Remember though even the most laid back housecat is still a predator at heart, even more so than a pet dog. Do keep an eye on your cat around the snake or simply keep them apart as much as possible or teach the cat to avoid the snakes completely. Using a spray bottle, a sharp handclap or NO, shaking a can full of small stones at the cat, even imitating a cat's angry hiss - all those things can condition a cat to avoid something.

I do have one rescue here that was badly clawed as a young snake when her previous owner's pet cat, who liked to lay on the snake's enclosure mesh lid, fell through it when it collapsed one day. One of our cats likes to lay on lids like that but a handy spray bottle is teaching Sebastian that he can't do that in our house.