The final set of questions...

[Josh-sama]

More questions

• Brumation? What & When do you cool your corns down to?
• How often do you feed during brumation?
• When do you bring back up to normal feeding rates & heat?
• Do you introduce male to female, if so when?
• When do you remove the male?

• When eggs are laid, how do you keep them together in perfect shape?
• Incubator, what method do you use?
• Candling when do you candle them usually?
• When eggs are hatched, when do you remove them into seperate tubs?

Need to get it all sorted hahah!

Thanks

Josh

[oakelm]

This is going to be a long post but here goes, this is what I do that works for me, im sure others do things different
- Brumation? What & When do you cool your corns down to?
For me I stop feeding the last full week of november, I keep them at normal temps for 2 weeks so everything has passed through the body, in this time all the blinds are pulled down so the room is dark 24/7 unless I switch the light on. Everyone is checked over and cleaned out and the room temp is dropped. I keep my corns in a very cold room anyway and have to use heaters and air con to maintain temps so I change the thermostat on the unit, very easy. There is no specific temp to cool too but it needs to be cooler, I aim for somewhere in the region of 12-16C. They stay in this cooler temp for 10 weeks.

-How often do you feed during brumation?
You dont, just change water weekly

- When do you bring back up to normal feeding rates & heat?
So after 10 weeks, xmas is out of the way and we are well into the new year I raise the temps by a couple of degrees every few days over a week. Open the blinds back up once everyone is up to temp. Give them 2 days are normal temp and give first feed, I give something a bit smaller than normal.

- Do you introduce male to female, if so when?
I wait for the female to shed a few weeks after coming out of cooling, once she has shed the male goes in a day or two after depending on when her last feed was.

-When do you remove the male?
I only leave the male in overnight, some leave longer. My ratio is 24 hours in 3 days out. and repeat a few times until you are sure the deed has been done by seeing the spillage (good to use paper so you notice this).

- When eggs are laid, how do you keep them together in perfect shape?
Females have a pre lay shed 4-6 weeks after mating and should lay within 2 weeks of the pre lay shed. Give female a moist box from as soon as she goes blue right until the eggs are laid. They stick together and are not that big so easy to move by just grabbing them from the top, the fun bit is getting the female off them first.

-Incubator, what method do you use?
Poly box, converted fridge and a converted viv next year.

-Candling when do you candle them usually?
Dont candle so cant help here

-When eggs are hatched, when do you remove them into seperate tubs?
Approx 60 days when maintained at 28C but some hatch sooner some hatch later. They hatch when they are good and ready so patience needed. I remove them from the egg tub as soon as they are fully out of the egg of their own accord and seperate into individual tubs straight away.

Final note, cooling isnt necessary in order for them to breed successfully I do it because I dont have to feed so many mouths over xmas when its busy with relatives and like to recreate the natural cycle. I seem to have more success with cooled snakes.

That took me ages to write and im sure loads of people do things differently but there go.

[Josh-sama]

That's bloody brilliant! Thank you!

By moist box, do you mean similar to a moist hide? A RUB packed with vermic or spag moss?

[nighthunte29]

yes thats what he means
it isnt 100% nessecery to cool then?

[oakelm]

Originally Posted by Josh-sama

That's bloody brilliant! Thank you!

By moist box, do you mean similar to a moist hide? A RUB packed with vermic or spag moss?

Yep, plastic box, tub with hole in the top full of moss.

Originally Posted by nighthunte29

yes thats what he means
it isnt 100% nessecery to cool then?

No not needed but seems to help the production of sperm in the males. Have found males that havent been cooled dont tend to be able to produce as much viable sperm so more dud eggs. From my own experience, others will probably disagree with me. Plus saves on the food bill that month

[Ssthisto]

Oakelm, that was a brilliant explanation.

I do things differently, but it sure is good to see someone else taking the time to explain exactly how they do things!

Thus far I have not attempted to brumate at all - I have kept my corns at the same temperatures (barring overall room temp fluctuations which would affect the cool side temperature) year-round. So far I have had 100% fertility on the three "first" clutches in two separate years with two different females (15, 24 and 18 eggs), and some fertile eggs in one female's second clutch (which, if I'm honest, I didn't want her to produce *at all*).

My boys went in with the girls for about the same schedule - one day in, then three to five days off, until I'd seen a successful mating or signs thereof. The look of "Don't you know how to KNOCK, mum?" I got from one of my males this year was hilarious.

I just carefully remove the female from around the eggs in the lay box, then pick up the egg mass very gently by getting my fingers underneath it.

This year I used tupperware-type tubs filled with perlite and buried the eggs so that only the tops of the highest eggs in the pile were visible; I put a bit of moss over the top of those so that any drips from the lid wouldn't land directly on the eggs. These tubs were not ventilated and were put into a polybox with a heat mat at the bottom under two ceramic tiles. The mat is controlled with a matstat - next year we'll definitely be using a pulse stat instead (and probably a custom built viv-like incubator).

I shined a flashlight down through the eggs a couple of times in incubation, more to see what they looked like rather than as a real diagnostic. I knew the eggs LOOKED fertile

And I separate my babies as soon as they're fully out of the egg, which does mean that the first hatchlings can be out up to a week before their youngest siblings.

[Josh-sama]

How does candling work if the eggs are joined together? Or is this not always the case? As I feel when I go to move the eggs I'm going to seperate them and for the worst on accident.

Thanks guys, you've been a great help!

[Ssthisto]

I just gently shine a light NEXT to them. Pink glow = good. Yellow glow = possibly infertile.

[Josh-sama]

Alright! Thanks a bunch.
I'll try the normal room temp breeding at first. Is it advisable to replace the females substrate with paper to see if 'spillage' has occured? As you're not going to definitely catch them at it?

Also double clutching?
Could I breed her to one male, build her back up after her lays and breed her again with a new male say 1-2months after?

Also do you have a picture of the breeding setups + incubators?

Thanks again!

[oakelm]

Originally Posted by Ssthisto

Oakelm, that was a brilliant explanation.

I do things differently, but it sure is good to see someone else taking the time to explain exactly how they do things!

thanks, glad someone who does it differently explained also, gives a nice variety.

Originally Posted by Josh-sama

Alright! Thanks a bunch.
I'll try the normal room temp breeding at first. Is it advisable to replace the females substrate with paper to see if 'spillage' has occured? As you're not going to definitely catch them at it?

Also double clutching?
Could I breed her to one male, build her back up after her lays and breed her again with a new male say 1-2months after?

Also do you have a picture of the breeding setups + incubators?

Thanks again!

For the paper I would say yes, but if you are patient and you male isnt shy you will most probably see him in action.

Double clutching can happen without a second mating but would advise to only try for one clutch from the female in your first year breeding, especially if it is her first time.
But yes once she has laid had her post lay shed and if she hasnt lost hardly any weight then you can feed her for a few meals and put a male back in. Some corns will double clutch easily some never seem to regardless of how well they have maintained weight. I see a second clutch being a bonus but not something I actively try and produce.

Breeding setup for me is just a rack of tubs which are there normal homes, nothing exciting. I just move the male in with the female and take out the hides as they tend to get pushed about. As for incubators have a look in the how to make an incubator thread and you will see all the different designs. Everybody ends up with their favourite ways.