Breeding without brumation...

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?

This is a great ? I would love to hear some peoples thoughts on this as well

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.

So when you don't brumate, how much later is it before the female starts producing eggs?

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

Originally Posted by Optreptiles

So when you don't brumate, how much later is it before the female starts producing eggs?

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.