Hi everyone
I'am new here at this site and I have seen many nice pictures and I have only been here at atheris so far.

My Q: I got two squams, born 2009, a yellow male and a green female, I hope. Their are at equal size.
Can I house them together? They have lived in separate tanks so far. The reson I ask is that I have read that squams can be cannibalistic.





C'ya

Hi Lennart,

It's always better to keep some species seperate. Even if they aren't cannibalistic, the prescence of another snake may stress one or both of them enough to stop eating. That being said, I have housed Atheris together without any problems before.

If you have seperate setups, it's best that you use them and only introduce before breeding. Accidents can happen if they both go for the same prey item at once or for a variety of other reasons. You have some very beautiful snakes, it would be a shame if one of them got hurt or stressed out.

Just something to think about.

All the best!

I keep my together. its an 4-5 year old female and a 2 year old boy. No problem at all.

@Luke: I do agree with U. I have had separeted for 1½ years. But when I see pics of squam groups with several colours, then U can really see the diversity in colours, which makes this species so particular. Maybe I'll do it just for a photo shoot and separate afterwards.

A friend had schlegelii's together and came home one day and find the smaller male gone. The female had made him dinner.

@Peter: Whats the difference in size between them?

I keep mine seperated other then when trying to breed them. Now they are kept, 2.1 together.

lennart: female around 70-75 cm and male around 40. Keep them in a 60*45*60 exo terra.

I keep a large group of squamigera and I house them separately and introduce them only for breeding. Some animals get along fine, but others for some reason do not. I typically lose one animal a year from male or female aggression. I have only seen cannibalism once or twice with squams in 15 years, but why risk it if you don't have to.