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Breeding without brumation...

Optreptiles

Optreptiles

New member
Hi, I was wondering if I could breed my corn snakes without any kind of cycling or brumation. Almost all the sources I have read from say that brumation is a necessity, but I have heard from a few sources that you can breed cornsnakes just as well without doing anything at all. If it is possible, is there anything special you should do, or do you just leave them in normal conditions? I also heard that If you don't brumate them you have to have certain light cycles to simulate the seasons. If anyone here does breed their snakes without brumation, could you tell me how you do it?
 
I always brumate my corns, It's supposed to be better for them, improve egg and sperm count and make them more likely to breed but I know several people who don't brumate their corns at all. I had a friend who had a male and 3 female corns kept together year round in a 250 gal tank, no brumation and all the females would lay eggs for him every year. I don't know if it would've improved the clutch sizes if he had brumated them or not. I just do it any way to give me better chances
 
Brumating helps but is not an absolute necessity with Corns.
I have not, to date, brumated any of mine.
I, also, do not "light cycle" them. Just regular care.
My largest clutch, thus far, was 24 eggs (with 21, of those, being fertile) from a first time breeding pair.
Now, some other species, that I have, do require brumation.
 
I've never brumated and mine just have natural light through the room windows. I bred successfully for years.

Females ate to a standard timetable year-round for most of those years. I did notice that some tended to put too much weight on over the winter, so I slowed down their feeding for a few months but without dropping the temps.

As for how I bred them - I just put them together after the female had her first shed of the year.
 
I dont brumate either. I care for them as usual and in the spring, I put pairs together after the females first shed. I have also had excellent fertility rates. The only difference not brumating makes is that the females tend to ovulate later in the season. Those who brumate can control warming temps and therefore stimulate the females to ovulate earlier, therefore having earlier clutches.
 
This is nice to see, as I cannot brumate and want to breed in the future.
 
I didn't brumate either... I put my pairs together after the females shed for the first time in 2011... Which happened to be January. While the first pair didn't hook on the first attempt the male was twitching and all excited but the female wasn't interested. I put the same male with a different female 4 days later and they hooked with in minutes and it was the females first time. 4 days after that I placed him with the original female and they hooked after 30 mins, I had to cover them and turn off the lights and act like i wasn't paying attention :) The second to mate had her eggs first, 12 all hatched and the first to mate had her eggs 9 days later, 10 eggs and all hatched.

I've heard brumation helps with numbers and fertility, so if you can do it then it's not a bad idea. since my snakes are in my bed room I couldn't really keep the temps at what the corns would like as I tend to like it warmer :)
 
Optreptiles said:
So when you don't brumate, how much later is it before the female starts producing eggs?
Click to expand...

I usually breed mine anywhere from March to July. Although, I have bred a female, in February, before (getting 100% fertile eggs).

After breeding, the female lays eggs approx. 30 days later (could be a little less or more).
When the time approaches, the female will, first, go into shed. Then, lays her eggs about 10 days (on average) after shedding ... though it could be anywhere from 7-14 days after shedding.
After laying the eggs, the female will go right into shed again.

The eggs hatch, approx., 62 days later (although it could be a little sooner/later) if the temps are around 82 degrees (more or less).
If incubated at cooler temps, it will, of course, take even longer for eggs to hatch.
 
So the female's first shed of the year is the first sign to start introducing them to breed right? Or do they shed all year around when not brumated?
 
They shed year 'round whether brumated or not, but I've noticed in my collection that the adults end up shedding about four times a year, and generally, although not on the exact same day, within several weeks of each other. The first shed of the new year is in February, for mine.

If you don't know when to start, a rule of thumb that has worked for me is, beginning with the female's first shed in the new year, put the snakes together every Sunday until they start to breed. That trickled down to me from Don Soderberg. I also only leave them together for 10-15 minutes, max of 60 before deciding they aren't ready yet.
 
I knew I had heard of people not brumating there corns and still breeding. I can remember as a teenager keeping a trio of adults together and without me doing anything they would breed and have viable eggs. This is good to know as I have a few I would like to breed next year, but they will not be ready if they brumate for a couple of months without food. So I think I will brumate the rest and not these guys and see what happens.
 
Hey! I was coming in here tonight to look for just this type of info! There is no good place in my home to brumate anyone, so I'm not planning to, but I do have a nice pair lined up for next season!
 
I have gone both ways, many, many times. I don't get better fertility when I brumate. I just get a nice break and it is easier for me to tell when my females are ready. Otherwise, I get the same results. :)
 
This is really good to know. I think I might skip brumation then since I do not have an ideal place to bramate them in the house. Was going to use my bedroom, which I keep warmer but maybe not since it wouldn't probably work that way.
 
the 300 gram AND 3 ft rule isn't a rule at all, in my book, after dealing with heartache and mis-hap. My personal rule is that SHE can pass SEVERAL (more than 14) weanling size rats. This tells me she's stretchy down there enough to pass a clutch of eggs successfully. Some of my females even pass all slugs, when unbred, and the following year, they are introduced to boypals. My eagerness brought on egg binding and worse results. Don't be impatient is my only advice here. But back to the subject of the thread, brumation or no, I've noticed non-brumated females produce smaller clutches, and tend to ovulate only once (in general) per year,
and I do not base (my) rules upon exceptions.

The other aspect which benefits my wallet is that a sleeping cornsnake X 44(number of cornsnakes here of adult breedable size) X 3 months saves me a ton of money & workload. But then I am still new to this cornsnake madness (my 3 yr anniversary of having cornsnakes was 3 days ago) so much has yet to reveal itself to me.
 
Nanci has a great thread about it in her personal forum. On the front page, scroll way down until you find Nanci's Snickersnakes.
 
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