Housing Snakes & Rats in Same Room???

I'm sure it's been asked but when I searched on here I didn't find so much about it. I've been granted one room in the house for my scale friends and everything involved with keeping them. I just built a rat rack to start breeding my own feeders and was wondering if it would be safe to house everyone in the same room. I don't want it to bother my snakes in any way but it would be very convenient for me if everything was in the same room.

I have my pet rats in the same room as one rack of snakes and my boa. The ball pythons don't know the difference and as far as I can tell my boa can't either. If I have him out in the room he does flick his tongue as if he can smell them and looking, but not enough to where he's bitten me by mistake. I do try to take him out of the room if I have him out though as much as possible, just to be sure.

My snakes and rats are in the same room. Since ball pythons frequently inhabit rodent burrows in the wild, I figure the stink isn't going to hurt them. They don't seem at all bothered. I do notice the greedy ones are eating even better now. Must be like how we can get hungry if we smell somthing good cooking.

I keep some asf in the same room as a couple of my bp's but they take no notice at all. I was hoping it would intice my picky eaters to feed better but that did not work.

All of my rats are in the same room as all of my snakes. No problems with it whatsoever. If anything, I see better feeding responses from the constant "prescenting" but I don't see any increased aggression outside the tubs when handling...

Same here. No problems.

It would be fine. Though I would be extra careful to prevent escapes. I know someone who had a baby burm that got out and had a wonderful time feasting on the rats. He cleared out one of the baby bins and declared that tub his new home. Oh boy. :rolleye2:

as it has been said, you'll be fine. If anything you'll get a better feeding response from trouble eaters IMO. You just need to be more careful, ball bites don't hurt so much even when they coil, but larger snakes do. :rolleyes: wash your hands if you touch the rats like you normally should and you should have no problem.

Agreed with everyone. I keep my rats on the same rack/shelf as my snakes. No problems so far.

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Originally Posted by purplemuffin

It would be fine. Though I would be extra careful to prevent escapes. I know someone who had a baby burm that got out and had a wonderful time feasting on the rats. He cleared out one of the baby bins and declared that tub his new home. Oh boy. :rolleye2:

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This would only make me laugh, it's the rats getting out and tearing up stuff that worries me. My snake room is also dubbed as my computer at this time but this weekend I'm starting my winter project of turning a 12'x12' portion of my of my basement into a super sweet snake room that I can do/house everything in.

I keep mine in the same room, and I've had no issues. I do recommend using an air purifier if it's a room you're in frequently. I keep my animals in my home office, where I spend most of the day. The air purifier really helps keep the smell down, and has done wonders for my allergies.

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Originally Posted by meowmeowkazoo

I keep mine in the same room, and I've had no issues. I do recommend using an air purifier if it's a room you're in frequently. I keep my animals in my home office, where I spend most of the day. The air purifier really helps keep the smell down, and has done wonders for my allergies.

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X2 on the Air Purifier! I bought one recently and it works super well in keeping the rat smell/dander down. And it allows air flow.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

X2 on the Air Purifier! I bought one recently and it works super well in keeping the rat smell/dander down. And it allows air flow.

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+1 more to using the air purifier. I made the box fan purifier from the DIY section here and it works really well. I'm going to upgrade to an electric air purifier soon though, just so I don't have to keep buying the furnace filters for the DIY jobby...

This will have to do until I get my room done in the basement...

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/DSC_0615.jpg


I plan to pick up or build a better air purifier but I wanna test this box fan out for awhile because so far I'm pretty impressed with it.

I have had rats, as well as asf's in the same room as my bp's. At first I was worried about them always smelling the prey. It really doesn't seem to bother them, they know the tubs are for feeding. So they only get excited when they get put in the feeding tub. Also, asf's do not smell as much as rats IMO, so you could always try them instead if odor gets too bad.

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Originally Posted by DrDooLittle

I have had rats, as well as asf's in the same room as my bp's. At first I was worried about them always smelling the prey. It really doesn't seem to bother them, they know the tubs are for feeding. So they only get excited when they get put in the feeding tub. Also, asf's do not smell as much as rats IMO, so you could always try them instead if odor gets too bad.

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I never had much luck feeding my group in "feeding tubs". They would always freak out or just wanna go exploring and completely forget that they were supposed to be feeding. I feed all of mine in the same tubs they live in so they are comfortable and unstressed in any way. I have never had a problem with them mistaking me as food and I handle them daily.

I've heard a lot of mixed reviews on the whole asf's smell less than other feeder rodents along with how much they bite. I also heard feeding them to ball pythons is like giving kids candy and that they sometimes get hooked to them. I will be keeping mine on normal rats so that the desire for asf's isn't somehow passed on to the hatchlings making it harder for the future owners to find/get feeders for them since asf's aren't as readily available as other feeders.

So far the few live rats in the rat rack aren't causing any issues with the scale kids, but at this time they are all in shed or breeding. I'll be picking up the breeders tomorrow night so we'll see once I get them all moved in.