New Snake soon!

[Katie]

Hi all, I just got an update from my breeder (he calls every couple of weeks - every month just to check up on my snake, isn't that great?) and he says he's expecting babies on or around the 17th of this month. I'm second on the list for getting one and I don't think he's keeping any so I get second pick! He's also hoping for another clutch (says she looks gravid again) and I will get second pick from that one as well! This is great! I may have 3 snakes at the end of the summer instead of just one.

Sorry, I was sooooo excited I just had to tell you all!

Oh, and has 23 good and one probable slug I think. If anyone is looking for corns (or bearded dragons or veiled chameleons) in the New Brunswick, Candada area let me know and I'll put you in touch with my breeder!

[Alicia]

That is great. Good luck, it will be hard to pick. I always want them all. I love babies.

:) Alicia

[Celeste]

Congratulations!! I only have one corn for now, but I have a breeder nearby that I check on every few weeks, just in case:) If he gets any anerys, no one - including my parents - will be able to stop me from setting up our old fishtank and getting one! (What can I say, it is an adiction...heaven knows that I'm only supposed to have a few this year, but, the way my life is going, that may change...) Hope your babies are cute as can be!! If you can, put up some pics of them - I love hatchling pics:)
And, as an afterthought, do you know what variation/color they are going to be??

[Katie]

All normals this year. Ah well, a normal corn is better than no corn right? Lol. There isn't a huge market for them in this area and it's hard to get a morph at all (unless you have it shipped). I know a few people who DO have morphs but they weren't breeding size this year so it's just normals from the one person as far as I know. The one I have now apparently (thanks to the people on this forum!) has been identified as an outcrossed bloodred and unfortunately the father (which was bloodred) died this winter. Next year there will be hets from a couple of breeders I believe but still no outright morphs. Perhaps I will get into the breeding aspect in a few years when my snakes are big enough....

[Celeste]

IMHO, normal corns are the most beautiful snakes out there. (Anerys are a close second in my book.) When I set out to a local breeder to choose my first snake to keep, these were my choices:
-3 year old snow male
-5 year old snow male
-4 year old normal female
-2 month old butter male
-(another) 2 month old butter male
-2 month old butter female
-7 month old miami female
-6 year old crimson female
-5 year old okeetee female (and mate, which was another okeetee)
-3 month old anery male

Do you know which one I picked? The one-and-only normal. Why? In my eyes, she was the prettiest of the bunch. Now, I know that some people might call me crazy for picking her out of that group, but that's just my story...
Anyway. I don't know what I would do if I could pick only one out of at least 20 babies...I'd probably just run wild, screaming and grabbing every snake in site:D (Oh my but I am insane...)
Once again, congratulations on your luck!!

And BTW, do you want a male or female (or do you care at all)?

[Katie]

I'm taking my snake to have her (I say her because I THINK that's what it is) probed that day as well and will get whatever the opposite sex is (hopefully). Of course, I say that now but jeepers, if there is one especially pretty one or cool head pattern one that isn't the right sex I'll probably try and talk the boyfriend into letting me get 2!

My thoughts are that if my snake IS a female she may (if she's big enough, I won't breed her if she's not) be able to breed next year and if I get a male now he will probably be breedable by the time she is. If she's not a female that throws my whole schedule out of wack! Lol. Even if I can't breed next year I still love my corns. It just seems like so much fun waiting and caring for babies....

I do wish I could find a bloodred corn to breed with my bloodred outcross. If she's a girl I think I know someone with a male that may loan him for stud services ;) . That type of thing is very common around here, especially since there are many types of herps that are uncommon in this area and there may only be 1 or 2 of a species in the whole province. Usually the person that loans the snake gets a certain percentage of babies if there are any. A friend of mine currently has another guy's burmese for stud! Lol.

[Celeste]

Stud Snakes?? Now there's something new...although I suppose it would make sense. I know that it I were the owner of the breeding male, I would certainly want at least 4 babies out of the clutch my guy helped produce! (And, of course, I would want to be able to pick them out...) I've always liked the really deep-colored blood reds, but I have also developed a liking for crimsons....My want list always seems to grow, while my space for snakes goes down!!

[Katie]

Yes, my want list grows every day I think. Lol.

But the stud snake thing is more common than you'd think in this area. A friend of mine loaned a chameleon for that purpose, there's the guy with the burmese that I mentioned, and I think even my breeder either loaned or was loaned a bearded dragon this year. I know a petshop that did it with ball pythons as well. Since there are only about 6 of us (that are seriously into corns as pets and breeding projects, I'm sure there are many more who have just one or 2 as pets) we are forced to loan back and forth for that type of thing. Especially when someone gets a new bloodline. Otherwise, ALL the corns would get seriously inbred in a hurry and no one wants that to happen. Not trying to open the "inbreeding" can of worms again here because of course, there is some inbreeding inevitably. But I'm talking about inbreeding to the point where you get deformed animals and with so few who own corns and so few sources for them it's pretty easy for something like that to happen.

There are about 20 members of the New Brunswick Reptile Club and many of them are not very seriously into the hobby. They have one or two pets and that's it. Right now I'd really like to build up a few corns from different bloodlines and try my hand a breeding in a few years. Who knows, maybe I'll be getting babies for loaning my corns in a few years?? Lol.