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two males and one female

Z

zzara

New member
a question to someone who`s more experienced than I
I´ve had a female and a male together for a few years and they get along very good they lay together a lot and a while ago she layed her first eggs.
A few days ago I "adopted" another male and I´m worried that it won´t work out.
What kind of problems should I expect?
 
zzara, do you plan on putting the new male in the same viv as the previous male and female or what are your plans? Be a little more specific so we can help you out.
 
Do you Co-Habit them?
The dangers of this have been seriously discussed on this board many a time, just search for co-habitation... some pretty nasty stuff...

Chris
 
Any new snake should be quarantined away from your existing collection for at least 3-6 months. I'm not even going to go into co-habitating......it's been beaten to death with a long stick and no one listens to advice anyway...
 
Two males together in a tank have a good chance of fighting. Two males in the same tank with a female, will most likely over the female. If keeping all three together, you should expect fighting, injuries and potentially, death.

You should keep the new male separate from your existing pair, permanently.

You also need to quarantine the new male for at least 3 months - that means keeping him in a separate viv/tank in a different room, having a separate set of equipment for him and washing your hands thoroughly before handling your existing Corns.

You need to know that he's not carrying any diseases or mites that could be passed to your current snakes and quarantine is the only way of figuring this out. Some conditions have an incubation period longer than 3 months, so if you can manage longer, that would be better.
 
CMatt2157 said:
zzara, do you plan on putting the new male in the same viv as the previous male and female or what are your plans? Be a little more specific so we can help you out.
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offcourse I´m planning to put them all in one tank otherwize there would probably be no problems at all, don´t think they can hurt eachother in different tanks...do you?
 
bitsy said:
Two males together in a tank have a good chance of fighting. Two males in the same tank with a female, will most likely over the female. If keeping all three together, you should expect fighting, injuries and potentially, death.

You should keep the new male separate from your existing pair, permanently.

You also need to quarantine the new male for at least 3 months - that means keeping him in a separate viv/tank in a different room, having a separate set of equipment for him and washing your hands thoroughly before handling your existing Corns.

You need to know that he's not carrying any diseases or mites that could be passed to your current snakes and quarantine is the only way of figuring this out. Some conditions have an incubation period longer than 3 months, so if you can manage longer, that would be better.
Click to expand...

ok.. you seem to know what you´re talking about...
I´m just curious..how do corns fight? do they bite eachother?
Do you have any experiense of your own?
I have the possibility to keep them seperated, all three of them, but since the male and female has got along so fine with no problems at all for two years I never saw it as an opption.
About my new male...my plan was to keep them all together and I´ll probably try since I´ve gotten so many different answers...
 
snake5007 is a person on this forum
Ditto with bitsy:
If you type co-habitation in search you will find all the things snakes can do to each. Also if they are two years old they could think about breeding and may be too small, as well as a little young.
I only say wallross to that....
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A little kindness and understanding go a long way on this forum.
susan
 
You're better off with two females and one male than 2 males. They WILL fight especially when she's ready to breed. Yes they do bite. It's also stressfull. Ack! I said I wouldn't say anything about co-habitation because I knew this would lead to the person not listening anyway.....
 
I would not advice it zzara. I don't personally house them together. But chances are higher if you've got 2 males and a female in one tank that the males will fight. yes biting to. and one will die. not to mention the fighting over the female will put stress on her. Which i've heard if shes with eggs. can cause some problems. Don't ever try anything like this. especially with a new snake thats never been quarentined. But like meg said. no one listens to advice anymore.
 
Baba-Lou said:
But like meg said. no one listens to advice anymore.
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Yeah, and then then something happens and one or more of their snakes ends up dead, they wonder what went wrong...
 
And then of course you have the issue of the female being hounded by TWO males to constantly breed through the season, and she won't be able to get away from them for long. Without a doubt this will cause stress in the female, which of course can lead to other problems.

In short, no, don't put the new male in with the other two. Set him up in his own home and hope everything continues to go well for your snakes.
 
Indeed. Some folks need to learn to take advice and use it wisely. and not just toss it aside. We mean it for the benefits of the snakes and the new owners to learn to take better care of their snakes
 
zzara said:
About my new male...my plan was to keep them all together and I´ll probably try since I´ve gotten so many different answers...
Click to expand...
What a shock. It's almost as if your mind was made up from the start. :rolleyes:

Separate all three snakes. Do it for their sakes. Corn snakes are solitary animals, and don't appreciate company except during breeding season. The only benefits to keeping corns together are to the keeper; the practice only presents risk for the snakes. I have lots of experience keeping groups of corns together. I don't do it anymore. Heed the good advice you've been given. :)
 
ok.. you seem to know what you´re talking about...
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Thanks. As you can see from my avatar, I've been keeping Corns for 15 years, but many other people here are equally - and better - qualified to advise you. Some very experienced people have also answered your post here.

I´m just curious..how do corns fight? do they bite eachother?
Do you have any experiense of your own?
Click to expand...

Yes, they will bite and they will also constrict. In youngsters, you may also get a misplaced feeding response and one snake will try to swallow the other. The one being swallowed will die from being constricted and the one doing the swallowing, is likely to die of a ruptured stomach. This is much less likely in adults, but is a risk with youngsters.

I have never kept two males together and so I cannot advise from personal experience. I would never risk doing this.

Even if they don't injure each other, the males may stress each other and the female, as others have said. There could be fighting for dominance that will lead to ongoing hostility. This can lead to ill health and sometimes refusal to feed that can result in Corns starving themselves to death.

have the possibility to keep them seperated, all three of them, but since the male and female has got along so fine with no problems at all for two years I never saw it as an opption.
Click to expand...

I really do strongly advise you to keep the new male separately. I do keep pairs and trios of Corns together but with these basic restrictions:
1) Only one male per viv
2) Never a male and female under breeding age (3 years)
3) Never before at least 3 months of quarantine for the new snake, preferably 6 months.

There are other safety precautions, but those are the very minimum set of rules that you should be following when starting to keep Corns together.

About my new male...my plan was to keep them all together and I´ll probably try since I´ve gotten so many different answers...
Click to expand...

I don't see that you have been given different answers. Nobody thinks that it is a good idea to keep the new male with your existing pair - please don't do it, for their sake and your own.
 
Well then, if you are keeping track of how many "separate them" answers you get, add me as another. I currently have 2 hatchlings in a 55 gallon aquarium...BUT they are kept from on another by a divider that is down the center of the tank.

Your new male could be carrying an illness that your current two could catch. The males could fight and seriously injure one another trying to compete for the female. Did you mention how old your female was (I forget)? If she's not the proper size for breeding, you risk her becoming egg bound. Even if you don't witness any fighting, the snakes could be stressed out from being around one another and from trying to compete for the same real-estate (prime hides).

Snakes don't "enjoy" each other's company; they like the same place that the other one is using. If you see them curled up together, it is because the hide is of a good size and temperature.

Separate all of your snakes.
 
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