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Do Snakes Get Bored, Lonely Or Stressed?

A photo of a snake climbing a hiding place

Have you ever watched your pet snake in its terrarium and wondered if it get bored and lonely?

Well you are not alone, I too have wondered the exact same questions. So with that in mind I decided to do some research and find out if snakes do get bored or lonely.

Everything I found out is below and I will let you know some of the best ways to make sure that your pet snake keeps happy and occupied. So, do snakes get bored?

Do snakes get bored?

Lets start of by answering this question, it seems simple but we need to know if a snake can get bored.

So do snakes get bored in their terrariums? It is thought that snakes brains are to simple to feel the complex feeling of boredom. However it is believed that giving pet snakes plenty of climbing and hiding opportunities in its terrarium will keep it feeling happy and health, whilst also keeping its stress levels low.

This means that even if your pet snake looks bored coiled into a hiding spot it is more than happy to be doing this. As long as you provide it with plenty of opportunity to move around and climb/hide it will be content.

Can a pet snake get lonely?

Do snakes get bored and get lonely? This is the next question that is often asked. We humans really struggle to be alone for a long time. Is this the same for snakes? Do they get lonely when in a terrarium by themselves?

Here is what I found out from my research. Snakes do not get lonely. They are a solitary species that do not feel the emotion of loneliness. The only time two snakes come together is for mating purposes and at all other times they prefer to stay apart.

Ok, so that has answered quickly the two main questions. However I would like to go into a bit more detail. Plus I want to give you some ways that you can keep your pet snake stimulated and happy.

Should you keep two snakes together for company?

Keeping two snakes together in the same terrarium is almost always a bad idea.

There are only a couple of reasons why you should attempt to keep two snakes together and they are:

  • You are an experienced snake keeper and you know what you are doing and the warning signs to look out for.
  • You are keeping a male and female snake together for breeding purposes.

Other than those two reasons I would not recommend keeping two snakes housed together.

One of the most common problems that can arise is fighting for dominance. This can lead to a lot of stress for your pet snakes and is never a good thing.

As well as fighting you will also find that the more dominant snake will steal all of the food. This can obviously lead to the weaker snake being left malnourished.

Do snakes get bored

Have you ever wondered if your pet snake gets bored, lonely or stressed?

How to keep your pet snake from being bored.

Ok, I know, the about title is a bit click baitey as we have already talked about the fact snakes do not get bored. Although we cannot be certain of this!

However we can make sure that our pet snakes have an awesome place to live with plenty of awesome things to explore and keep them interested.

Below I will give you some ideas for the most common types of pet snakes, the ball python and the corn snake.

How to keep a ball python happy and not bored.

First things first, ball pythons require quite a big terrarium to give them enough space to move around in.

It is highly recommended that at a minimum you should provide it with a 40 gallon terrarium. This will provide it with plenty of room and allow you to place lots of nice hiding spots, branches and other obstacles.

A terrarium such as this Carolina custom cage on Amazon is absolutely perfect for this and will be more than enough for your ball python.

Next up you need to add some sensory stimulation by adding hides, rocks and some artificial plants.

Your pet snake needs to have plenty of cool things that it can explore to stave off potential boredom and stress.

Think about how your snake would behave in the wild. It would be close to places that it can hide if necessary so that it is safe from any potential predators.

If your snake does not have ares like this in its terrarium it will likely end up stressed and this is not a good situation.

How to keep a corn snake happy and not bored.

Do snakes get bored? Corn snakes also do not get bored, or so we believe. But that does not mean that it too should not have sensory stimulation.

To start off you should really be keeping it in a 20 gallon terrarium. This will give it all the room that it needs and plenty of space to set out hiding places and obstacles for it to play around with.

This Hagen Exo Terra on Amazon is absolutely spot on and will be the perfect for your little corn snake to live in.

Again you need to get as much hiding places and plant coverage as you can. Trying to replicate the snakes natural environment is what we are trying to achieve here. This will stop boredom and also keep your snakes stress levels to a minimum.

Why snakes get stressed but not bored.

Do snakes get bored? We have established that we do not think snakes suffer from boredom. They do not need fancy hiding places, rocks and plants to keep them occupied as such.

What they do need the above for however is to stop them from feeling stressed.

As I mentioned earlier if a snake a gets stressed it is not good. The first reason why is because a stressed snake is not healthy, it can make your snake sick and eventually lead to a shortened lifespan.

The second reason that stress is bad for a snake is that it can cause serious aggression to its owners. If a snake does not have somewhere nice to hide away it will always be on edge thinking that a predator is going to strike. Then when you go to take it out of its terrarium it may bite you!

I have written articles about this problem and how to handle both of the above pet snakes correctly. If you would like to read these check out the links below.

How to stop corn snakes from biting.

How to stop ball pythons from biting.

Conclusion.

Do snakes get bored? I hope that we have all learnt something new or interesting from this guide.

The takeaways of it are that essentially pet snakes do not really get bored (or so we think).

They certainly do not get lonely as they are solitary creatures that only get together when it is time to mate.

What is more important is the fact that snakes can suffer from stress and can get unhappy due to it. We can stop this by providing them with the best possible terrarium and accessories that we can afford to buy.

Your snake is worth it!