• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Why Cats & Snakes Are Bad Mix!

Pal-O-Mine

Pal-O-Mine

New member
So I recently acquired a new cat. Tribble has been a typical kitten; playful, adorable, unstoppable, sweet. For the first few weeks she did not notice my collection of snakes. There were just a bunch of glass boxes in the house.

Then I cleaned and moved some snakes around after Christmas. The babies got moved into the tanks, the juveniles got moved into the rack. I was cleaning the garter tank and put my 3 garters in a rubbermaid tub on the bathroom floor. I came back to find Tribble batting and shoving the tub all over the bathroom floor! "Look Ma! Animated string toys without batteries! What fun!"

She's taken to sleeping on top of Draco's big tank and crawling all over Goober/Gobbler's tank when he's out. The terrible thing is that Gobbler seems to be as curious about her as she is about him. And he's still quite tiny!

So if you have cats AND snakes, you better watch them like a hawk!

Devon
 

Attachments

  • Want that snake!.jpg
    Want that snake!.jpg
    78.1 KB · Views: 153
  • REALLY want that snake!.jpg
    REALLY want that snake!.jpg
    96.2 KB · Views: 153
  • Tribble on Tank.jpg
    Tribble on Tank.jpg
    62.1 KB · Views: 154
Haha, I also found my cat pushing a tub around my room once. That poor garter didn't know what was going on! Right now, I have a kitten that will come in to look at the snakes, and the ever curious anery will be the first to curl up next to the glass door of her cage. She puts her head just next to the glass and flicks her tongue at my kitten... and then he jumps into the glass and gets hurt.. Meanwhile, the snake doesn't even flinch. It's like she's laughing at him. lol.
 
My one cat could care less about the snakes, my other one is a completely different story. He yowls and meows at me when I hold them...I think he wants me to put them down so he can play with them. He also likes to watch them when they are in their feeding tanks. So far he hasn't tried sleeping on the tank screens, but if he did there might problems since he weighs about 15lbs :)
 
Some of my cats are also fond of watching my snakes and have been known to bat some of the smaller containers around. They are very fascinated with my red tail boa and unfortunately, she would like to play with the kitties as much as they want to play with her! My oldest cat, however, is only interested in them if they get loose. She has eaten more than one AWOL hatchling. I can't blame her. She spent her time before we adopted her fending for herself at an interstate rest area, and snakes were definitely on the menu.
 
I used to worry like mad too. Braz has been known to jump INTO their enclosures during cleaning, but incidents have been reduced with the coming of my ferret. Cat and ferret are so hell bent on outdoing each other they ignore the snakes now.
 
LOL. My little 28lb kitty has been sleeping some on top of Fang's tank. I don't think he's noticed that there is a living creature in there yet. I'm not too worried when he does because he's always prefered catching and eating squirrels. That said I still keep my eyes open. The only animal that has noticed the snake is the minpin and he's always trying to get involved in the handling sessions.
 
Lol when ever my cat sees my snake moveing around in the cage my cat starts scratching at the tank
 
I lost a couple snake because our cat slept on the top screen just like that and it sunk in and ripped the tiniest of holes along the edge, big enough for a baby snake to get through.At the time I had a divider in the middle to keep the two separated but it also tweaked with the weight of the fat old cat so both snakes got out... Never saw them again. I have a snake room now but I would suggest you put a board across the top of the tank for the cat to sit on instead of the screen.
 
I haven't lost animals that way, but I have lost screen tops that way. My cat is 12 lbs at his lean weight and loves to sit atop any critter cage. Racks are much better for me for that reason alone.
 
A few of mine like to push tubs aside to get at the heat tape. I find Miso or Tiny Monster curled up between two particular tubs pretty often. Otherwise, the cats like the warmth of the reptile room, but I make sure cats are out any time I'm opening tubs just to prevent an accident.

Our younger cats are far more interested in the crickets inside the gecko's tank. They think snakes are boring, but crickets are awesome to smack at through the glass.
 
Racks are definitely safer than tanks if you have a pesky cat around. Tribble will go after the rack shelves but only if she sees a snake at the front of it.

( Racks are also safer if you have snake phobic friends over. They think the rack is just a shelf of drawers! )

Devon
 
Houdini is only interested in the snakes when I'm in the garter tank. When the little guys running for cover after handling he sees their quick movements. Otherwise, they are pretty stealthy and he never notices!

He used to climb on the gecko tank though, we had to move it away from the arm of the couch. It was just a step up! And he probably liked snuggling up to the heat lamp.
 
My Himalayan used to sit on top of the tank until I learned the perfect trick for keeping him off: I use the snake's mister and spray him in the face with it. We did that three times and he hasn't gone back up since. We also keep the door to that room closed at night so that definitely helps as well. The kitten (who is four months old) is also interested in the snakes but the worst she does is just go on top of the dresser the tank is on to watch them. The Siamese can flat out care less. Then again, she also cared less when we brought home a bag full of mice for the snakes so she's just weird ;)
 
My cats are great at guarding the incubator and they have helped me find a couple of lost and weary snakes. They have yet to kill any escapee.
IMG_4567.jpg
 
My cat is useless. She has utterly refused to help find any escapee critters in my house, she has likewise refused to eat them. Even the ones I would have appreciated her nomming on. She let the Madagascar Hissing Cockroach walk around for weeks, she ignored the escapee corn, who I eventually found no thanks to her, she bats all the escaped crickets from my Bearded Dragon into corners and LEAVES them there to wander out onto the floor again and get squished and the one time we had a mouse, she let it eat out of her food bowl.

She sure is cute though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top