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advice please!!!

I

isobel

Isobel
i put my male in with the female a few days ago, he chased her round for a while but then she hid in her hide box so he gave up. should i remove any hide boxes when i introduce him to her? or does it mean she just isn't ready and i should just keep trying until she gives in?
i would be greatful for any advice
 
Generally the idea is to put the female in with the male but if the female is showing distress, you're better sepparating them and trying again in 3-4 days. I want to ask you a few things about the snakes...

1. How big/old/heavy is the female?
2. Did you brumate the male and female?
3. Do you have a plan for your breeding project?
4. Have you researched all the problems you could encounted in breeding your snakes?
5. Are you prepared to go to trouble and veterinary expences if the need occurs?
6. What will you do with the resulting offspring/do you have a market to sell them?
7. Have you done homework into eggbinding/incubation/raising trouble hatchlings?


Breeding snakes is fun and can be a very positive experience and I'm in the middle of doing it myself, but there's gotta be a lot more thought into it than putting the male with the female and seeing what happens. Good luck, keep us informed.
 
Hi, Isobel. Don't get too worked up and worried over Princess' questions (a bit heavy-handed there, Princess! At least Isobel is showing enough thought for advice). While they're all valid, you have plenty of time to do your homework (through doing searches on this forum) and get ready for eggs, should you end up with some.

As far as your question about getting the two to mate, I have found that if the female is "ready" (i.e., ovulating or nearing ovulation), then she's usually also "willing." If the male has to chase her around for more than several minutes, with her seemingly determined to have nothing to do with him, it's probably best to separate them and try again in a few days. That's OK -- that just means you've got a little more time to do research and start thinking about how you'll incubate the eggs once they're laid.

Good luck to you, and don't hesitate to ask questions on this forum. That's what it's here for! By the way, welcome!

Liz
 
I think Princess had a point with her questions. Especially the first one. If a female is too small and becomes gravid it could end up badly. That said, use the search feature and there are tons of posts on breeding. Getting Kathy Love's book, The Cornsnake Manual, is a good idea as well - it has tons of useful information (and there's the new edition now!). Good luck, and let us know how everything is going.

~Katie
 
OK Liz, I hear you but just look at all the people coming on the forums in the last weeks with their first posts saying...'I've got eggs, now what'...knowing full well that their snake was gravid and due to lay but not doing any homework into what care the eggs would need.

If the eggs whither away and die, or just get tossed straight in the bin, that's not great but the breeding shouln't be at the expence of the health of the female.

This is my first year breeding but it has 2 years of research and homework behind it and (not to blow my own trumpet) but I think it's much more favourable to ask yourself a few hard truths BEFORE letting boysnake and girlsnake get it on rather than have a heavily gravid female that only weighed 175g when she was bred and having no idea what to expect in the laying process or how to deal with an eggbound female, or how to incubate the eggs.

Yes it's great fun to make baby animals from your pets, but it's not responsible to just put together 2 animals and get babies and then wonder what to do next.

I've owned some lovely horses in the past but none of my mares were 'perfect enough' to warrant breeding in my opinion. They were lovely, and a fair site better than many being used as broodmares, but I made the choice to not add to the population of mediocre animals...I feel the same way about breeding snakes and whilst I'm not saying to anyone outright that they shouldn't breed their snakes, I am asking them to think about what their goals and objectives ar in breeding their animals. Is it to make a quick buck? Is it so their kids can see mother nature at work? Is it because they have a male and female with some really nice traits that are compatible and can be combined to make some potentially equally nice offspring?

I think everyone should be prepared to deal with all the consequences and outcomes of breeding animals before they get into it and not as an afterthought, I can say that I am, so I don't feel hypocritical at all and I don't think there's anything wrong with planting some seeds of thought in someones mind.
 
well i didn't expect a response like that, but i am very greatful to you all.
Princess i have to admit you made me think abit, i think i would have sat down and cried if Liz hadn't come to the rescue. but to answer your questions:-
my female is 4ft and my male is just under 3ft, both in really good condition. they have both been conditioned for breeding and i have spent hours researching what to do during breeding and incubation. the thing i have obviously got wrong is introducing my male to the female when i should be doing it the other way round, i will try that thanks princess.
i have never had a problem with vet bills, i would pay anything to ensure my pets are well, i would be gutted if anything happened to them.
when i bought Ruby i didn't have any intentions of breeding just yet but my local reptile shop put the idea in my head when i bought Sid. I'm not doing it for financial gain, although the owner of the Reptile shop wants to buy any snakes we breed.
I am fasinated by this process like all the other animals we have, we breed Hawks and ferrets too (very different i know) but i love it and as i work from home i have lots of time to take care of them.

