Housing Multiple Reptiles Together - My Opinion

[MasonC2K]

My recent acquisition of a Chinese Water Dragon has brought back memories of my Iguanas I had more that a decade ago now. And when I read about how to house multiple dragons together I began to think about why snakes aren't housed together. And what the real reason is.

Most of the time the following reasons are generally cited:

• Possible aggression for resources
• If one gets sick both might or it might be hard to tell who is really sick
• One might eat/kill the other
• Snake aren't social animals

Now that I really think about it, it seems the only true valid is the last one.

The other reasons are all risks of housing any 2 or more animals together. It is common practice in the lizard world to house multiple together. Iguanas for example have a strong social structure. The dominate male hangs out at the highest spot. Another male that intrudes will be met with confrontation. Adults also typically hang out higher that babies and juveniles. The rule of thumb was always that you could house a male with up to 4 females together in an appropriately sized enclosure and not have much risk of territorial aggression. Even so, you had to monitor them especially in breeding season.

That said, all those risks are there. They could fight. They could hog food. One could get sick and pass it around. All that risk is there. But because they are social in nature, most can accept those risks.

Snakes on the other hand, with rare exception, are not social at all outside of breeding. And that is the real underlying reason to most don't house them together.

And even with that, there are plenty of zoo's and pro herps like ViperKeeper that really know what they are doing and do house multiple snakes together. So it seems that if you are really pro you can accept more risk and do things that would normally not be acceptable.

In summary, I really think that housing rules (and most rules in general) should really be looked as guidelines and not as hard as fast absolutes that can never be broken. Meaning that if you are new and want the best for your animals then here's how to do it at you're level of experience. As you become more experienced you can start to fudge those lines a little to get what you want out of what you enjoy.

I personally don't plan of housing my snakes together outside of breeding because I am not willing to accept the risks as previously mentioned. But if someone else with great experience wanted to do that, I don't think I have the right to tell them they shouldn't.

Just my 2 cents.

[Skiploder]

My recent acquisition of a Chinese Water Dragon has brought back memories of my Iguanas I had more that a decade ago now. And when I read about how to house multiple dragons together I began to think about why snakes aren't housed together. And what the real reason is.

Most of the time the following reasons are generally cited:

• Possible aggression for resources
• If one gets sick both might or it might be hard to tell who is really sick
• One might eat/kill the other
• Snake aren't social animals

Now that I really think about it, it seems the only true valid is the last one.

The other reasons are all risks of housing any 2 or more animals together. It is common practice in the lizard world to house multiple together. Iguanas for example have a strong social structure. The dominate male hangs out at the highest spot. Another male that intrudes will be met with confrontation. Adults also typically hang out higher that babies and juveniles. The rule of thumb was always that you could house a male with up to 4 females together in an appropriately sized enclosure and not have much risk of territorial aggression. Even so, you had to monitor them especially in breeding season.

That said, all those risks are there. They could fight. They could hog food. One could get sick and pass it around. All that risk is there. But because they are social in nature, most can accept those risks.

Snakes on the other hand, with rare exception, are not social at all outside of breeding. And that is the real underlying reason to most don't house them together.

And even with that, there are plenty of zoo's and pro herps like ViperKeeper that really know what they are doing and do house multiple snakes together. So it seems that if you are really pro you can accept more risk and do things that would normally not be acceptable.

In summary, I really think that housing rules (and most rules in general) should really be looked as guidelines and not as hard as fast absolutes that can never be broken. Meaning that if you are new and want the best for your animals then here's how to do it at you're level of experience. As you become more experienced you can start to fudge those lines a little to get what you want out of what you enjoy.

I personally don't plan of housing my snakes together outside of breeding because I am not willing to accept the risks as previously mentioned. But if someone else with great experience wanted to do that, I don't think I have the right to tell them they shouldn't.

Just my 2 cents.

Nicely stated.

However, I want to elaborate on one point you brought up. Thamnophis are one example of a species of snake that has been documented as being biologically social in behavior. By biologically social I mean that they socially congregate to thermoregulate in dens, breed, etc. The limits of these social interactions have been thoroughly studied.

There have even been studies done on chemoreception and kin behavior in snakes. This is behavior that some species employ to avoid cannibalizing siblings.

That doesn't negate the assumed (and in some cases minimal) risks you posted. But make no mistake, thamnophis are social animals. Every bit as social as any other biologically social animal.

The bottom line is that any time you house any animal together - even cats and dogs - you elevate certain risks. Those risks include fighting over food, unwanted mating and the potential spread of pathogens.

If you accept that some species of snake are every bit as "social" as other species that socialize for the benefit of survival, does you think that should change the common perception? Just curious.