Co-Habing Snakes???

[Brooklynella]

You have never heard of snakes eating each other except for feeding mishaps?
I have actually never heard of a feeding mishap that resulted in the snakes eating each other...
And how can you be SO sure that the snakes in the above pictures where 'accidentally' cannibalized? No one but the original owner can REALLY know that unless the vet pulled a mouse out of the other ball pythons stomach...however if it was swallowed in the manner you described I would imagine the mouse would still be half way out of it's mouth....

Correct. Red Tail Boas and Ball Pythons do not eat each other. Except on the internet of course.
If you throw a rat in to a cage containing 2 boas or Pythons, several things may happen including ending up with 1 dead snake, 2 dead snakes, 1 eaten snake, etc.
The reason I am SO sure is Red Tail Boas and Ball Pythons do not eat each other. shrug.

 

[Miguel]

You are nitpicking, Brooklynella.

Whatever the reason giving rise to the ingestion of one snake by another, it is called cannibalism.

The species we are talking about in this thread are not cannibalistic, per se, in the sense that they do not see the other as a prey item ( exception to baby GTP and others who feed on reptiles at a certain stage of their development ), but if, to use your words, a feeding mishap occurs, the result of said mishap is one snake endind with the other, dead, inside its stomach.

And the ingestor also dies.

And that, in accepted terminology, is cannibalism or, if you want, a cannibalistic incident.

 

[Brooklynella]

You are nitpicking, Brooklynella.

Whatever the reason giving rise to the ingestion of one snake by another, it is called cannibalism.

The species we are talking about in this thread are not cannibalistic, per se, in the sense that they do not see the other as a prey item ( exception to baby GTP and others who feed on reptiles at a certain stage of their development ), but if, to use your words, a feeding mishap occurs, the result of said mishap is one snake endind with the other, dead, inside its stomach.

And the ingestor also dies.

And that, in accepted terminology, is cannibalism or, if you want, a cannibalistic incident.

I do not believe I am nit picking. It was implied that a reason snakes cannot/should not be kept together is that they may eat each other. This is simply not true, so I mentioned it.
Frankly, I find it disturbing that people actually believe Red Tail Boa's are cannibals but I suppose that's another thread.

 

[Sylvias]

The fact that you are positive that they WILL NOT, under any circumstances eat each other shows that you are the one who is gullible. Snakes are opportunistic feeders. Most of them will eat anything that is alive or was recently alive under the right conditions.
We are not saying that they are ALWAYS cannibals, to the contrary all of us here have said it is rare, but it CAN happen, and it does happen. Red tails are no exception, they are still snakes.

 

[Brooklynella]

The fact that you are positive that they WILL NOT, under any circumstances eat each other shows that you are the one who is gullible. Snakes are opportunistic feeders. Most of them will eat anything that is alive or was recently alive under the right conditions.
We are not saying that they are ALWAYS cannibals, to the contrary all of us here have said it is rare, but it CAN happen, and it does happen. Red tails are no exception, they are still snakes.

I did not indicate they would not, under any circumstances, eat each other. I gave a specific example of when/how they would indeed eat each other (Feeding mishap).
Red Tail Boas do not view other snakes as food. This would be like you choosing to eat a tennis shoe.
I stand by what I said: Red Tail Boas and Ball Pythons are not cannibals and will not eat each other. Unless they both grab the same rat...