what about 2

[Jimbo]

I'm thinking of getting a female corn snake 2 go with my male, just wondering if this would cause them to fight?

[John Pilling]

Most corn snakes can be housed together quite comfortabley, but only once both snakes are 3foot long or over (or 3 years, which ever comes first) to stop premature breeding which can kill a female if she's to small (tho this is rare when a snake dies due to under sized breeding).

2 of my corns have been together for 3 years now, and both were over 3 foot (1 was just 3 foot, but it was october, and well past by breeding season) so that when breeding season came she was almost 3 1/2 foot long. The basic thing to remember is the 3, 3's when housing/breeding 2 corns together, 3foot long, 3 years ols and 300grams or more, but a combination of 300grams or more, with 3foot long or 3 years old can work (300grams being the absolute minimum breeding weight).

Anyway, for run down a 3-4 foot viv by 2foot wide and high is plenty for 2 adults to live in all year round. Add to that an 17 by 11 heat mat, or a 35 by 6 inch heat strip (i use the mats as i find them better, but eather are good). 3 hides are recomended so they can seperate and hsve their own space, tho they'll more then likley end up coiled together most of the time (2 on the cool side 1 on the warm side as they spend more time on the cool side of the viv). A thermostat, i like the mat stats for small heat mats (23 by 11 and less or 35 by 6 or less) and a pulse propotional for anything bigger.

Anything else of for a more detailed breakdown let me know, and remember theirs no daft or stupid questions (as people in the past have asked) as if you don't know then you need to ask, after all it's for the benifit of the snake(s).

PS welcome to the forum.

[Jimbo]

cheers for the info ive got to find out my snakes sex 1st. Luckily a reptile specialist near me is going to hold a probing day on the 15th and 16th of december, will be good to know. just wondering if i didnt want to breed corns yet could i keep 2 females together if mine is female that is. I have heared that 2 females should get along and to males would fight.

[John Pilling]

Thats true upto a point, 2 females are 99.99% of the time fine together, but 2 males can be ok togehter but they have a dominance thing going once sexually mature (sometimes before, but usually after sexual maturity) and they'll do a lot of dances and nose puching to determaine who is the dominent male. Occasionally canableism does occure, and in most cases it is when 2 males are together so i honestley believe it's not worth the risk keeping 2 males together, but 2 females should be fine as should a male/female combination once both are old enough.

[Jimbo]

cheers ill have to see what happens as my little siter fell in love with bearded dragons the other day so might look into geting one or maybe two of them

[John Pilling]

Beardies are gret, i just havn't got room for an adult at the min or i would seriousley think about geting 1. I'm hopeing to get my brothers room as a reptile room next year to (he's getting married so his rooms going spare), be a nice small reptile room and leave enough room for a few more snakes and a beardie hopefully.

Good to see you've sorted the aviator, I like it.

[Jimbo]

cheers. sounds like a plan. luckly my room is fairly big. i should be able to fit two 4ft vivs side by side. hopfully im gunna try and get a two stack then it would leave some room for some more.

[John Pilling]

Lol, this is my room at the min, well the top 2 viv's have been moved but are still in the room, but i can't swing a budgie in their, never mind a cat, lol.

[Jimbo]

thats quite some money's worth. i aked my mother if i could get either a boa or a python she said yeah thats fine when u move out. 1 corn maybe 2 and a pair of beardies will be good tho, should be greatfull she let me in the 1st place. although she is warming up to my corn. e.g. when im away with work she will handle him/her every night because she wants to lol.

[John Pilling]

Once she's compleatley comfortable with the corn(s) she'll say something like "well i'll look into how hard a boa or python is" if she's anything like my mum, thats why i ended up with 10 (at the min i might add, i want more, lol).

The bottom viv stack (3viv's high) i got for nothing as a very good friend was building a new stack system, which i've not seen yet incidentley, and it came free with the boa i bought off her. Cracking value for a 2year old boa a dn the stack at £100. She sold a similar system for just over £900 with heating and lighting, so i was extreamley lucky to get it (she's a really good friend i met though the internet and she lives only 5-6 miles away from me so we became close on and off the internet, she is happiley married tho so just great mates).

I'm hopeing to get a pair of columbian rainbow boas earley next year, a local shop has a pair of sub-adults in at £175 which is cracking value as they should be ok to breed the back end of next year. Just need to convice mother of another 2 snakes now, lol.

[Jimbo]

i was looking at getting a columbian rainbow boa. they are suposed to be quite trust worthy and they dont get too big. i would realy like a woma python as i held one once and it was beautifull. but they are a little expensive.

[John Pilling]

Woma's are a tad expensive, but if you know somewhere or someone that rescues snakes and reptiles the it'll be worth mentioning it to them (i've got a lady close enough to me who rescues and sort out rehomes) and she know's i'll always take a snake in, just temporilly(sp) or full time if it can fit in with my viv system (no point having a burm full time, i've not got the room, but for 3-6 months i can handle it before a permanant home comes available).

Columbians are cracking snakes, and most are just slightley bigger corn snakes which need more humidity (around 4-7foot on average, but thicker bodied then corns, tho still a slender snake for easier handleing then a full bcc or bci).

[Jimbo]

yeah. im asuming that bcc is a common boa? i was looking at a columbian rainbow boa or brazillian rainbow boa a while ago. but if i do get another snake i think ill get either a woma, childrens or a red blood python they are the 3 i like most.

