Social Behaviour
It is important to know if the species you have is naturally solitary or social as it can be stressful and often dangerous to house two naturally solitary animals together. Social animals may also become stressed if housed independently. Occasionally, lizards that have been housed together for months or even years may become aggressive towards one another and should be separated if such behaviour is noted. With many species of reptile, males tend not to get along well with each other and may fight and potentially cause serious injury or death. Snakes may become aggressive towards other males during breeding season.
Although snakes are commonly considered to be the least social reptiles, recent data suggests that this might not be accurate. Rattle snakes for instance, exhibit characteristics consistent with advanced sociality, including group defence, conspecific alarm signals, and maternal defence of young. The findings reinforce the notion that rather than being solitary and asocial, some snake species may form family groups. Another research study revealed that Australian black rock skinks exhibited long-term monogamy, stable social grouping, and evidence of “nuclear family” systems, attesting to the fact that the social organisation of some reptiles may be more complex than previously suspected.
When housing reptiles together, only house animals of the same size as it is not uncommon for larger animals to bully the smaller ones, cannibalism is also a possibility for opportunistic feeders that may mistake the smaller conspecific for prey due to its size.
Social preferences can also alter as the animal ages, for instance, for the first six months of their lives, Iguanas tend to stick together in groups for sleeping, basking and foraging and appear to exhibit a preference to staying with their siblings, though are very much solitary animals as adults. Hatchling Corn Snakes will also huddle together. With multiple animals housed together you will need a larger enclosure and more hides to reduce competition over best basking spot, food resources or hides.
Although snakes are commonly considered to be the least social reptiles, recent data suggests that this might not be accurate. Rattle snakes for instance, exhibit characteristics consistent with advanced sociality, including group defence, conspecific alarm signals, and maternal defence of young. The findings reinforce the notion that rather than being solitary and asocial, some snake species may form family groups. Another research study revealed that Australian black rock skinks exhibited long-term monogamy, stable social grouping, and evidence of “nuclear family” systems, attesting to the fact that the social organisation of some reptiles may be more complex than previously suspected.
When housing reptiles together, only house animals of the same size as it is not uncommon for larger animals to bully the smaller ones, cannibalism is also a possibility for opportunistic feeders that may mistake the smaller conspecific for prey due to its size.
Social preferences can also alter as the animal ages, for instance, for the first six months of their lives, Iguanas tend to stick together in groups for sleeping, basking and foraging and appear to exhibit a preference to staying with their siblings, though are very much solitary animals as adults. Hatchling Corn Snakes will also huddle together. With multiple animals housed together you will need a larger enclosure and more hides to reduce competition over best basking spot, food resources or hides.
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