions are taken, there really shouldn't be any issues with snakes being in the same house as cats/dogs/etc. At the very worst it is possible to close off a room to keep everybody separate.

Sorry that was a little long, but hope it helps! :D
 
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