co- housing

[reptoholic]

I have been reading that a good amount of people are starting to do permanent co-housing . I was going to see what yall thought about it. I know there are advantages and disadvantages , but I was going to see your thoughts about it.

[monkeywrench133]

I personally think its a bad idea. There are a lot of practical reasons, and I'm sure someone else will list them, but mainly, for me it comes down to this:

Boas are Apex Predators in their natural environment, and outside of breeding, Apex predators do not cohabitate.

[Todd@TarsandSerpents]

If there are any disadvantages to housing more than one snake together then how can that out weigh the advantages? Just because we might think its cool or good for them does not mean it is.
In my opinion...
Advantages are saving room,money etc etc on keeping more than one snake per cage.
Disadvantages are...
Stress out the snakes because they are together and they compete for the best hot or cool spot.
One snake gets mites or other illness so does the other.
They can attack each other at any giving time especially during feedings.
A lot more to do when it comes to cage cleaning and during feedings.
The list goes on and on.
Now Keeping snakes seperated.
Advantages.
Snakes have the whole cage to themselves, are free of stress, no competitors, no danger of getting attacked,etc etc.
Disadvantages...Well there are no disadvantages in my opinion.
Its a easy decision.Housing snakes together and there are many disadvantages. Housing snakes seperate there are none.

[reptoholic]

I was suggesting as in a breeding manor . I have met some breeders and seen on a few sites that when you keep them together at all times it has a lot of advantages . I was not talking about just for the enclosures .

I have met some that keep them even during the birthing process together. In the frame of mind of breeding would it be better to do a co-housing rather than separate ?

[Reyes81487]

ive heard that if you keep them together year round they dont breed as aggressive as they would if you introduce them at the appropriate time.

[Todd@TarsandSerpents]

You have to house them together for a short period of time if they are breeding.I dont see how you can house two snakes seperate while breeding.
I dont see how it is safe to house male and female together even until she gives birth. Babies could get crushed this way and after the female is gravid she should have a stress free environment and all the heat to herself.
So they should be together the entire time while they are courting and up until the Female Ovulates and has her post Ovulation shed(POS). If they are not courting the male should be removed and when she becomes gravid he should be removed.Other than when they are breeding they should remain seperated.
What do you think the advantages are by housing male and female together throughout the year?

[Linda]

There really isn't any "advantage" of housing snakes together 24/7 throughout the year.

Yes, people do it. Yes, they can be bred and kept together.... even while the female gives birth. Yes, they can be maintained and kept healthy... even though they're living together. It can be done.... Then you have to ask yourself, "WHY!?!?!?!??!"

The down side to housing them together has already been stated, so I won't repeat what has already been said.

Just because you can do it, "does that mean you should?!?!?!"

I've housed boas together, in the past....... I'm talking about 25 years ago. The worse thing that happened was the female gave birth, 2 years in a row. After the second litter I decided it was time for them to have seperate cages. I can't say if the boas were happier in seperate cages, but "I WAS". You have no idea how hard it was to find homes for baby boas, back then.

The bottom line is, "If you can't afford to keep 2 snakes and have them each in their own enclosure...."

Then you can only afford to have "1 SNAKE!!"

[Boa Amarali]

The reasons to house Boas separately are many, I believe they have been mentioned

My reasoning would be

regurge -who did it

One Boa develops an illness increases possibility everyone will develop illness

so many urates and poops it can be difficult to montitor who has normal
bodily functions and who maybe having problems

Feedings will be challenging , you must separate or monitor closely

I'm not big on the stress factor if your cage has proper temp ranges there
should not be a problem.

I don't agree that there is an ideal hot spot or cool spot unless you only have a tiny little hot
spot area, then yes there will be a problem, I would think that hot spot would be
insufficient for even one Boa

EDIT:
OOOps I forgot to mention Boa size and cage size if you have a 7 -8 foot Boa in a 4 foot cage
then there will not be room for another Boa, those conditions will be stressful

Yes we believe Boas are mainly solitary animals, but do we know that for certain ????
No we really don't, in my opinion. Who has spent several years studying several
different sub species in their natural environment(especially in modern era), nobody has

I have housed a few Boas in the same enclosure over the years.
I've had mostly good experiences with that

I believe they actually form a bond. I had two large adult fems that
I kept together for a many years.

I split them up and the one fem ended ina cage at the opposite end of the house.

She became restless , it was a big cage the cool end was a little cool but it was big
enough she could find a good comfortable spot.
She did not like it wasn't happy
I opened the cage she crawled out crawled all the way out of the room down
the hall into the room she used to be and up to her cage, she wanted into
her cage like a dog or something
I put her back in there and those two fems appeared more at ease.
The other one went off for a few weeks after the I separated them.

I kept some baby Boas in with their mom from last season,
while they were with mom , they all had great temperaments
As they were separated after several week several became less
handable , kind of snoty

I left 1.1 babies with mom all the way until yesterday

Those three Boas are way more docile and easy to do anything with
I had to take baby boy out because he's starting to act like
preadolescences is setting in not good to have him with momma anymore
There was absolutely no stress problems what so ever

Of course separating them each week for meals was a must

The guy from Bolivia says he often finds several Boas together under bails of hay

So I don't know how solitary Boas are , they must be mostly solitary but
maybe not . . . . .

The fact of the matter is keeping Boas together in captivity can cause
troubles, that would be avoided keeping them apart

[reptoholic]

thanks, I appreciate your replies on the post. Just to clarify , I was asking this question because this was a way that I was told by a few people who bred at a show I went to. The advantage I was told about is , you can't miss the right timing for the female. But you might get babies when you are not supposed to. I have not personally done it , I just keep my male in there for the breeding duration .I was posting this on here to se what people had to think on the subject, to see if anyone agreed with this. thanks

[GreenConstrictors]

As Reyes said, I dont think they would breed as readily if they are always together because they get used to each others pheromones and such.