My pet snakes just tried to eat each other!!!

[SillyChicken]

in nature these snakes would go their seperate ways. They don't "grow up together". They do not have emotional attachements to anything (including you). They will probably be more comfortable seperated and offered more food.

 

[gypsy2621]

Quote:
You have gotten some very good advice here and from knowledgeable people, first things first, toss out the book,9 times out of 10 they are generalized and completely incorrect for any one specific area.
I am in the frozen north my corns, balls, retails and milks do not hybernate and if they do it panic time for me, psuedo hybernation is the worse thing for them.

IF you do not want to set up another cage, where you have them in a 55 ga tank, put a divider between them and give them their own space.
Corn snakes have been known to canibalize their own species and many others.( they are not all that different than a King snake which does prey on other snakes).

sorry to say at some point in the snakes lives there is going to be a fight for dominence and oone snake will be severely injured or killed.
the choice is always your of course.
snakes have no emotions, they eat sleep and move around. Snkes are the only animal that when released back into the wld imediately return to their natural state with out rehabilitation.

 

[TwistedSerpent]

There are many great books out there (such as the ones by Kathy Love and Don Soderberg) however I know both authers ,who are considered some of the tops in the corn snake industry, personally and they are going to tell you the exact same thing. It never hurts learning more about them though as there may be areas in their care you're still missing.

Go ahead and get the books but still seperate them as soon as possible.

Corn snakes really dont fight, some will wrestle a bit but nothing thats usually going to harm each other, and normally its just males during breeding season. They do still see others as compition instead of compainions. Another thing is that they try to hide stress and problems as best as possible (as weakness is a sign that says eat me in nature), and by the time sympoms do show its usually to late to do anything about. The simplest way to cage them are 28qt or larger plastic containers, most hobbiests do end up using them for most of their snakes.

 

[chickenwhisperer]

Keeping 2 snakes in the same cage will stress both snakes out, not recommended ever.

A 2.5 ft long snake needs more than a fuzzy every 2 weeks, a snake that size should be getting at least a mouse(adult) per week for optimum health.
Prekill adult mice to prevent bites/injuries, and dust with a calcium/phosphoros powder like Reptical.

They did this double-eating because they are both hungry, Id venture to say starving, on a 1-fuzzy-every-2-weeks diet.

Make sure they have water . . .


EDIT- just because a snake CAN go for long periods without eating, doesnt mean it should or is normal or good. Snakes are able to fast during lean times. Some snakes are better than others at this, some cant do it at all. The bottom line is that the smaller a snake is, the more it needs to eat. When you get into the large, full-grown pythons and boas, those are the snakes that can skip monthly meals.
A 2.5ft cornsnake is designed for 1 purpose- to eat as many rodents as it can find and catch.

Now Im not saying to overfeed, but it needs at least a mouse a week . . .

 

[Cat Water]

Thanks for the advice, guys. I feel really bad now that I realize I haven't been feeding them enough. I just didn't know. The reason I fed them less often is because they still had I lump in them by the time I was feeding them again. They must be weirdly skinny or something. How does two fuzzies once a week sound? Is that too much? Thanks.

 

[TwistedSerpent]

A two food snake can be pretty skinny, its hard to tell just how much you should be feeding them without actually seeing them.

For a rule though it is very hard to overfeed baby snakes, however a lot of people dont realise just how little an adult snake needs. If theres a slight lump in them after a meal then its a good size, however I would feed every 5-7 days until its on adult mice. That reaction isnt due alone to being too hungry, I have had many snakes feed too well with meals probably too large still look for more afterwards. Like I said nature tells them to take all they can get, and many snakes instinctivly know that when eating baby rodents theyre usually in a nest with multiples and is often kind of hardwired in them to look for more for a few seconds after swallowing.

How warm are you keeping them? Metabolism is directly affected by their temp. Also corns grow long and skinny before getting some girth. If you feel like you want to feed more often its much better to feed smaller meals closer together then bigger meals then normal. So instead of one fuzzy every 7 days you can do it every 6 or 5 days. You dont want to do it too often though, it can be a tough balance to be sure your not feeding too much when theyre too old, as nature did not design their systems to be digesting constantly, and its also believed that too much food can shortan lifespans. Overall though you're safe feeding once a week a meal that makes not a huge but a good sized lump.

2.5 feet is usually about the length mine get before they bulk up, untill then they're long skinny things especially if they are grown slower as these ones were. I wouldnt go to the point of saying theyre starving, but they could handle more food and your going to see a growth spurt when you do start feeding them more. At two years old they should be eating adult mice based on normal weekly feeding growth rates. Once they hit adult mice all but my breeding females are put back to an adult mouse every two weeks. They've pretty much peaked with their growing (most of the food babies take in is put into growth, hence little food = little growth) and its plenty for them.

Seperate them, bump up their feeding to once a week with a good sized meal, and be careful when feeding or handling them or else you'll have to deal with another 'SFE', or stupid feeding error.

 

[jfisher83]

I was feeding my two pet corn snakes. I thawed out their mice and instead of feeding them one at a time, I fed them both at once. BIG MISTAKE!! Instead of going after the mouse in front of her, my female snake, Zelda, decided that the mouse already halfway down Vlademir's, my male snake's, throat looked far more appetizing. They started fighting with it halway down each of their throats! I separated them after I realized they wouldn't work it out. After Vlad finished his mouse, he latched onto Zelda's face! I screamed for my dad who came running to save her./img/smilies/bow.gif  He put Zelda in the cage and Vlad in a cardboard box. I fed them another mouse and put Vlad back in the cage. There was a little bit of tension when Zelda saw him again, but they relaxed after a few seconds. THE WHOLE

EXPERIENCE WAS SO TRAUMATIZING!/img/smilies/th.gif Try seeing your beloved pets try to kill each other! My dad said they were still hungry. I don't know weather to feed them more often, or feed them more in one feeding. I feed them one fuzzy every two weeks. They are about two and one half feet long. I didn't know they needed more food. If anyone happens to have pet snakes, could you help me?

 

[jfisher83]

Ok you really need to feed them more try two fuzzies every other week or step up to mice I feed my ball pythons two a piece every other Sunday and I also feed them in separate containers/tanks so I don't have that problem my pythons are two feet long and they eat two a piece no problem when they hit about three to three and a half feet I will feed the large mice every other Sunday and if two fuzzies every other Sunday does not work feed them one a piece every weekend

 

[ES Emus]

Quote:
I had this happen in college when my 8' and 6' long boas decided to try and eat the same dead lab rat! I chose the 6' one and pried open its mouth and as gingerly as possible, tried to unhook all of those sharp little curved teeth. The boas survived, but the 6' long one lost a few teeth in the process!