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Male to Female ratio?

D

Demonique

New member
I'm in my second year of breeding cornsnakes

Last year I had one female who was bred to a male in the Reptile Haven. When I picked up her up a week later I bought an 18mth old male and brought him home with her

This year was the male's first breeding season. A few months ago I impulse purchased a beautiful (hypomelanistic, I think) female. I decided it was karma when she went up my sleeve when I was handling her, that and the fact that she was ovulating.

So I now have two gravid females (one with her third (completely unexpected) clutch, one with her second) and a male.

Is this a good ratio to have, one male to two females? Or should I have a 1:1 basis?
 
I'm not a breeder (yet) but I think you can breed one male to a number of females. Obviously he will not be able to cover many females as often as he would be able to cover 2 females. Also I have read that his sperm stores will be depleted when breeding to many girls so you may get smaller clutches and more unfertilized eggs.
 
It really depends. If you're using triple hets or something and are dealing with 1/64 odds, then I'd want a male with as many females as possible to increase your odds. Or if you want a lot of hatchlings then more females. But a 1:1 ratio is also just fine as well. It's really up to you.
 
i kind of prefer a 2.1 myself. yes females have the eggs but it takes the male to pass the genes. if you have a male that just has an off year or put him to many females, you may have reduced clutch sizes or slug to viable ratios. having the extra male/s reduces those odds. the only down side is knowing which is the sire.
 
So I now have two gravid females (one with her third (completely unexpected) clutch, one with her second) and a male.


??? but how can they be unexpected when you say you are putting the male in with the females and trying to breed corns?? sorry, maybe I missed something... maybe you are co-habbing? again sorry if I missed something but was just curious how it could be unexpected? :)
 
Maybe she retaining sperm from a previous breeding and is now gravid again without being introduced to a male... :)

grimm1... 2.1???? Two males to one female?
 
Velvet said:
Maybe she retaining sperm from a previous breeding and is now gravid again without being introduced to a male... :)

grimm1... 2.1???? Two males to one female?
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Sometimes a male will not pan out. The female isn't interested in him, he not interested in her or maybe he's intimidated by her size.

I think the better ratio would be a 2.3 - then you have two males to service the three females in the event of one not performing up to par.

Though, most breeding trios are indeed a 1.2 ratio and many people have produced some great clutches that way.

If you are only going to use one male to fertilize multiple females, the best thing to do would be multiple hook ups. (setting the male 2-3 times with each female over a 2-3 day period) That way you are sure to get more fertilized eggs from both females while allowing the male time to produce more sperm on the off days.

Jenn
 
I have been breeding for 5 seasons now, this is the first season I will be using a male with 2 females though.
This is the way I am going to do it, put the male with female 1 for 2 days, give him a 2 day break, put him with female 2 for 2 days, give him a 2 day break, repeat the cycle for 2 weeks or when he loses interest, whichever comes first. If one pairing doesnt work I will use one of my other males.

Ciao
 
thanx jenn...exactly, not to say that i do not use one male to more than one female either, but more often a few males with a few females when i know my odds are better.
 
Yeah, Jool was bred to Kelloggs twice, but they may have co-habbed after she had her second clutch. I can't remember if she was in with Kelloggs or one of other two females (Wyrm is the other breeding female and Frodo is unsuitable for breeding having an abnormally short tail (only about and inch or maybe even less))

When I say unexpected clutch I mean its because triple clutching is unusual for corns, is it not?
 
Demonique said:
Frodo is unsuitable for breeding having an abnormally short tail (only about and inch or maybe even less)
Click to expand...

Why is Frodo unsuitable for breeding due to a short tail? Do you know the cause of the shortened tail? Did it happen to fall off as a result of one or more bad sheds as a hatchling, an injury or was he/she born that way? If you know that the shortened tail was the result of bad sheds or an injury there should be no issues with breeding the snake as it is not genetically transferable to the offspring.

Even if the snake hatched out with the shortened tail, it is not 100% guaranteed that it is a genetic defect. Some deformities are the result of incubation mishaps (not all, but of a good many) ie: heat spikes, high humidity, too low of humidity etc. The only sure-fire way to prove that the deformity IS genetic would be to prove it out with test breedings.

The same is true of spinal spurs and kinks.

As for the third clutch, yes it seems a bit unusual, but so long as the female is healthy she should be fine.

Jenn
 
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