“Egg Fertility through superior firepower”
a.k.a. “Making the DUD STUD SYNDROME a thing of the past”...
Ladies, were not speaking of your Ex from college here…
The use of a single Corn Snake male can result in 100% infertile eggs.
Aah the heartbreak.
Many Experienced breeders use multiple males in their breeding programs, as (S.O.P.) “Standard Operating Procedure” in a calculated attempt at assuring a high fertility /impregnation rates.
The only way to fly, as they used to say.
The following is an excerpt/ quote of an “old” Rich Z posting here from last year and gives one insight in how a experienced professional approaches such things ;
quote;
“One thing that all experience breeders realize after years of doing this, is that the more males you breed to a female, the greater the chances of 100 percent fertility. When I start a new project, do you really think I keep 1 male and 8 females or something like that? Heck no! I keep the entire clutch. If I cut out any of them, I make sure I have an even ratio of males to females. Three males and three females would be optimum for a double heterozygous genetic project. For triple hets, I would absolutely keep everyone I produce. And when breeding season rolls around when they reach size and maturity, I will breed every female with every male in the project.
I learned this the hard way. A friend of mine whom produced the very first Blizzard Corn (Art Myer) asked me to take his animal (a male) on breeding loan since he didn't have any suitable females for it. I got it early enough that I was able to put it into my mandatory 3 month quarantine, and then the following Spring I bred him to 10 to 12 of my females. Since he was a new line for my work, I used him SOLELY as the breeding male to those females. Guess what? He was a dud stud. Every female I mated him to threw 100 percent slugs. You all can find this out for yourself, and maybe you will be lucky enough that it doesn't happen to you, but do you REALLY want to raise up those babies for two to three years and then have something like that happen to you?”...
&
“…remember Murphy's Law. Find the weakest link in your chain of breeding expectations and try to strengthen it. In most cases, this weak link is because all of your hopes will be hinging on the males doing their job.” ~another Rich Z quote~
Some excellent advice.
A sad Story, wasted efforts...
Don't let this happen to you!
And remember kids, the point of the story is;
“Corn Snake Sperm happens”
,
...but not necessarily fertile / viable, active sperm in all cases. :~)
My hobby breeder strategy/ goal is for collecting 2.6 groups of my favorite Corn Snakes in the various locale/ color Morphs that interest me.
My idea of a good time.
If that makes me "Corn Loco", so be it.
Back-up studs... "Its a good thing"
P.S. If the urge to buy Eight snakes strikes anyone, be sure to check out our host Rich's Corn Snake site at
WWW.SERPENCO.COM
for some the finest Corn Snakes money can buy...
"Quality begets Quality"
is one of "The Ancient Golden Rules of Animal Breeding",
Always buy the finest foundation stock that you possibly can.
When other breeders will stand in line, "so to speak", to buy ones livestock, that is an indication that your doing something right. imho.
