Quote Originally Posted by ladywhipple02 View Post
There are many, many threads on this forum that state why it is not healthy for multiple snakes to live in the same enclosure. You can do a search for the reasons... here are a few:

1. If one snake gets sick, they will all get sick. How are you going to be able to tell who got sick first? You won't.

2. Snake are NOT social creatures. They do NOT enjoy each other's company. That cuddling up they're doing in your pic... nuh uh, that's them competing for the best hot spot in that hide. And they ARE competing. One is going to be dominant over the others, is going to get the best hiding spot, the best hot spot, the best cool area... have you noticed them following each other? That's why.

3. You may experience feeding problems. If you haven't you will. Against, the dominance issue.

4. Snakes are incredibly sensitive to stress... putting them in a situation where they have to compete stresses them out. This lowers their immune system and asks for all sorts of troubles.

5. It's not best for your kids, so why would you do it?
I agree with your statements. However, most of those issues are related to keeper care, inadequate monitoring of environment, infrequent feeding (which leads to cannibalism - which occurs with a starved snake or when feeding snakes together). Your statement of dominance is an interesting one - something I have never observed in the dozens of species and hundreds of specimens I have kept.

I know snakes are not thought of as social, thats obvious.
Only snake I ever experienced feeding problems with was the wild caught ball and that is a known problem that is hard to rectify.

I put into practice what I find from practical experience and what works. I have never had a snake die on me, and the only illness I came across was a parasitic worm passed on to my Boa through live feeders (which was an issue because I kept many live feeders and freezing was difficult at that point.)

I appreciate the concern you all have. In researching this issue there is a great divide among those who think you should and should not keep balls together. I do not want to debate. I have seen entire collections wiped out through infection of separately houses snakes, a lot depends on the keeper. I know people are concerned for their animals but I strongly believe some things are dramatized (and dont even get me started on belly heat)

Peace to all