Cat vs Snake

i own a snake as well as my sweetheart Daphne. i love my snake to pieces. she's 2 years old, 3ft long, and is the sweetest snake ever. she's never bitten anyone EVER and she's very social. her name's peanut and she's a corn snake. my cat doesn't normally pay attention to the snake while she's in the cage; it very secure and Daphne know's it's pointless. but when we get her out to play, Daphne likes to hang around and watch. we always have to resort to locking her in the basement until Peanut is back in her cage. it breaks my heart to lock Daphne in or out of anything because she'll cry and scratch at the door and get totally stressed. any advice??

Is there anyway that two people can carefully supervise them? For instance, you could be playing with Peanut and someone else could be perhaps holding Daphne? That way she can still watch what's going on, but won't stress Peanut out and will keep accidents at bay.

thats a great idea but the only problem is that im the only one whom Daphne is comfortable with holding her. she's shy and wont let anyone else handle her. otherwise its a great idea...

We used to own several different species of snakes, and at the time we also had up to 7 cats in the house. We had a strict rule about no uncaged snakes and cats in the same room. With the big snakes, the rule served to protect the cats. For the corn snakes, the rule protected the snakes. I have just heard too many sad stories about interactions between snakes and cats.

I think the movements of small snakes can be just irresistible to a cat, and I KNOW what was going through our boa's mind as she watched kittens through her cage glass. Nothing bad will ever happen until it does, accidentally. I would keep them separated if I were in your shoes.

i absolutely agree with keeping them separated. as much as i love my sweetheart, i would never allow her to do anything harmfull to peanut (who is a corn snake, btw). just want to know what to do to keep her from crying and trying to re-enter the room. food only sometimes works, and she has no interest in toys. she feels rejected and left out and it hurts to hear her try to re-enter the room...

How old is your kitty? I think you have to find something that REALLY interests her, and save it only for those times when you need her to amuse herself (like when you are handling your snake). That might be some really stinky wet food, or some smelly catnip (my cats go nuts for the YEOW! brand nip toys). You say she's not interested in toys - have you tried any that have battery powered motion features? I'm sure she realizes that you are doing something interesting on the other side of the door, so she needs something really distracting to keep her attention.

If none of these works, then really she may just have to learn that crying and carrying on will not cause the door to open. Which is not a bad thing, I don't think, since inevitably there will be other circumstances in life over time that will require you to temporarily separate her.

I keep several snakes - including Cornsnakes. Very friendly sociable snakes

We also have two very large Boa Constrictors (7ft long) - they're gentle giants.

As Poppy has been confined to the house for 2 months with her sore eye, getting the snakes out was a problem - not from the cat's point of view, but the snakes. Cats will play with anything that moves so the snakes were more in danger than the cat was.

When we had the snakes out for feeding/cleaning/handling, we put Poppy in the cat basket. It's quite a big one so both were safe but she could see everything that was going on. We will be doing the same thing with the kitten but he likes being in the cat basket and sits there quite happily.

We love our snakes, cats and dogs so make sure there is never going to be a tragedy. The dogs sit in the hallway till we are finished doing whatever with the snakes.

Originally Posted by Daphney

any advice??

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I draw your attention to the following thread

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=218799

Just keep them separated. Is there anyway for cats and snakes to be friends?

Cats will kill snakes.