HELP!! breeding Okeetees

[bigdave]

I recently bought a breeding pair of Okeetee Corns (love line) and was wondering if i could put all 1.2 together in a 60gallon tank for breeding?

should i put the male with the 1st female, and then switch with the other female once the first one has ovulated, or should I just put them all in the same enclosure?

thanks

[marisa]

I'd simply have all three in seperate enclosures. This is the safest way to house snakes.

When it's time for breeding introduce him to the first female, then the second, and back and forth.

Marisa

[vanderkm]

We house our corns separately year round. The male is introduced to whichever female is ready first (based on shed after brumation) - we give him a couple days rest if he does breed, then back to that female again or introduce to next female that is ready.

maybe you can post some pics of your new trio - always great to see nice okeetees.

mary v.

[bigdave]

Okay thanks, but how often should i switch the females with the male?

[vanderkm]

We put the male in with the female - observe them intermittantly over the next hour or so to determine if they are going to breed and return the male to his cage once they have bred or after anywhere between 10 minutes and a couple hours if it appears that the female is not interested - sort of depends on our schedule and how cooperative the pair seems to be - it the female is aggressively throwing the male off - we take him out right away, if she is somewhat cooperative, we leave them for a while. If they do breed, we don't put the male with a female again for a couple days.

Some people just put the pair together after the female sheds and leave them together - I am not sure what their criteria are for switching because we prefer to know that breeding has taken place so we want more control than just putting the pair together and leaving them for a few days, weeks or whatever.

mary v.

edit - it is worth picking up a copy of The Cornsnake Manual by Kathy Love if you are planning on breeding - lots of useful info in there.

[bigdave]

alright thanks alot I'll let you all know how breeding the okeetee's goes!

[dannyc]

I have 2 baby corns. The female is 5 months and the male 4 months. I'm new to this so what's the down side to housing them together?

[Katt]

Only that the possiblity that your pair at a year old could breed. Sounds cool, but if your female is undersized, then she could possibly die from eggbinding.

Also, if one poops weird, you won't know who, same as regurges. Or even one might eat the other!

[dannyc]

I was under the impression that they wouldn't breed without brumation.
The first week together they seemed curious but sort of stand offish. Last night I noticed they were both in the same hide area together but curled up seperately. They seem to get along fine.
I was planning on seperating them when they got to the breeding age. I figured I'd creat a brumation period next year this time and see if they would breed around March, providing the female is of sufficient size.