5 yr Old Virgin Male...hmmmm!

[sierraherps]

Those of you who know me in my short time here know that I am new to this whole "Breeding in Captivity" thing... I have wittnessed a few "Love/Lust sessions" in the wild with Gopher snakes and the like, so I DO know what it looks like in general. Though I have 2 "Total Newbie" questions...
1. I was under the assumption that it was the Males that did the "Twitching", but after reading through all the threads on this 1st page, is it true that Females do too???
2. We have tried mating up our 5 yr old virgin male twice now, with two different brumated females...One proven the other is an 03 but no record of her ever producing any offspring that I can find. In both cases, WHYTSNAKE, the male snow, twitches when they touch him... Today, with the upperkeys female is the most "Epileptic" jerking he as done so far, and yet, she has to keep chasing him around the tank! She IS proven with a few "Double Clutches under her belt" according to the seller we got her from last month... And she "seems" to be trying to show him what to do... And for a minute or two, he tries.... Then stops suddenly and wonders off!

Sooo... has anyone else out there ever had a Cornsnake over 4 yrs old, that has never seen another snake and THEN at 5 yrs, tried to breed them? Isn't "Nature" suppose to be "Bred" into them?? "Insuring the continuation of the species" seems to be "Bred" into EVERY living thing naturaly... So I am begining to get really curious about this situation!

anyone???

 

[RobbiesCornField]

It's entirely possible that he could be a female. Was he probed?

 

[Jaspers dad]

That was going to be my question as well!?!

 

[RobbiesCornField]

Oh, and to answer your questions:
1) Yes, females twitch, too.
2) Maybe he's just not ready, or she just doesn't smell right to him.

 

[sierraherps]

Nope. Never sexed in any way other than hubby saying JR bought him as a male, from a pet store, and hubby raised & bred several different kinds of snakes for years before I met him. But mostly Cali Kings and Pythons although he did have a couple of corns back then, he even worked on the initial "Sunglow" project many years ago.

But, you see we both thought about a month ago that "HE" seemed to be getting ALFULLY fat right near the tail... To the point where you could swear, that you can make out the bumps that would be "eggs" forming. And when I questioned Hubby about this, he admitted that last spring... He has wondered himself if Whytsnake was a female because of the same fattness ALONG with how CRAZY He/She got all of a sudden for about a month! Seriously... he/she has been our pet for 5 trs now, and loves to be held... Except last spring when suddenly I got hhim/her out and ZOOM!! Had a serious case of the "Want OUtta Here's". Then after almost a month, it stopped as suddenly as it had started and my baby was back.

Then... we put Whytsnake in with one of our New Females about 3 weeks ago, and when the "twitching" started... Sean was completely convinced that "Yep! That's what the males do... So he IS Male afterall"

That is why I am so confused... He says he has only ever seen MALES do the twitch thing... And yet, we KNOW for sure that the upperkeys is a female, we KNOW she is gravid & obviously ready to mate... And to be honest? I swear Whytsnake has NOT eaten enough to be THAT FAT! And yet... after defficating, it's still all mega swollen looking!

Sooo... here's what I am going to do while Sean is at work... I am going to trade the Upper Keys Fem for the Upper Keys Male... And see what happens...

THANK YOU AND WISH ME LUCK!

 

[RobbiesCornField]

Tell hubby that yes, females do twitch, too.
Before you put "him" in with a male, have him probed by someone. You don't want a fight on your hands!

 

[sierraherps]

Tell hubby that yes, females do twitch, too.
Before you put "him" in with a male, have him probed by someone. You don't want a fight on your hands!

Well... I just now read your post Robbie... I had already traded the Female Keys for the Male Keys in the tank with with "Whytsnake". But its all good no harm no foul, no fight, as a matter of fact, Whytsnake didn't twitch this time at all... It was the strangest thing, he just played dead! LOL The male keys ran up one way then the other... And my big snow just laid there! LMAO! So, after about an hour... I switched back, and BAM! The snow started twitching again and being active with the tiny female Keys...

But across the room is ANOTHER strange thing going on... We also have this '03 Motley Stripe female, been out of BRU for over 3 weeks and has eaten 3 F/T. We just got her second week of Jan 09 and she has been nothing but an absolute sweetheart! Well that is until now... While the "Attempted" breeding was NOT going on on one side of the room, Our striper started GOING NUTS in the tank! She is smaking her noseon the glass, snaking up to the top and falling over, (it is a VERY deep tank) Sooo, I figured I would get her out and hold her to calm her down! She LOVES to be held and to bath in our BIG Kitchen sink. Sooo, I get her out and she immediatly starts REALLY trying to get away! she is STILL going nuts, acting nearly frantic... I of course figured out "being HELD" is NOT what she wants! So I go to put her back in the tank.. And I will be darned if the little twit doesn' bite me!?!?! Now THAT is REALLY weird! Heck maybe were having tremors here in Cali or something... LOL Even my 14 yr old Pomeranian is acting VERY not like herself... Whining to go outside, then just sitting there when we do... 5 minutes of that in 20* weather and back in the house we go, 20 minutes later... Here we go again! LOL Is it a full moon?