I've got a 5 yr old female that I bought at a show when she was a baby because I love the coral snake mimics. I'm thinking about getting a male to breed her with and want to know how many keep their milks together year round. For years I heard the "don't put 'em together because they're cannibalistic" and then I listened to the Applegate RR show. He keeps them together year round. Anybody else use this technique?

His caging system is set up to give them lots of room to get away when they need to, I believe that is the main difference but then again the adults tend to be alot calmer then the babies.

Bob Applegate does keep his kings and milks together but he uses a special cage design. You can see pictures of it on his website. They have drawers underneath the cage and passage ways so the snakes can go up and down as they please. I believe his cages have quite a temperature gradient. I think that the cages attribute to his success. When you are keeping snakes in racks you will probably be better off keeping them apart so you can keep better feeding and breeding records.

Someone else may have different advice. I would be interested in hearing other opinions.

Bob Applegate does keep his kings and milks together but he uses a special cage design. You can see pictures of it on his website. They have drawers underneath the cage and passage ways so the snakes can go up and down as they please. I believe his cages have quite a temperature gradient. I think that the cages attribute to his success. When you are keeping snakes in racks you will probably be better off keeping them apart so you can keep better feeding and breeding records.

Someone else may have different advice. I would be interested in hearing other opinions.

and some valuable information. this place needs more chimps.
thanx for your useful input,
ck

i dont because i dont want one to eat the other one but some people do

Sorry I didn't clarify, I've studied Bob's cage design and understand it's benefits for him regarding maintaining a large colony. I meant to ask if anybody else maintained their milks (pairs) together even without using his cage design. You could achieve the same benefits with a larger aquarium regarding the snakes being able to get away from each other and temperature gradients. Regarding records, if you pay attention to your snakes, feeding and breeding records should not be an issue. As Bob said you feed them seperately so you know who eats when and if you have two snakes in a cage it's pretty easy to maintain breeding records.

I think you could do it. You would just have to be very cautious when introducing the animals. It's worth a shot. I would say the majority of colubrid breeders probably house the animals separate in racks and introduce them for breeding purposes only. Just because thats how most do it, that doesn't mean thats how you have to do it.

I keep my pair of kings in a 41qt. tub and they seen to do just fine

Rock on! The only thing left to do is breed..

I always kept mine separate.. I was too afraid of finding one big FAT snake.... :lol:
http://www.digitalherper.com/forum/download/file.php?id=412&mode=view

I know this thread is very old but since I'm kinda new here I am going thru and replying to some that might still have value to anyone today. The question is should Sinaloan Milks be housed together? My opinion on this is I believe some milks and kings are more prone to canibolism than others. I personally keep several Sinaloan/Nelsons together in a breeding group. However some of the other milks like some N. Americn milks have much strongr tendancies to eat snakes. Also I would not house any Getula together unless I felt I had some to spare. Which I don't. Yes some people do keep all kinds of kingsnakes together but that doesn't mean it will always turn out positive! I have had speckled kings eat each other even after they were cage mates for quite some time. So don't let people tell you they won't do it after they bond. I actually do have a spare male sina/nelson and several females so if it does happen I won't be devistated. Still no one wants to lose a snake like that. The choice is up to you. :yes: