Interesting Diamond Behaviour

[Norm]

A couple of my young diamonds have displayed what I think is unusual behaviour over winter. Rather than come out of their hide to bask they just stick a small loop of thier body, say about the size of a bent over index finger, out side the hide. Bit hard to tell what section of thier body it is but judging by girth its mid body, by that I mean obviously not near the head or tail.
Has anyone else seen this before, they`re the only 2 of my snakes that I`ve seen do it. I should add that I can`t actually tell if its both or just one doing it as they`re in together over winter.
P.S. Please no judgements on keeping snakes together, merely a short term solution to a thermostat problem.

[Dreaper]

i found my Stimsons were doing the same when they were housed together but finally got round to separating them last week and the have both gone back to basking, could just be a coincidence though

[Serpentaria]

I won't judge you on it. I kept a Diamond and a Jungle together for a short period, both were females of course, never had one problem.

Despite what some people may think and what experts will tell you, and say don't do it, it comes down to personal experience of the individual keeper I beleive. You choose to keep two animals together. I can't say anything for any animal other than carpets, but I've never had one problem housing more than one carpet together for short periods of time when they are both females that is.

I've never seen my two Diamonds do that, my adult female just sleeps in her hide all day long, never comes out lest to shed or to bask when she's eaten. The bub always hides too and just stays near the heat

[zulu]

No problem keeping some diamonds together, its not unusual for diamonds to have a small part of the body exposed to heat in winter and then move every now and then so another part heats to the desired temperature.
In the wild during winter ive watched them doing the same thing while under large slabs of rock,in trees,sheds etc.
Keeps them secure while giving them enough heat to function.

[fourexes]

My water does it quite often, usually but not always when he is digesting a rodent, which is the piece he hangs out of the hide and under the heat emitter. I've always just assumed it's like when you lay in bed and hang one leg out from under the covers, self thermostatting.

[disintegratus]

I personally think that keeping two together is personal choice. Of course there's a risk, but there's a risk with anything. For example a mate of mine had two dogs that had lived together harmoniously for years, one day out of the blue they got in a massive fight, one of them almost died because of it.
It's the same with snakes. They may live together fine for 2 minutes, 10 years, forever. But there's always a chance they'll decide that they don't like it anymore.
At the moment I've got one of the coastals in with my MD, because due to lack of space (renovations) I've got a choice between keeping each of them in 60x45x45 enclosures, or keeping both of them in one 120x90x45. So far, so good. They've each got a warm hide, and they've each got a cool hide, but so far they're electing to share a hide, every time.

As for the behaviour, I've seen a few of mine do it occasionally, though mostly they don't because these days they have hides directly under the basking spot, so the hide itself gets nice and warm. No need to come out

[Ramsayi]

Like Zulu wrote,Keeps them secure while giving them enough heat to function.
I think it happens like that in winter because their body temps are running a bit lower than they would in the warmer months which makes them feel more vulnerable than usual.

For example a mate of mine had two dogs that had lived together harmoniously for years, one day out of the blue they got in a massive fight, one of them almost died because of it.It's the same with snakes.

Bad comparison in that dogs are pack animals that have evolved to live together.Snakes on the other hand are completely opposite.

Bad outcomes have occasionally occurred in the past and will continue to occur when two snakes are kept together.Unless they are watched 24/7 then there is an ever present risk.

[disintegratus]

I meant it more to illustrate that there are risks involved, and just because something has always been fine in the past, does not mean it always will be.

[Norm]

So it seems its more common than I thought. They originally had a choice of hides, under the heat or away from it, they chose the one under it. Now they only have one and it sits in the middle gainst the back wall, I thought it would have been far enough away from the heat that they would have to come out and bask, but apparently not. These two are rarely out of their hides, even over summer.

[mcbuggsy]

I have 5 adult Diamonds together all the time in an outside aviary (and have kept them that way for probably 10 years or more)...They invariably all want to pile into the same hide together especially over winter even though there are more than enough to go around in varying positions in the aviary. But back to the original post, they always come out for a bask every day it is sunny, either partially or fully, then all pile back in together at night.
I do feed them all separately though.

[Cockney_Red]

Zulu & Ramsayi +1

[shaunyboy]

I personally think that keeping two together is personal choice. Of course there's a risk, but there's a risk with anything. For example a mate of mine had two dogs that had lived together harmoniously for years, one day out of the blue they got in a massive fight, one of them almost died because of it.
It's the same with snakes. They may live together fine for 2 minutes, 10 years, forever. But there's always a chance they'll decide that they don't like it anymore.
At the moment I've got one of the coastals in with my MD, because due to lack of space (renovations) I've got a choice between keeping each of them in 60x45x45 enclosures, or keeping both of them in one 120x90x45. So far, so good. They've each got a warm hide, and they've each got a cool hide, but so far they're electing to share a hide, every time.

As for the behaviour, I've seen a few of mine do it occasionally, though mostly they don't because these days they have hides directly under the basking spot, so the hide itself gets nice and warm. No need to come out

as far as i have read,male Diamonds have been found,to NOT take part in mating season,combat rituals,and seem to be tolerant of each other,unlike other carpet sub species

i keep SAME sized.....

males and females

females and females

together without any issues...

apart from having to,SEPARATE them at feeding time,its NOT much fun handling carpets in feeding mode

[fourexes]

P.S. Please no judgements on keeping snakes together, merely a short term solution to a thermostat problem.

I don't think keeping them together was the question

[Norm]

I don't think keeping them together was the question

Yeah that's right, which is why i explained my situation in the opening post. Where possible i don't do it but sometimes unforeseen circumstances mean we have to. I've done it before with no probs. Thanks to everyone who answered the actual question, i was very curious as this is the first time I've seen it in any of the 13 snakes I've had. Cheers.