Snakes + other animals?

[sufficio]

Do any of you let your snake 'interact' with other animals(besides their food!) ? If so, how's their reaction? Are any of them ''friendly''?

Last night, while showing a friend my ball python, our pug sitting nearby got super curious and sniffed at his tail for a while. We laughed as the snake seemed interested and nosed at her, flicking his tongue a little bit. The entire time, he wasn't tense and could easily leave and retreat back into my robe pocket. But to my surprise, after the pug began to sniff the snake's face, he did a bluff strike at her and just about scared her to death! It's the first time he's ever done even a bluff strike at ANYTHING besides his food!

So now I know, no more interactions between them, even if he two physically couldn't hurt one another. I'm curious, have any of you let your snakes be near other animals?

[Knowell]

We have 2 dogs. 1 shows no interest in snakes and 1 is puppy like and interEstee in everything. Everything from my hatchlings to adults have shown 0 interest in the dogs which are small and medium size.

[Sunnieskys]

I have cats. I do not let the cats ever touch the snakes but they can be out together....under my supervision and I have the snake on my body. The snakes are never wandering with cats out. I never have my pueblan out with other snakes. I don't want a snake to be another snakes food.

[67temp]

My retic will gladly use my pitbull as a ladder for getting to other things to climb. Both of the could care less about the other.

Some cats want to try to play with smaller snakes, thinking they are a fun piece of string. I've seen other cats keep a cautious distance from a snake but still semi fascinated. If a cat is in the room the snakes don't leave my hand, because I don't trust the cats.

[Dianne]

I used to have 2 cats (rip), one of which became facinated by the snakes after a friend’s neonate boa escaped the enclosure I was provided to babysit him in. The cat and boa were nose to nose under the kitchen table and she was purring at it. Neither were freaked out and afterward she would sit next to the tank I put him in (with secure clasps) and watch him and purr. After that I would have to lock her in another room to keep her away from any snippier snakes. If I had one of the calm ones out, she’d come sit next to me and purr at whoever I was holding.

[Bogertophis]

I have 2 dogs & they have only mild curiosity about the snakes I've always had (even before they moved in) but I'd never allow them to sniff nose-to-nose
with any of my snakes, because that can just turn bad way too quickly. I DO allow my dogs to satisfy a bit of curiosity by sniffing a snake's tail while I hold
them (facing away from the dogs) but I'd never allow any floor-time between them. My dogs are playful, they could step on a snake, and the snakes would
be absolutely within their rights to defend themselves from what can only appear to them to be a predator...it's not worth the risk, IMO.

Just tell me...what would you do if your snake suddenly sunk their teeth into your dog's nose? How ugly would that be!? Your dog (or cat) would freak & it
would be a miracle if your snake didn't get the worst of the injuries.

[Jakethesnake69]

3 snakes and two cats and definitely a no exceptions rule they do not interact together. My cat Cobra is interested in anything that moves and it’s attack first investigate later. Not dealing with claw holes in snakes or worse. Every one gets along better away from each other.

[Kira]

I have two dogs and a cat. They have never interacted with my snake and they never will. Things could turn ugly in a split second so why risk it?

[Armiyana]

My cat can care less about anything but the crickets I feed my leopard geckos.

My Dog on the other hand..... she is hyper focused on needing to know about ANY other animal I interact with. For her, I have her put into a sit and then 'be nice'. Which means I will let her gently sniff the animal. Sometimes she gets a little bit of a nudge in, which is why I never let the other animals left alone or in a careful hold. Usually once she gets a little sniff tho she'll let me finish up my business.

Snakes are always held gently but with the first 1/3 held away from the dog to prevent any strikes. She gets to sniff the back end.
Leopard geckos, she gets to sniff the more front half so they don't freak out about a nudge to the tail.
Small pets like rats or chinchilla get a bit more freehandling while they're in my lap. She's allowed to go up to their cages and sniff them through the bars.

The only animal she's obviously allowed to interact freely with is the cat.
I would never let any other animals interact freely. The reptiles always have the cages clamped or locked when not working with them. The dog is never allowed to be any animals during feeding or my one especially defensive ball python.

[Craiga 01453]

I have two dogs and a cat. They have never interacted with my snake and they never will. Things could turn ugly in a split second so why risk it?

Exactly!!!! My snakes have never met my cat, or my ferrets or each other for that matter....and never will.
It's simply not worth the risk. We're talking animals who are wild animals at their core. They are primal animals with primal instincts who are all much quicker than I am when they want to be.

Not worth it. In my opinion, it's for our own benefit that we would have multiple animals out at once, and irresponsible.

I know I would feel like a pretty hefty sack of excrement if something happened to one of my animals when it could have so easily been prevented.

Bottom line: snakes and other pets don't mix, period.