Cohabitation - Can I Keep My Reptiles Together?

Cohabitation (cohab) is one of the most controversial topics in reptile husbandry. Clint discusses some of the pros and cons of this practice, and why it is generally not a great idea.

[klausgartenstiel]

my cow and i play mortal kombat on the ps4 to keep our aggression level in check.

[AffinityBarber]

“You get lonely, and you need a friend”

Wow didn’t know I was watching my mom in this video.

[dilophosaurussk]

clint: dude, how long have you been even standing there?
bearded dragon: an hour
clint: an hour?
hognose snake: are you serious?
bearded dragon: i have mastered the ability, of standing so incredibly still, that i become invisible to the eye, watch
clint: your- your eating a roach
bearded dragon: but the movement, was so slow that its imperceptible
clint and hognose snake: no
bearded dragon: i am sure i am invisible

[WoodlandT]

I’m getting into garter snakes partly because they actually do better housed with other garter snakes. A naturally scaped enclosure with several female garter snakes is one of the most satisfying & compelling things to keep, IMO. But in general, he is totally correct. No cohabitation

[patheticsteam]

I love how you have always been talking about other topics since you started. Instead of just doing a standard “top 5 beginner reptiles” you went in depth in each one to really help out beginners. Thanks for the great content

[fenndoggett]

Finally. Another bearded dragon with the same energy level as mine 😹

[TheLiam]

This is one reason why I love aquariums. I love the community aspect of even just keeping a lot of the same type of fish in one place. There's a lot of different behaviors as well. Fish that need a school, fish that pretty much can't be kept with anything. All that stuff. Also, I just sorta stumbled upon this channel. This guy has an awesome personality and knows his stuff.

[Cassiopea]

Snake Discovery actually talked about this and mentioned one major exception is Garter Snakes, which tend to be very social. She even mentioned trying to isolate a runt and that it acted lethargic until she gave it a buddy.

[azush]

Good topic. It's talked about it a lot but one good thing you did is say both the pros and cons. Your not biased for one side which is good.
Thanks for another great video

[janedeaux]

Great video, I dislike all the people saying "well it worked fine for me, " because it feels like they're encouraging something that might work, but probably wont. If it works, you save a little bit of space and money. If it doesn't work, your pets can literally die and/or be constantly stressed. That feels like a selfish and unnecessary risk to take with a pet. I wholeheartedly agree that cohabitation is not a good idea, especially for beginners, who tend to be the ones looking into it the most.

[lynchpintm]

"Sometimes you get lonely and need a friend" ... "If you were never around another human being, you'd probably never get sick" ... Choices...

[shoezomaku]

When I was 18 I was watching the class pet, Gopher snake, over the summer. During the summer I happened to find another gopher snake in my kitchen one day. Even by this time I already had several years experience in keeping snakes (ball pythons, kings snakes, and corn snakes) so it was a natural pick for me to watch the class pet. After finding the second snake I decided to keep him for the summer and put him in the cage with the old one. Despite my experience in snakes I had never known cohabitation was an issue. I had assumed it would be fine. Thankfully it was in this instance and at the end of the summer I released the second snake back into the wild down the street from my house. Despite this unusually pleasant experience I now know this was a horrible idea and that I got very lucky. Just because you had a good experience or have one so far, doesn't mean it's a good idea. Stop projecting your own thoughts and emotions onto the reptiles and thinking that they think and feel the same way you do. These animals are unique in their own way and are not social creatures like us or dogs or something like that.

[roedoresdeoliveira]

I care too much for my snakes to accept a "maybe" as an answer, if "maybe" they will not kill eachother then i'll not put them together. I have two corn snakes, brother and sister and they are my pets, not my hobbie or job, i really care about them and want them to live for a long long time.

[matthewzito]

The Bronx Zoo has a number of interesting multi-species reptile and amphibian exhibits. However, the species are carefully chosen, they generally come from the same region and habitat, and of course their exhibits are much larger than a typical single species enclosure. Also, they often pair species that use different parts of the exhibit, like housing an arboreal species with a terrestrial species.

[teresatanasi]

Very great info. I have raised various birds( 42 different species in my life) Chickes can handle black head disease ( no issue) Deadly to turkeys. I feel too many folks worry solely about the physical needs of their pets and not enough about how their pets feel.... I know I sound like a quack:) BUT stress can make any animal sick and all the good food, clean water, enrichment you offer, all pointless and a waste of time if your pet is stressed. Stress= Illness.

[blegh]

it would be so funny if you just said no and the video ended jgbnfjbnfm

[kekkelpenneypeckeltoot]

I’m dumbfounded by all the comments asking if their can be housed together. He specifically states it’s an unnecessary risk. Just because there are those few examples people have put in the comments about how they have successfully housed their whatever’s together doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. The moral of this story is that it’s best for the animal to have its own enclosure. Yes, it might work ok if you house them together because nothing is absolute. However, is might work out good enough? No. It’s unfair to put animals that have no choice in where and with or without whom they’ll live. Give them the best chance and life they can have and spend the money on the right housing for them and them alone. If you can’t afford what the animal needs, you can’t afford the animal.
Most of us have tons of animals we think it’d be cool or fun to own. The reality is most of us can’t afford to house and care for them properly. As much as I want and ostrich, a rhino, a llama, more Great Danes, a tegu, a skink, a sulcata, a Galapagos and a kangaroo the reality is I can’t have them all. In fact I can’t have most of them. We have to be realistic on what we can and can’t do, because when we take an animal as our pet they’re counting on us to give it the highest level of comfort, safety and care we can.

[Brizz-rcwf]

Preach! One of my friends had a breeding pair of ball pythons. They had been a ‘couple’, and mating and creating clutches for over 5 years. And he only kept them in the same enclosure to mate, then put the female back into her enclosure. She ate him out of the blue one day, even though they had both been fed the day before and both been soaked to get the prey smell off too. But she just ate him. No reason.

[Dan-yhve]

Clint is like Bill Nye the Science Guy, Steve from Blues Clues, and Patrick Bateman from American Psycho all in one. Amazing!

[brookdavis]

Good job explaining both sides Clint! Other keepers will only say their own opinions but you gave pros and cons of both sides! I once saw a display of two uromasryx and two pancake tortoises and they worked wonderfully together, but it's still a big risk!