Mate Preferences in Corn Snakes?

[CowBoyWay]

I have read that many Corns have preferences when it comes to actual mating time and will resist the "advances" of the opposite sex but when introduced to another "lover" will do the the wild thing readily.

That kind of occurence would tend to bring a small breeding program to a screeching halt, if one wasn't prepared for such an thing.

I'm a Wondering, is it just "chemistry" where the ol hormones just kick in where "lust at first sight happens", "Horny Corn Snake Syndrome" kicks in...

or do some fussy Corn snakes only breed with there one and only i.e. bonded pair.

Is there any bonding with Corns raised together?

Is there anything one can do to change there mind i.e. Soft music, Candles, Flowers, Chocolate mice...

 

[carol]

Almost all my males will breed to anyone, anytime if the female will let them. I have females that will breed all the time and females that will only breed at the height of readiness. I also have a male that is very picky about his females. The ones he "approves" of he breeds with, but some females just get a few jerks and he looses interest, even when I am positive they are ready. It has nothing to do with cooperation either. He will chase this certain female for hours, and I have had another female help him out in every way and flag him and he won't have it. Neither of these females had been caged with him prior to breeding attempts.
I am considering using hybrid making techniques on him next year if he continues his fussiness. This is the second year in a row he has been choosy. Luckily I had a back up male for the poor rejected little gal. I consoled her, telling her "Well, I think you are pretty"...and aparantly so did the next male I put in with her. It is not too common that they are so picky, but common enough to be a definate possibilility. I can even see that this male has preferences even in his "approved" females. Some he won't breed with no matter what, some take a little helping (we have to stroke his sides to get him excited) and then he will breed, and some females he goes into a breeding frenzy the second they are in the cage. And he seems to have the same routine assigned to each female every time we introduce her. At first I thought it was the timing he was acting on, but with multiple introductions he seems to have a pattern for each female. He is such a weirdo, none of my other males act like this. Drives me nuts

 

[Susan]

The only thing that I have noticed that helps, occasionally to rarely, is the introduction of a second male. In the cases where the male is the picky one, a "battle" with another male (which is then removed after a short while) makes him think that he has won a great prize and he then does his thing. This is not always a guarantee, however.
And in the case of a picky female, a "battle" over her and/or the wooing of a prefered male will get her so in the mood that she sometimes doesn't notice that her prefered mate has been removed and it's the rejected male doing the "dirty deed". This is also never a guarantee.
Both of these methods have worked for me, sometimes. Other times, the snakes with a preference get their way. or don't get bred (which sometimes gets the males to thinking about next year really hard...."no nooky or nooky with a different gal?"....and I did have a picky male that bred with whoever I put him with the next year!)