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breeding problems

S

swingswing2007

New member
Hey! And thanks for reading my thread,

for all the experienced breeders out there, I was just wondering what you do to breed your snakes, I have been reading this forum for a long time and numerous books ext, ext, but when I put my snakes together (after brumation) they slide around in a jittery motion and then go to seperate hide boxes and well, thats it, am I doing anything wrong?

If not, will getting an experienced breeder do anything? If that doesn't, I was planning on getting two experienced breeders and just keep my original two for pets, cause I love um! Well thanks and any tips would be appreciated!!:)

-Christina

1.1 Anery A (female-striped!)
 
Well my first question would be: Are you sure that you have two different genders?

I got one cornsnake shipped to me. An adult from an individual who only had one snake. (I considered it quarantined... it was six months since it had been near other snakes). I put it in the enclosure with my male. It wasn't more than two minutes before they were breeding, 39 days before I had 20 eggs laid.

Corns will breed given the chance... so long as they are opposite genders.
 
Thank you for replying to my post!

When I bought the female she was probed, but not in front of me and when I compare her to the male she certainly looks female, but I'm going to have her reprobed to be certain.:D

The male is most definitally male. She is almost positively female. I can post (a) picture(s) if you want.

Thanx!
 
If they are male and female, then the questions and answers get a little harder. :)

The next things you need to consider are whether your snakes are adult, and their temperature and light conditions.

Rule of thumb is that if the snakes are three feet long or more, they are sexually mature. Less than 30 inches, not mature, and between 30 and 36 inches, questionable.

Corns seem to benefit from a day/night temperature cycle, with cage temperatures in the low to mid 80s F during the day and dropping to 65-75 F at night.

They also seem to benefit from a brumation period during the winter and a photoperiod similar to natural conditions during the rest of the year. If the snakes are in a room that is well lighted by the sun/sky, where you can read easily without extra light, then they should be fine. Of course you do not want them to be cooked by direct sunlight in the cage.

And I do not get bent out of shape if a pair of snakes do not breed the first year. Corns are pretty forgiving, but bullsnakes require two brumations before the males are fertile.

Hope this is some help.
 
That "jittery" motion (a sort of jerking movement when they some into contact with each other?) definitely sounds like their pre-mating behaviour, so it seems like you're on your way to success. How long are you leaving them together? They're most active at dawn & dusk, so it could be that you're just not around for the big event!
 
The male and female are doing the "jittery" motion? Which one gives up 1st?

My problem was... The female would give up doing the jittery motion 1st so I would poke/push at her with my 12 inch tweezers to make her act like she is doing the movement. The next thing i know, the male and the female are breeding.

Now for my 2nd clutch... They both don't was to breed. They do the motion for 30 sec and they both give up. I gave up on producing the 2nd clutch b/c of this.

Joel
 
That "jittery" motion (a sort of jerking movement when they some into contact with each other?) definitely sounds like their pre-mating behaviour, so it seems like you're on your way to success.
Click to expand...

I agree, it all sounds correct, and they are both adults. So why wont they breed? I will be more precise on the heating/lighting.

The male gives up first, then they slither around the cage and depending on how warm/cold it is I will either leave the light on and they will go to the same shide box or turn it off and they will go to seperate corners.... they are together right now.

This was my thinking:

Once they were both out of brumation and had eaten and shed I put them together...

They did what I have described above. I read that i should leave them together for two weeks, I did. Then I seperated them. Hoping they had bred when I was not present.

two months later I gave up, the female was most definitally not pregnent. They just shed again and a local breeder suggested I should put them together again, what did I have to loose right? So they are together again, it has been about a week.... still nothing.:cry:

I also read something recently... it suggested that I keep them in a smaller cage while they breed. ZRight now they are in the females cage, it is 20 gallons...

Well thanx for all the replies guys.

Quick question: How do I get them to do the jittery motion again? I use tweezers? where can I find tweezers that big?

Thanks!:rolleyes:
 
What part of Colorado are you in, Christina? If you're not too far and wouldn't mind having a brief guest, I could drop by some evening and watch and see if I could figure out what is or isn't working (no promises though)... Sometimes words are too inadequate to describe behaviors. It's a bit late in the year for first-time pairings, though, so I suspect you may just have to wait until next year...

-Kat
 
Just a comment on my own experiences breeding my corns...

Life got REALLY messed up for me this spring when it was time to get the snakes out of brumation. Took me longer than I anticipated to get them out of brumation, then I was overwhelmed with various and sundry issues. Since Corns usually cohabit without too many issues, I went ahead and just put my male corn, and two females in our "display" case in the living room. (40 gal). I never noticed anything and while life was still insane I wasn't really too worried about whether or not they bred. I did start to think that Hermes, the male, wasn't really getting into it. The females shed, but no sign of being gravid. Then we got a new female corn, and so I pulled out the other two females, and threw in the new female. Instantly the male was on her and doing his job. I find it interesting that though they were together for a couple of months, the two that were removed laid their eggs, only 2 and 4 days respectively before the new girl laid hers. So he wasn't really into breeding (or they weren't) until several months had passed! When he figured it out, he bred, and not before. I'm guessing if I'd just placed them together and removed them, I might have experienced similar frustration. One of those girls, after laying, shedding, and gaining full size (and appearing to be ready to ovulate) I put back in with him. But I pretty much decided that nature was going to hold sway in matters of cornsnake procreation this year. Just didn't have the time or mental energy to worry about details.

Now I have eggs planning to hatch in 10 days.... they are softening up and just slightly deflating! oh, it's so eXCITING
 
You can find 10-12 inch tweezers at... www.eBay.com & at the reptile shows around your area, thats how I got mine. If you use e-Bay they should be under the pet section, Reptile. They are great for feeding your snake perkill mice unstead of droping them in with your hand.

Joel
 
First of all, I would like to thank everyone who has posted a reply on this thread.

I will look for tweezers.

I live in Lakewood, close to the Colfax and Kipling intersection. If you really want to stop by email me =) and I'll give you directions.

And I agree, after they didn't breed the first time I really don't expect them to breed now.

I will probably just try again next year.

Yesterday, I took the female and male out briefly to check on them, make sure they hadn't quarreled or anything of that sort. I put the male back first and held the female for a while. I put her back in and the male started the jittery motion again and the female didn't care... I guess they have a mixed signal relationship huh? Oh well.

hehe
 
Isn't Colfax one of the worst parts of Denver? (I could be wrong, I live in the Springs, but I've heard rumors...)

One thing you may want to try in the future is, rather than housing the male and the female together, put them together only to breed, for an hour or two at a time... Sometimes familiarity breeds disinterest.

-Kat
 
Actually, I live in a nice neighborhood, but colfax..the street itself isn't a good place.

They aren't housed together, they are only together for breeding purposes right now.

If you think that would be better, I will take them apart and randomly put them together in the evenings for a couple hours at a time.....:D

I was just to the springs a couple days ago, we rode the train to pikes peak;)

lovely

Thanx!
 
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