Breeding Substrate Question

I know this is going to sound rediculous, but what sort of substrate do you allow your corns to breed on?

Last year as I was breeding I started out on aspen shavings, but quickly decided maybe that wasn't the best thing. After they had unlocked and his hemipene was retracting, twice he'd scrape his bottom along the litter to get the goo off and as the hemipene completely went in, it dragged in a couple pieces of substrate. It took me nearly 15 mins to get an angry snake to hold still long enough to open up his cloaca and gently remove the offending pieces.

The next few breedings I did last year were in a empty Sterilite tub that cleaned up easy afterwards.

I'm just more or less curious as to what sort of conditions your corns breed in, and if they've ever experienced a problem like this before. Sometimes I wonder if we're too careful with our snakes in captivity. I'm sure snakes in the wild don't eat on top of a piece of wood in order to prevent dirt or twigs to become stuck to the prey, and I'm sure they don't seek out a benign area in which to copulate. Just random thoughts as I'm getting ready for breeding this year.

My female is plumping up, eating everything in sight. I expect in the next few weeks for her to be "ready". I just hope the males are ready for her.

Last night's dinner:


Her and her beau, testing his reaction (or lack thereof):

substrate

Hello Misty, I found the best substrate to be white paper towels, for a couple of reasons. There a times when I put my corns together and nothing happens during the day. But after a good night sleep, I could inspect the tanks for any deposits of semen, its real easy to see it on the towels. and it is easy to clean, just throw them out and start fresh. I hope this helps. REG

I too go with the white paper towel option.

I want to be able to leave them and come back and clearly see whether anything has occured.

Of course, they sometimes crawl under them, but cleaning and seeing are still easy.

Skye

I use news print for the same reason as Reg but only at breeding I use pine shavings the rest of the time.

B.T.W I still love the look of your Male you got from Rich.

substrate

Paul reminded me, I did not say in my last post, but the rest of the year I use orchard bark. I buy it in large bags from a local nursery. It generally has low dust, easy to clean and just looks nice. On some of my corns, it really makes their different colors and patterns stand out. Thanks for reminding me Paul. REG:cheers:

yep, I use aspen the rest of the year - I have them breed in a neutral place though - out of either snakes territory,

Skye

Thanks for the input guys. I was just curious as to how others pursued the issue.

REG, what exactly is orchard bark? I don't think I've ever seen it before. Maybe post a pic with one your snakes on it? =P

Since I don't feel like removing the aspen bedding from either snake's cage, I usually do the breeding in a neutral place as well.

breeding substrate

I used paper towels the first time and plan on using paper towels from now on.
Of course the paper towels did get pushed all over the place but at least I didn't have to worry about anything being taken back into the male.

Misty, orchard bark is very close to reptile bark sold in pet stores, I believe it is a mixture of pine and fir pieces of the bark. it is much cleaner then just pine mulch you would use around your outdoor plants. You can buy small bags of orchard bark from places like home depot, but I find it to be much cheaper to buy large bags from a nursery. I hope this helps. REG P.S. This is to Paul (FATSO) I recently built a herps room for my corns, all 97 of them, all with my rack systems, heaters, lights.... I completed it 4 months ago. I thought to myself wow this is really great... now after seeing your pictures on posts. Mine is good, yours is great. Really nice job.