Breeding Corns in General

[jennuhkins]

one day i would love to be able to breed my snakes but I'm still learning.
Anyways can you guys tell me the in and outs of it all.

Like, buying an incubator, what kind.

what time of year do they breed, how do you make them want to breed with each other.

is their a special temperature or place or humidity they like to mate in?

how long should you keep them in the cage together, to know if they want to mate or eat each other?

how do you know if the eggs are fertile.

does my snake even need sex for infertile eggs?

I herd of candling the egg what is that technique.

do you separate the mama or dad snake away from the eggs to put them in an incubator? and will the mother be territorial about me getting her eggs?

and anything else you guys want to tell me..
I am not going to do this anytime soon probably years from now but i need to be more informed :)

[Snakefood]

I use a hova-bator, but any controllable incubator will work

I started putting my snakes together in february for 2 days at a time, and continued until I knew the female was gravid

they are animals, you don't need to do anything to make them WANT to breed

temps and humidity are to be the same as normal conditions for them

i do 2 days on, 5 off untill I think the female is gravid

you candle the eggs to check fertility

without sex, females will typically reabsorb rather than lay eggs

you shine a bright light through the egg, you're looking for a red spot and lots of nice red blood vessels

dad should be long gone by the time mom lays the eggs, you do take the eggs away, put them in an incubation box with damp medium and into the incubator

I have not witnessed a mother showing any concern with her eggs being taken

[jennuhkins]

is their a time of year when they should be put together
and how do you know when she is gravid?

[Snakefood]

well I put mine together in feb and march, she laid in april then again in june. (some corns double clutch without a second breeding by retaining sperm) So she was gravid between those months

[jennuhkins]

oh how interesting thank you :)

[Snakefood]

no problems!!

[Lankyrob]

With corns there is a three 3's rule. they should be 3 yrs old, 3foot long and 300g as a minimum for breeding :)

[exwizard]

As with every rule there are exceptions. While Schatzi is 7 years old and a proven breeder when I got her, and while yes she is over 3' long, the fact remains she is only 250g and ALL of her 14 eggs are viable and due to hatch on the 20th. She is amazing.

[Snakefood]

true, that's why they say the female should be 2 out of 3 when using the 3:3:3

[exwizard]

Ok that makes sense. Thks.

[Gregg M]

With corns there is a three 3's rule. they should be 3 yrs old, 3foot long and 300g as a minimum for breeding :)

That is a man made rule that has been passed down by paranoid keepers. It seems to be big in the UK. Females will breed and lay eggs just fine at a year and a half old at 200 or so grams and a lot less than 3 feet long. Once a female is sexually mature, she is ready to breed. Nature does not follow any three rules of threes. I have seen peoples reasoning or this "rule" and they are all unfounded.

Typically, my female corns are bred at a year and a half, 200 grams and 2 feet long or so. I have never had a problem with egg binding or recovery after laying. We are talking about quite a few females here so it is not that I got lucky with one or two. I pay no attention to actual weight or length. I can tell by the condition of my animal i she is ready to breed or not. You can have a 300 gram female at 4 years old who might be big enough to breed by the imaginary "rule book" but she might not be in proper breeding condition. It is in my opinion that these rules do more harm than good.

one day i would love to be able to breed my snakes but I'm still learning.
Anyways can you guys tell me the in and outs of it all.

Like, buying an incubator, what kind.

With corns, we generally do not use incubators. Our snake room is at a constant 80 degrees. I would stay away from hova-bators or any top heated incubators. Top heat is not a natural heating possition for reptile eggs. Hova-bators were made spacifically for bird incubation.

what time of year do they breed, how do you make them want to breed with each other.

Generally we pair ours up in late winter, early spring. There is no way to "make them want to breed", however, a brumation cycle will certainly increase your chances of breeding them successfully.

is their a special temperature or place or humidity they like to mate in?

Normal active temperature are fine.

how long should you keep them in the cage together, to know if they want to mate or eat each other?

I pair them up right after brumation and do not separate until the female is clearly gravid.

how do you know if the eggs are fertile.

Infertile eggs will generally have a yellow tint to them. Sometimes well calcified white eggs can be infertile as well. Be best way to check for fertility is to candle the eggs. You should see a vascular system withing a few hours of them being laid if you do not see it right away.

does my snake even need sex for infertile eggs?

Generally, females do need to mate in order to produce fertile eggs. However, in some species, females have laid viable eggs without being bred ever. This rare phenomenon is called parthenogenesis.

I herd of candling the egg what is that technique.

It is when you shine a flash light on the eggs to look for signs of fertility.

do you separate the mama or dad snake away from the eggs to put them in an incubator? and will the mother be territorial about me getting her eggs?

Yes, eggs are separated and placed in an incubation container. You can place the incubation container in an incubator if your room temps are not at a constant temperature suitable for hatching eggs.

and anything else you guys want to tell me..
I am not going to do this anytime soon probably years from now but i need to be more informed :)

The only thing I can tell you is have fun and be responsible. Make sure you will always have a place to sell of your babies and TRY not to get in over your head. LOL.

[MojoHerps]

You've been given lots of good advice already. I would only add that be sure you know what you will do with the hatchlings if you are not able to sell them easily. You should also know that breeding is not without risk to the mothers (egg binding) and even rarely fathers (prolapsed hemipeni). There are also deformed hatchlings or some that just don't make it.

It never hurts to be well informed and two excellent books on corn snakes that include good info on breeding are Kathy Love's, Corn Snakes: The Comprehensive Owner's Guide or Don Soderberg's Corn Snakes in Captivity.