Should I breed my corn snake?

Thank u ...this helped me explain to my daughter why we arent going to breed this year.

Hi I have a question that I can't really find an answer to on tye web.
Can you keep female and male corns in the same vivarium even after
She starts carrying eggs? Because I have been breasting bearded
Dragons and you can't keep them in the same Vic so I was wondering
If its the same with snakes?

I remove the female right after breeding. You shouldn't keep them together at all, except long enough to allow copulation. Corn snakes do best living apart.

ok thanks for the help

hay sorry to drag up an old post but i have a stupid question. when i got my first snakes they were being kept together by their original owner and i wound up getting a very young gravid female, (100-150g) tiny little thing. anyway she had the eggs just fine and i made sure each hatchling had eaten at least twice and shed at least once before i found them all homes, my roommate's snake is one of those baby's and he is thriving. which i will assume means his mother had good genetics. my question is this. it took me until just recently to get her up to a good weight and it has taken far longer for her to grow then my other two to the point that the smallest of the two males that was with her (70g when i got him) is now bigger then she is. is this a sign that she should not be bred again? if not is this:
i've noticed since i've had her that after laying her first clutch she occasionally will seize up and then flail a bit before slithering on her way. i've noticed that it only happens when she stretches her self out and tries to go somewhere a large distance from whatever she's supporting her weight on. i have spoken with my reptile vet and he tells me it may be a side effect of being bred to early, it may be something she will out grow as she gets back up in heath and in size. i have noticed it happening less and less as she put on weight.
when i do decide to breed corns (i'm nowhere near ready yet, but know i likely will in a few years) should i even consider breeding her if this problem has gone away or should i just let poor Shadowdancer stay a beloved pet?
also should my should her son ever be bred knowing his mother had this problem?
thanks for your time

She is stunted and has seizures; there is no way I would breed her. I don't know what the seizing might be, but it isn't good. A 100 gram female being bred can be fatal and when they do survive, they seldom develop normally. My advice would be, when you do decide to breed corns, to select your stock very carefully. Pick snakes with only the traits you want and none that you don't. No reason to pair up a random Craigslist snake, even if it is perfectly healthy. But it could be a death sentence for Shadowdancer, and there's always a chance the seizures will be passed on to her scalekids.

thanks chip, that's what i thought. i jsut wanted that decision confirmed by people more knowledgeable then me. a few more questions and then i'll stop bothering you. firstly could you suggest some literature on the subject, everything i have found is contradictory. secondly what should i look for in a breeding male? i have one snake (a ghost) that i bought because i want to breed him, he is beautiful, strong and quite frankly i think he was a puppy in a past life because he is that much of a lap snake, my mother who is terrified of snakes loves his personality. should i look for a female of like size and temperament? he's huge by the way (1000g). is breeding snakes like breeding other animals where one animal with a very docile temperment can be breed to another downright evil tempered creature and get a baby with a much better temper or should i breed selectivly for temper?
my last question is about the tiny snake who was supposedly also female who was in the tank with Shadowdancer and the other larger male who i think bred her. Firesong is in fact male (my vet checked) he is as you said a craigslist snake, but i think he may have good genetics, and he had a great personality. he's bloodred, with almost no black pigment his pattern fades somewhat and I am wondering if it might be worth it to try breeding him? is their anyway to find out exactly what his genetics are without breeding him? if it is worth trying what would you recommend breeding him to?
thanks again

Okay, I think we are kind of speaking different languages here, but I will answer each question and try to get my viewpoint across. Really, it's more a moral compass than viewpoint! So there is as much opinion as fact in what I am about to say. And I am not known for being subtle, but I will try to remain polite.

Firefur said:

thanks chip, that's what i thought. i jsut wanted that decision confirmed by people more knowledgeable then me. a few more questions and then i'll stop bothering you. firstly could you suggest some literature on the subject, everything i have found is contradictory.

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If you want books to learn how to breed snakes and raise babies, I recommend Don's and Kathy's books.
https://www.cornsnake.net/books.html
http://cornutopia.com/Corn Utopia on the Web/The Corn Snake Manual - Book Ordering Info.htm

Firefur said:

secondly what should i look for in a breeding male?

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Genetics. This is where I feel you are misunderstanding me. You aren't looking for him being a certain size or temperament. Obviously, you would select against a runt or snake of BAD temperament! But most corn snakes DO eat great, DO have good dispositions, and ARE solid, confident pets. So are most mutt dogs. But we don't run to breed them.

Firefur said:

my last question is about the tiny snake who was supposedly also female who was in the tank with Shadowdancer and the other larger male who i think bred her. Firesong is in fact male (my vet checked) he is as you said a craigslist snake, but i think he may have good genetics, and he had a great personality. he's bloodred, with almost no black pigment his pattern fades somewhat and I am wondering if it might be worth it to try breeding him? is their anyway to find out exactly what his genetics are without breeding him? if it is worth trying what would you recommend breeding him to?
thanks again

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Again, I would be inclined to either seek out mates sharing the same mutations of what you have, but better yet, start from scratch. Part of breeding is selling babies. And cheap babies go to cheap homes, usually. The whole point of this thread is to shed light on overproduction and breeding snakes that become too cheap to be cared for. Disposable pets, in other words.

Also, reminder to read Rich's "Murphy's Laws of Snake Breeding" in this thread.

errr.. I'll take a normal tessera or two......

oops wrong thread!!

Probably a good time of year to bump it anyway.

uh actually, it seems I was in the right thread...just confused because the 4rth page looked like another thread to me at first...

but I'd have NO problem taking an 'unwanted' normal tessera ... especially a very clear stripe. they look amazing and I'd love to be able to show people the variety of morphs available when I introduce them to my snakes.. (currently 4, lost my baby a few weeks ago and one garter snake)

The issue isn't that I am unable to find people willing to take them for free.

Considering I'm already starting to see people who are interested in breeding for the first time this upcoming season, it's probably a good time to bump this.