Trying to breed corns? any help appreciated? (PLEASE)

[bmt87]

Hi, my friends got a female corn @ 300g, 3yrs +, 3 ft long, already had 2 clutches, but didnt incubate them.. and i've got a young adult male, 2.5ft - 3ft, 1 yr and a half +, 280g's +. I havnt had chance to brumate the female or male as the appartment is exessively hot! lol and heard that corns will breed without brumation.

Anyways, I've introduced my male, (Which hadn't ate for over a month.. we thought cos of breeding season but as he's just got extremely milky, he must be on the verge of shedding) and at first was crazy, a lot of juddering, and skatty movements.. but a day or so later.. and they're best of mates!, in the cave together.. both their little heads pokin out the whole!!

Dont kno whether to leave them for a while, to see if the male can bring the female into season? if this can be done?? or wait until he's shed cos surely he not 'perform' whilst on the verge of shedding?.. the females still eating... and in the last few days looks as if shes going to shed as well.

I know i probably should brumate them, but all and any help appreciated.

oh, one morew thing. My mate did incubate 1 clutch of eggs, bt they allll went mouldy green and fungussy colour.. But reading on here.. we was toldf to keep the vermiculite damp,, but i think he sprayed the whole compartment, including the eggs.. ? is it bad to wet the eggs?

Hope to get some answers soon.
Ben

[cathandtam]

you are way out of corn breeding season.
wait till next year and try again.it's not necessary to burmate them either.
did you quarantine your snakes first?

and yes wetting the eggs directly will drown any embryo and can kill the babies.

[bmt87]

cheers, when is snake breeding season? feb? (after brumation although like you say they dnt need it)..

cheers neways.

[bmt87]

sorry, just bin browsing the posts, and came across a bloke selling a corn, that said that its shedded skin with its 'sperm ducts'??? is this a way of tellin if the snakes fertile in male corns? thanks again for the help.

[Pete Q]

Best thing I can do to help you, and please don't think I'm not being helpful, is you that need to get yourself a good cornsnake book and learn about them before you breed them. This is a good place to learn some hints and tips, but you sound like you really need to learn much more before you breed them.
You need to also consider how you will house the hatchlings, cost of keeping them well fed and so on. ( vet bills if needed )
Read up on them, good book so that you can use it as a ref, if you cannot find a book, internet search will help.
Hope that helps.

[bmt87]

Allright bud.. I havn't taken it the wrong way.. bt i've read a few books, researched the subject on the web. I'm not gopin into it completely blind.. although i'm sure i'll learn as i go. The reason for all the questions is.. cos i've just come across this fourum.. i was really suprised of how help ful and quick people were to reply.. so i guess i got lazy and just started to post questions lol.

cheers for your help neways mate.

[Pete Q]

Originally Posted by bmt87

Allright bud.. I havn't taken it the wrong way.. bt i've read a few books, researched the subject on the web. I'm not gopin into it completely blind.. although i'm sure i'll learn as i go. The reason for all the questions is.. cos i've just come across this fourum.. i was really suprised of how help ful and quick people were to reply.. so i guess i got lazy and just started to post questions lol.

cheers for your help neways mate.

No probs.

[ian14]

You need to think long and hard about breeding them at the moment - most breeders are finding it hard to sell the hatchlings as there are so many around. You could end up having to house, heat and feed a fair few snakes for quite a while.

[TJR]

Originally Posted by Pete Q

Best thing I can do to help you, and please don't think I'm not being helpful, is you that need to get yourself a good cornsnake book and learn about them before you breed them. This is a good place to learn some hints and tips, but you sound like you really need to learn much more before you breed them.
You need to also consider how you will house the hatchlings, cost of keeping them well fed and so on. ( vet bills if needed )
Read up on them, good book so that you can use it as a ref, if you cannot find a book, internet search will help.
Hope that helps.

This is a great book written by a respected American corn snake breeder
Corn Snakes The Comprehensive Owner's Guide (Herpetocultural Library) by Kathy Love and Bill Love . I'm sure if you scout around you'll find loadz more too. Also do as much research on the net as you can and people on here are always happy to help if they can

[spirit975]

Originally Posted by ian14

You need to think long and hard about breeding them at the moment - most breeders are finding it hard to sell the hatchlings as there are so many around. You could end up having to house, heat and feed a fair few snakes for quite a while.

Yep, totally agree with this, i've still got baby corns from last year let alone this year that i can't sell at rock bottom prices. Unless you're breeding something special, or can guarantee homes for 20+ babies then it's pretty much not worth doing at the moment.

Breeding season for corns i've found starts around March-June/July. Some will mate after July but many won't.