Hi Everyone,

I have 2 corns, they are housed together. I'd like advice on whether they are mating or are fighting.

They are 5 and 1 is considerably bigger than the other, both are about 4 feet, but weight and width wise they vary. They have become very active and lately have started to crawl all over each other a do something that the breeder said was called 'jinking' it looks like they've got hicups in their whole bodies.

I just don't know if they are males fighting or a male and a female trying to mate. The potential female is the biggest snake I think she is a she if either of them are because she has never missed a feed whereas the other one will go off 'his' food for a good few weeks this time of year.

They seem to be trying to get on top of eachother rather than the male subduing the female. I don't know if it's just cuz the female is so big that the male can't win?

They did a similar thing last year, but not to such an extreme extent.

I've watched some footage on YouTube and it all looks much more sedate than what's going on in my viv! It really is quite aggressive, the jinking doesn't stop. Last week they managed to push the glass open and one of them escaped!! They are banging around now behind me (no pun intended).

They seem to be doing it about once every 5-6 days for a good hour or so.

Please let me know what you think. If they are 2 males I'll seperate them straight away, but if it's a male and a female I'll keep them together a bit longer and then I'll re-home one as I don't really want to breed them in the future.

Thank you

you mentioned a breeder?

ask them to sex the snakes

or get a probe

in some cases even that is not needed to sex them i used to keep them male and female together and mine never did what your describing??

i have loads of diffrent books here will have a quick look later and see if i can shed any light on them

sorry cant be any more help

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Fighting and breeding behaviours are quite similar, snakes are also non territiorial so only fight during this time of year for mating priveledges so it's possible that they are both male, but considering their other behaviours (one eating one not etc) I do beleive the male wishes to mate whilst the female doesn't by the sounds of it. I highly suggest seperating them, at least during breeding season or it will be an extremely stressful next few months for your potential female. You can purchase a cheap RUB for temporary housing for one at least.

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Thanks so much to both of you. I will seperate them and think about whether I want to keep both of them. I like having them together, but I don't like the idea of having to seperate them at this time of year every year.

The breeder won't sex them at this time of year in case one is a female and gravid as she says it can be dangerous as they may retain their eggs. I don't think I'll do it myself either, it looks like the sort of thing you shouldn't just go blundering into!

Thank you again.

same thing as the other person, You shouldnt house 2 snakes together, unless you are breeding them. (i dont mean separate them yearly, i mean separate them permanently) as 2 snakes living together is just not a good idea in general. the only time you should put them together is if you are going to mate them.

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Ratty Girls- Monkey and Hope.
Ratty Boys-Cole, Binx, Jinx and Mole
2 Gerbils - Steve and Sid
Royal Python- Titan.2 Corns - Spike and Bullet

Exactly, snakes should not be housed together, they do not need company and do not enjoy it. It is a danger to both snakes. do you feed them seperately? Rehome one straight away or buy a RUB and seperate.