Breeding Corns

[Dragon Queen]

How hard are Cornsnakes to breed, relative to Kingsnakes (Gray-banded kingsnakes in particular?) I really want to try breed snakes, but am not sure which is better for a beginner.

Any ideas?

[Southern Wolf]

Last year I bred my corns for the first time.... they are real easy to breed.

Your female needs to be about 300 grams. Males can be slightly smaller. Due to us not really having a winter I cooled my snakes for about 2.5 months. From Jan to end of Feb..1st part of march.

2 weeks before brumation stop feeding and let their system clear out.... then cool them down to the low 50's. I would not suggest going below 50* but if your temps happen to drop for a short time they should be just fine.

At the end of brumation I bring them out of the cold room and set their enclosures in a warmer area of the house for a couple of days before bringing them back into the reptile room. I keep my reptile room at around 80* year round.

Once back up to normal temps I normally feed the female what ever she wants to help get some of the weight back on from brumation. Last year she didnt loose much... I think it was only 6 grams. Then after about a month of normal temps and feeding I will put the male in with the female. I left mine together for about a month. I did see them lock up a short time after putting them together but I wanted to make sure it took.

The female will normally stop taking food when she is getting close to laying eggs... the back 1/3 of the body will start looking swolen and she will go into pre-lay shed. At this time you might want to have a laying box handy.

I took a sterlite container and cut a hole in the lid. I used moist bed-a-beast as the substrait. I also drilled some small holes near the top of the container below the lid (this allows for some ventilation later on). It is easiest if you get 2 containers that way all you have to do is switch lids.

My female went into the container and after a few days I checked on her and she was wraped around her eggs. She gave me 11 eggs. Her and the eggs were pretty much burried and I took her out and put her back in her enclosure.... I then gently brought the eggs to the surface and only had about half burried. (DO NOT ROTATE THE EGGS....this could kill them).

I then took a glass of hot water and poured around the perimeter of the container (DO NOT get the hot water on the eggs).... and then put the lid on that does not have a hole in it.... this allows the humidity to build up in the container... I then set the container on a high shelf in my reptile room.... the temps around the container were around 86*-87*

About 3 mos later you should start seeing babies.... I had 100% hatch rate on my first clutch doing it this way.

Best of luck to you with your breeding efforts.

[Dragon Queen]

Thanks!!! I have a 1 y.o. male Cornsnake, and might get a female and breed them..... I think it looks easier to breed them than Kingsnakes.