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New to breeding....

2i2_D3gr33s

2i2_D3gr33s

I AM A:
Being the amature that I am....
I've only have one amel corn right now, it's about 6 months old. I'd like to try my hand at breeding, but want to ask some questions before I begin. The reason I ask, is that I know it'll probably be a year or more before I can begin, but I'd like to prepare as much as possible.

1) Where can I find out the sex of my current corn?
2) How much money will be spent on incubators, and other things necessary for breeding? (I live in MI, Not sure if that matters)
3) Is it better to have some type of morph to breed with my normal albino to get more variety in the hatchlings, and if so, what traits/morphs are dominant?
4) Will a male and female reproduce, or will some refuse, making it necessary to have more than one pair of adults?
5) Is brumation necessary, or not?
6) How hard is it to get everything right for a beginner like myself?
7) Not knowing much about genetics, how would I correctly label hatchlings as to what they are?
8) Is there any other questions I should be asking?
 
OK, I'll have a go! I bred for the first time in 2005.

1) You need to find someone who can probe snakes. This could be a breeder, a herp vet or experienced herpetologist. I live in the UK and my local specialist reptile store will probe for free - vets may well charge, however.

2) I bought a styrofoam incubator with heat mat, vermiculite, thermostat, thermometer and plastic egg boxes for around £100 (which would be around $180 I suppose, but things are cheaper in the US).

3) If you have an amel, buying another amel will give you amel hatchlings as the trait is recessive. Or you could buy a classic het for amel, which would give you some classics and some amels. Any other morph when bred to an amel would give you classic hatchlings het for amel. This is assuming your amel is not het for anything else. If, say, your amel is het for hypo, if the snake it is bred to is hypo or het for hypo, you could get hypo babies. Serpwidgets is the genetics expert, and you can find out more on a google search. On the whole, breeding two unusual morphs is likely to give you classic corns but the unknown factor is the genes that are hidden. You can also breed a baby back to a parent to produce an unusual morph.

4) The vast majority of males and females will breed with each other and the incidence of infertility is apparently lower than in humans, for instance. So I wouldn't have thought you'd need more than one of either sex.

5) No, brumation is not necessary although a lot of people feel it improves results. Mine were not brumated, for instance, and produced ten healthy eggs with 100% healthy babies (she was a young first time female).

6) If you do plenty of research and take extra care, there is no reason why you shouldn't do as well as anyone else. Experience is undoubtedly helpful, but it's not rocket science!

7) You could predict to some degree what morph hatchlings you might get, but people on this board are so knowledgeable that if you weren't sure, you could always post pictures and they'll tell you.

8) Other factors - You said your snake is 6 months old. For a female snake ideally she should be 3 feet, 3 years old and 300g before being bred, so if this snake's a female it will be a while before you can breed her. You also need to consider what you are going to do with the hatchlings, and the possible effects on the female - the risk of egg binding possibly resulting in death, for instance. Do lots of research before breeding. That's it really! It's a very enjoyable experience - undoubtedly I was lucky not to encounter any complications either with the female or with deformed or dead babies, but all the same it was a great thing to do.
 
Pretty thorough answer already - the only other thing I would suggest is that you pick up a copy of Kathy Love's book - Corn Snakes the Comprehensive Owner's Guide - it is an excellent resource - covers all you need to know about breeding, incubation and the basics of morphs and genetics. Every corn owner should have it - only about $20 and well worth it,

mary v.
 
I'll tack on another question here....
Without knowing where the snakes came from....what would you guess I would get from breeding an amel with an amel motley?
 
Because the Anery A gene is so common in the corn population there is also a good chance of getting snows or anerys from that breeding - they would also be het motley.

mary v.
 
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