Cohabitation (temporary)

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

You're lucky you don't have a dead rat snake- the size difference alone, the BP could have accidentally snuffed out your rat snake just laying on it. And feeding when there's 2 snakes kept together is a HUGELY bad idea. :(

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Yeah

It was a perfect storm of bad luck and possibly poor judgment .

The viv had loads of different levels/ hotspots/ hiding spaces which is why I chose it plus the docile nature of the python

They rarely even went close to each other from what I could see .

The food hiccup was the kick in the pants I needed

The young ratsnake has is own place now

As regards the feeding.. it seemed possible given one was on pinkies and the jumbo mice were dwarfing the baby rat snake
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Originally Posted by MichPlat

...As regards the feeding.. it seemed possible given one was on pinkies and the jumbo mice were dwarfing the baby rat snake
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I'm glad the rat snake has his own place now. The thing about snakes is that they aren't logical about what size food they can eat, plus most rely on scent rather than anything visual...meaning, if there is the scent of prey on a snake, the room-mate may very well kill & try to eat him, even if it's physically impossible, & the snake will be just as dead. So many ways things can go wrong quickly if cohabbing snakes- even just breeding snakes has risks. Predators will be predators.

There's also the issue of quarantine- each snake could be carrying germs they are okay with, but a snake from another area (or continent) might succumb to.

Certainly various snakes may cross paths in nature, but that's a far cry from captivity, with so little space.

If there's a screen top (very often a problematic design for BP's), and the RH on a meter that is sitting in the substrate is 66%, the rest of the enclosure should be expected to be a lot closer to room ambient than to 66%. Reading RH by sticking the meter in substrate is something like taking the temp of a room with a thermometer on the woodstove. RH meters also can be damaged by direct water contact (as when the substrate gets misted). I personally don't take RH numbers to be great information on their own, but just FYI.

That completely makes sense. I also have one in the room outside of the enclosure and the ambient humidity in the room is over 55%. I live in Georgia, it is humid here. I will add one to the back wall for that more accurate number though, that makes complete sense.

Maybe not quite as big a deal for you, since if your room is warmish and humid and the substrate not very moist the difference might not be extreme. I live in Wisconsin where the winter air can suck all the water out of your body through your eyeballs and force you to run up your credit card just to maintain a supply of hand lotion. ;)

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Originally Posted by Malum Argenteum

Maybe not quite as big a deal for you, since if your room is warmish and humid and the substrate not very moist the difference might not be extreme. I live in Wisconsin where the winter air can suck all the water out of your body through your eyeballs and force you to run up your credit card just to maintain a supply of hand lotion. ;)

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I know that feeling! :rofl:

I used to live in La Crosse WI, so I get it for sure. Not the case here in the south. lol