Cooling Corns...and a little hypo too...

[MidnightIris]

Hello all, I'm in the process of cooling my corns for hibernation this winter to prepare for breeding in the spring. (This will be the first breeding for both the snakes and myself!) I have a male and a female that I've kept together since they were about four months old (they're now both over two years.) They now reside in a 40 gal long aquarium, complete with overhead lamp and UTH. THey've been doing well and growing quickly. At the moment, all heat has been shut off and I'm no longer feeding them. They're already starting to become listless at a temperature of 65 degrees. My question is if it would be alright to hibernate them in the tank they're currently in if I reduce the photo period using black paper to cover the sides. Would they wake up and recognize eachother as potential mates? Or should I place them into seperate containers? I'd really like to successfully breed my snakes. The male is almost three and a half feet long and while the female is just over three feet, she's rather thick for her length.

Another quick question: I saw a hypo hatchling in the store today for $60. (S)he was unlike any pictures I've ever seen of a hypo before, a lot of pale orange (almost creamsicle) with very fine black lines (almost nonexistant). Also, his/her head had a pure white ground color with very pale orange markings. Do you think this snake is worth a second look, especially for that price? I think he or she (it think it was a female, quick taper to the tail that my albino female had as a baby) whould be good for breeding projects with my caramel (?) male. (Amber babies in 2 gen., right?)

Thanks all for you help! These corns are so addictive!

[BeHeMoTh]

where did ya get the corns?

[MidnightIris]

I deal with a local pet store that has great reptile guys. They get a lot of their corns from locla breeders and because of that, a lot of their corns are great deals (the female I want to breed is reverse Okeetee, but was sold as just a normal albino and the male is a carmel sold as a normal)

[Joe]

as long as you can get the temps down to around 60 in the tank they should be fine....and your best bet would be to sepperate the 2 for cooling and reintroduce them when you feel they are ready for breeding!
Good luck!

[Hope_H]

It is my understanding that they should be seperated when cooling. I try and keep my temps around 55 which can be challenging at times. The cooler the temps, the slower their metabolism, the less weight they will lose.

[gonesnakee]

I WOULD ALSO RECOMEND SLIGHTLY COOLER TEMPS AS THE 55 DEGREES FARIENHEIGHT SUGGESTED ABOVE(MORE IMPORTANT FOR THE MALE IE: SPERM PRODUCTION) & I WOULD SEPERATE THEM DURING COOLING ALSO. I DON'T KNOW ABOUT ANYONE ELSE BUT AFTER SPENDING MONTHS UP NORTH WORKING IN THE PAST, I'VE ALWAYS FOUND GIRLS TO BE MUCH MORE INTERSTING AFTER NOT HAVING SEEN ANY FOR MONTHS & MONTHS. I THINK THE SAME APPLIES TO SNAKES. L.O.L. THESE ARE MY THOUGHTS ANYWAY. MARK I. - GONE SNAKEE!

[MidnightIris]

Thanks all for the advice, I placed bothe corns into seperate containers and placed those containers into a room that remains between 50-60 degrees all winter. I'll be taking them out in March. My fist "check" will be on Sunday to change their water bowls. I'll let you knwo how it goes.

[vanderkm]

Midnight -- did you end up getting the hypo and can you post photos?? Sounded like a nice snake and while I don't know your prices in the US, so don't know if that was a good deal or not, but wondered what you decided.

Mary v.

[MidnightIris]

Actually, after a little research I'd love to go and pick up that hypo, but the parental units have decided that perhaps now is not a good time...still working on them though. To the best of my knowledge, it's still at the store (very head shy, so a bit nippy) since I called a few days ago. With a bad temper, I doubt that anybody woud want it as a "pet". But it calmed down pretty nicely after some handling, so I bet there's hope for it to settle down to be a calm adult.