Mating Behavior

On March 23 I picked up a 1.1 pair of Anerythristic Cornsnakes that are between 3-5 years old. The person i got them from said they had witnessed multiple hookups between the two. Great! The one which I think is female is quite a bit larger then the male which is not unusual. The female visibly looked gravid. The belly scales were rounded, and I could see scale separation, though I could not feel any eggs. She shed 4/13. Now she no longer looks gravid.

So onto the behavior. So after a week I started introducing them again to see if I could get any sparks to fly with no luck until today! But it is the snake that I suspect is female that is the aggressor. She was on top of and riding the back of the male snake around and around the cage! Flipping her tail under his to raise it up! Have you ever seen the female snake be more aggressive to mate then the male? Maybe I'm wrong on which one is which. At this point I am also wondering if I have 2 males.

It's time for you to learn how to probe snakes...

Originally Posted by Nanci

It's time for you to learn how to probe snakes...

Well the day was going to come eventually....
Time to find a probing kit and do some research.

The day came for me when Pepper and Ruby declined to mate the second year in a row. That was my introduction to Murphy's Laws of Cornsnake Breeding...Interestingly, I was sold a _second_ mis-sexed snake that year, but when inquiring of the original breeder about genetic specifics I was lucky enough to find out that he had sold a male and a female, not two females, and when I checked, sure enough, the one I had received from an intermediary was a male!

I still find probing _mush_ easier than popping!

Oh and guess who taught me how to probe- Kathy Love. She is _so_ helpful with all of us, with everything.

It sounds like the one you suspect to be female is actually the male. I don't know the ages of your corns, but males tend to get larger than females in corn snakes, unlike boids. Have you tried palpating the smaller snake to check for eggs?

Originally Posted by wendhend

It sounds like the one you suspect to be female is actually the male. I don't know the ages of your corns, but males tend to get larger than females in corn snakes, unlike boids. Have you tried palpating the smaller snake to check for eggs?

No way.... If there is any difference, I lean toward females getting bigger.... I do both large males and females in about a 50% ratio.

Originally Posted by Blutengel

No way.... If there is any difference, I lean toward females getting bigger.... I do both large males and females in about a 50% ratio.

Perhaps you feed your females much more? In my own collection, I have noticed that the ones that tend to get the biggest are in fact males, despite feeding the females more often. Even Kathy Love notes the size difference in her book, Cornsnakes The Comprehensive Owners Manual:

"Males grow longer and heavier than females. The biggest brutes top out at 6 feet (183 cm) and about 2 pounds (nearly 1 kg) in weight. Most corns more than 4 feet (137 cm) are in fact males."

I always thought that the females were larger like in most species of snakes. (to my limited knowledge) I could not find a probe kit locally so I am going to by some 16 gauge stainless steel and spend some time sanding it to a round end and make sure it is completely smooth. I know I could by a kit online, but I'm cheap and resourceful and I don't want to wait

I should know my answer by the end of the weekend.

Thanks,

It's much easier if you have someone to hold the snake, but in an emergency you can put the snake in an oven mitt and just have the important part hanging out!!