columbian boas

Question
I own female red tail boa. she is a very good snake, very friendly and has grown to seven feet long. recently I adopted a five foot male and wanted to know if they can be housed I the same enclosure.  I have a 300 gallon tank that is seven feet long and 30 inches wide. lighting and heat seem to be great and there is room for both of them. they seem interested in each other but not aggressive.   can they both be housed togeather safely??   thank you for your help

Answer
No, snakes should never be housed together as they are strictly solitary animals. They will actually be stressed when housed together and it can cause issues with them. A lot of people house snakes together and think they are cuddling but they are not, they are trying to fight to assert their dominance and the whole time they are being stressed.

Snakes should only be together for breeding, that is it. And not to mention if they end up breeding, then you have the issue of the litter.. how and where will you sell the babies, you need to make sure you have room for and can properly house and feed 30 or more babies for months to years if they dont sell.

Then what about the female, boas die during birth more than most snakes do, they are a tricky species to breed and she can slug out, have stuck slugs and pass away from that or have a number of other very common complications. Not to mention the 300 gallon will not hold the proper heat and humidity for them now, much less a gravid female. She will need impeccable temps and humidity.

And you would need to know what to look for to track her pregnancy properly, look for issues as soon as they arise, have a doppler to listen to fetal heartbeats to ensure babies are all doing well inside her, and the male couldnt be in with her during this time or after she gives birth.. as the females become very grouchy and strike a lot during this time. Not only that but she would likely become aggressive with the male after giving birth to protect her babies.

I do not suggest housing snakes together, ever. I will sometimes keep just born babies all together but after their first shed and it is feeding time they all get put in their own bins and it is kept that way.