[John Pilling]

Yeah bcc is the common boa and the bci is the red tailed boa (true red tailed boa, so to speak as a lot of commons are confused with true red tailed boas, lol).

When you say red blood python, do you mean a true blood python, or something like the royal python which had a blood colored morph? Only asking as blood pythons get to a great size, They might not be the longest snake (anything from 3foot for a small adult, to over 8 foot for a female, maybee 10 foot at an outside, so medium sized in that respect), but they are extramly thick around the middle and weigh a hell of a lot when sub adult and bigger. An adult as small as 4foot can weigh in excess of 30 pounds (15 bags of sugger for a 4foot snake?, imagine an 8 footer).

They are good snakes, just not a beginners snake imho. I do like them tho, and the borneo blood pthon is my fav as i've handled 3-4 of them and seen them eat with an adult knocking back 4 extra large rats and still looking for more (my 2 big boas, dave and zeus eat an extra large once a week and thats fine for them, given that dave is over 7 foot long and zeus almost 7 and the blood was arounf 5.5 foot and heavier then both my boa's says something in it's self i think).

Any way here's a couple of links for you to look over, the first is just about blood pythons and the second has care detailed care info on the rainbows, woma and blood short tailed python (borneo) and the Malaysian/Sumatran blood python.

www.newenglandreptile.com/CareBlood.html

www.a1pythons.com/

I've put the second link in to give an overview of the snakes your interested in so you can compair directley the care and setups needed.

[Jimbo]

yeah i was looking into it and they said some experiance with heavier snakes is needed so maybe in the future. how much experiance would you say you need for a BCC or BCI ? i heared also that BCC's can be snappy which put me off a lil is that true?

[Jimbo]

although my corn was snappy when i got him/her but now it has calmed down alot and even my 6 year old cousin can handle it, so i supose being a lil snappy is no biggy.

[John Pilling]

They can be snappy as little ones but most grow out of it with regular handleing, but an od 1 will stay snappy for life (tho the nubers are small, about 1 in every 2500 or something like that, but the same could be said for corns or any other snakes).

Of the 2 BCI is the most docile and very unlikley to bite when adult if handled enough when small. Male bci's reach from 5-7 foot, with 7 being pretty big for a male, and females anything from 6foot for a small female to over 12 foot for a really big female, tho those are rare, most females average 8-9foot after about 3-5 years of age depending on the feeding schedule and don't really grow to much bigger (maybee a foot over the next 10-15 years).

I would recomend a BCI to anyone who has kept smaller snakes as their tempraments are generally great, and a bcc for anyone who has kept the harder snakes to keep or bci's before (royal pythons are a good example as they can be very very finiky feeders and go moths withou feeding, even in the rare cases a year or 18 months or more).

1 think i would suggest tho is get a bci probed before you get it to tell which sex it is, this just ensures you know what size viv is suitable and how big the snake will grow.

[Jimbo]

what size viv would you house a adult male BCI in? they are great looking snakes. would love one. my nan loves snakes she used to have a burm im trying to convince her to get another.

[John Pilling]

My Dave's in a 8 by 2 by 2foot viv, but a 6 by 2 by 2 is great for a male, or a female of 7foot and less. I'm hopefully getting a new stack back end of next year, as i've no room (as you can see in the pic above, lol) and Dave and Zeus will each have a 6 by 3 by 3 viv (i think that 6 by 3 by 3 is better for a larger female as they have more floor space, around 2foot more then a 8 by 2 by 2 viv, and you can get bigger water bowls aswell as they do like to soak compleatley).

For a little one tho Zeus started in a 4 by 2 by 2 viv and stayed in their till she was almost 5.5ft long and i couldn't get a big enough water bowl in (Both of mine now have full hight rectangle washing up bowls for drinking/soaking in), tho if zeus grows as big as predicted she'll need she'll need something even larger and the bowl she has now only has 6-7 inch clearence for her to literally squeeze past on the front of the viv (she's 3 next May and already approching 7ft and is around 5-6 inches around her widest part).

Burms are great snakes, i'd love 1 or 2 of them, but realisticley i havn't got the space needed for an adult, shame as they are true gentle giants. My cousins got 3 and has converted 2 bedrooms into 3 "viv rooms" for his 3. His males about 14ft long, 1 female is also around 14dt long and his 12 year old is just short of 17ft and eating pigglets once a fortnight.

T=All 3 are great and are just like a overgrown corn snake with their temprament, not the easiest to actuall handle due to their size, but they will let you lift them and are fine with you being in their space.

Here's a piccy of Zeus when i got her, she was just over 4 weeks old when the pic was taken

And a more recent pic for comparison This was taken last Jan or Feb when she was almost 2.


Dave isn't much bigger and was around the same size when i got him, he was heading torward 3 then so the size differance is evident i feel in this pic of him on the day he arrived and being around a year older then zeus in the pic above.



And another of dave climbing the walls

A final 1 of dave knocking back a large rat, again this was around 3-4 wees after i got him.

[Jimbo]

they do look really nice maybe when im have a little more experiance and space i would definatly concider 1. my cousin had a sand boa once because he's the manager of the pet shop i bought my corn from, they had it for around a year until it sold. that was a nice looking snake.