Having Ruby and sid is great and i want to take very good care of them, thats why i feel the need to just check with you all that i'm not doing something wrong(thank god for this forum). I have read some books that have very conflicting information anout snakes, so i quess the best thing to do is ask all you snake lovers who have got far more experience than me.

anyway thanks everyone i really appreciate your advice and i do understand your concern princess, you are obviously annoyed by people who think owning a snake is just a game and i agree with you totaly.

Thanks for welcoming me to the forum Liz, thats really kind of you and i'm sure i will have a lot for questions as time goes on. if they don't breed this year, then thats the way it has to be, but i will try again.

thanks again
Isobel
 
isobel said:
well i didn't expect a response like that, but i am very greatful to you all.
Princess i have to admit you made me think abit, i think i would have sat down and cried if Liz hadn't come to the rescue. but to answer your questions:-
my female is 4ft and my male is just under 3ft, both in really good condition. they have both been conditioned for breeding and i have spent hours researching what to do during breeding and incubation. the thing i have obviously got wrong is introducing my male to the female when i should be doing it the other way round, i will try that thanks princess.
i have never had a problem with vet bills, i would pay anything to ensure my pets are well, i would be gutted if anything happened to them.
when i bought Ruby i didn't have any intentions of breeding just yet but my local reptile shop put the idea in my head when i bought Sid. I'm not doing it for financial gain, although the owner of the Reptile shop wants to buy any snakes we breed.
I am fasinated by this process like all the other animals we have, we breed Hawks and ferrets too (very different i know) but i love it and as i work from home i have lots of time to take care of them.

Having Ruby and sid is great and i want to take very good care of them, thats why i feel the need to just check with you all that i'm not doing something wrong(thank god for this forum). I have read some books that have very conflicting information anout snakes, so i quess the best thing to do is ask all you snake lovers who have got far more experience than me.

anyway thanks everyone i really appreciate your advice and i do understand your concern princess, you are obviously annoyed by people who think owning a snake is just a game and i agree with you totaly.

Thanks for welcoming me to the forum Liz, thats really kind of you and i'm sure i will have a lot for questions as time goes on. if they don't breed this year, then thats the way it has to be, but i will try again.

thanks again
Isobel
Click to expand...

OK, sorry if I seemed a little gruff, I' didn't get a lot of background info from the first post and there have been a plethora of posts recently from problems arrising from aimless breeding.

If Ruby is so big then yes, I'd have to say she would be mature and physically ready to breed so her reluctance might just be through inexperience. More experienced females don't play 'chasey' so much! The way I got my pairs mating this year was by giving them a 2½' x 1½' x 1' plastic tub with newspaper on the bottom, that way, they can hide under the newspaper and it eliminates the need to provide a hide. After some initial chasing, they either settled down, or got into it. The ones that settled down I left alone for a few days (under observation) and if nothing had happened I would sepparate them for a couple of days and then try again. It took anywhere from 30 mins to 6 weeks to have successful coppulations. The 6 week pair was an exception as it was a specific pair that I really wanted to breed so there were no substiture males to put with the female (who I'm pleased to say will lay any day now!)

If Ruby seems like she's getting really distressed (or the male just will not give up) then it might be best to keep them appart for a few days and try again. It might take a while but it 'should' eventually happen.

With the 'project pair' that took 6 weeks, I ended up just leaving them together after about 2-3 weeks of introduce-sepparate, rinse, repeat and they got around to it eventually.

Sounds like your male knows what to do, so it's just up to the female to make up her mind.

Some people say misting them can initiate a response but I haven't tried this. I was too worried about not being able to maintain temps and having an RI on my hands.

Good luck, Adèle
 
Thanks Adele, i really appreciate that advice. Ruby has never been used for breeding before, her previous owner kept her in a very small plastic viv (she had no room to move at all) but since we have bought a big viv with loads of room we have seen such a change in her ( she seems very content and very active)
i will take your advice and keep trying but if she gets stressed out by it then i will keep them apart and try next year.
good luck with your eggs, let me know when she lays them

Isobel
 
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