Can corn snakes want to mate with ball python?

My corn snake is still freaking out and wont stop hunting. My ball python is on the bottom rack right below him. I have posted a thread about this before but im just curious in general if different snake breeds still capable of mating? Or are they like dogs and cats and arent like that?

go easy on op guys

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Originally Posted by Medusa<3

My corn snake is still freaking out and wont stop hunting. My ball python is on the bottom rack right below him. I have posted a thread about this before but im just curious in general if different snake breeds still capable of mating? Or are they like dogs and cats and arent like that?

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Technically widely separate species (especially when separated not by species but by the higher taxonomic level of family) cannot successfully reproduce with each other...corn snakes are colubrids which is a whole family level difference from boidae and pythonidae (pythons and boas) and...hence the distinction of separate species, however this has been shown to not always be the case as in the hybrid pythons and boas available and occasionally produced in the pet trade...or the whole donkeys/horse/mule issue.


Perhaps your corn snake isn't freaking out over the nearby python but rather the same rack being subject to one set of husbandry standards that while correct for a ball python may not be exactly correct for a corn snake? I have never kept colubrids so I cannot speak about how different the husbandry practices would be from those of pythons.

I would agree with Osiris about checking the temperatures and such. The proper temps for a BP are higher than what is good for a corn, so the corn may be uncomfortable and trying to find a cooler spot.

Since they are different species (not breeds), I don't think they would recognize the same pheromones in another species.

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as in the hybrid pythons and boas available and occasionally produced in the pet trade

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Osiris, could you provide a source for this info? I've never heard of a boa and python reproducing. The reason that horse and donkeys can mate and produce young, albeit, infertile young, is that they are in the same genus, which is 1 step above species. Boas and pythons aren't related until you get to suborder, serpentes, which is 3 or 4 steps above species. Not to mention the fact that boa are live-bearers and pythons lay eggs.

You corn snake is just on the lookout for a female, and I'm sure that it's not the Ball it's looking for :P
Even with no females around, male corn snakes will become very active and searching for a mate. It's the high time for breeding season right now.

As for breeding them, you might be able to, I don't know how close the DNA of a ball is to a corn considering they are completely different species of snakes.
Even if the female was fertilized, there's a high probability of all the babies being infertile or dying.


My friend's female corn snake tried to mate with my boyfriend, and my male parrot tries to mate with my mom, so who know what's going on through his head xD

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Originally Posted by Kat_Dog

My friend's female corn snake tried to mate with my boyfriend, and my male parrot tries to mate with my mom, so who know what's going on through his head xD

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Pics or it didn't happen.

I think it is probably a temperature issue. Corns are kept with a 70-85 gradient (going off of memory here). If he is in a ball python rack, he would be too warm

I'll mate with just about any female...:P

Of course it's possible for them to mate. Reproduce, however, is entirely different. I doubt the corn would attempt to mate with the ball in the first place, though ;) As others have stated, check your husbandry with that commonly required for corns, and make sure it isn't hungry :)

some known python hybrids:

http://www.worldofballpythons.com/morphs/hybrids/

ive also seen a BP + green tree python cross in a snakebytes episode. it looked totally strange.

in the boa world there also seem to be some hybrids.

but python + boa? i dont think so, too distantly related. and python + corn snake is also too distantly related.

People dont like hybrids, for many reasons, like: if you breed a python that lives high up in the trees to a python that lives on the ground, how is the offspring supposed to behave? its just not natural. Also they tend to all be infertile. Also you cannot know how big they will grow and what health issues will show up. Also when you put them together, you dont know if they will mate or if they will fight and attack each other, or just ignore each other.

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Originally Posted by Sita

I would agree with Osiris about checking the temperatures and such. The proper temps for a BP are higher than what is good for a corn, so the corn may be uncomfortable and trying to find a cooler spot.

Since they are different species (not breeds), I don't think they would recognize the same pheromones in another species.



Osiris, could you provide a source for this info? I've never heard of a boa and python reproducing. The reason that horse and donkeys can mate and produce young, albeit, infertile young, is that they are in the same genus, which is 1 step above species. Boas and pythons aren't related until you get to suborder, serpentes, which is 3 or 4 steps above species. Not to mention the fact that boa are live-bearers and pythons lay eggs.

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you mis-read my statement or I didn't state it clearly enough....I did NOT mean pythons AND boas mating with each other....I meant the hybrids we see of separate boa combinations and hybrids of separate python combinations

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you mis-read my statement or I didn't state it clearly enough....I did NOT mean pythons AND boas mating with each other....I meant the hybrids we see of separate boa combinations and hybrids of separate python combinations

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Oh! Thank you for the clarification! Yes, I was reading that as boa/python hybrid. :)

I have to agree with the others about the corn freaking out because of a husbandry issue. I keep both corns and ball pythons and I have them housed in a different rack. I used to have them on the same rack, but I had two independently controlled flexwatts - one per species. That way I could keep the ball pythons at their hot spot and the corns at theirs.

If your temps in your rack are designed to meet our ball python's needs, then it's much too hot for corns. I keep my corns at an 85-86* hotspot with the cold side 70-75. Anything above 90* for a corn snake can kill them if you aren't careful! They are very sensitive to hot temperatures.

If you are using the same husbandry, I would recommend you get another rack system for your corn (s) or use a tank. Corn snakes can do well in tanks with a heat lamp (I have one set up this way) or a UTH. Also, i recommend this book: http://www.amazon.com/Corn-Snakes-Co.../dp/1882770706 It's a great took for learning to care for corn snakes and it's very comprehensive. It even has a little bit of a morph guide.

Omg.....you guys are totally forgetting about that corn python posted on another thread!! :p

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Originally Posted by threezero

go easy on op guys

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whats this mean?

Okay, sorry for the delay! I honestly forgot i posted this. When i say rack i dont mean tub rack. Its more of a big wire shelf and one is on the top shelf and one is on the bottom. They both have dome heaters, so ones conditions are not affecting the other one. I will never try and breed them. I dont want to breed them either, nor will they ever meet. The question was just out of curiosity :) but that would make a pretty snake!

I was reading a thread that made my curiosity grow because they were saying that there's corn was really active too and someone replied and said that they could smell female snakes and that if they are in the same room that may have to do with it.

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Originally Posted by threezero

go easy on op guys

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original poster? got it.

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Originally Posted by Medusa<3

original poster? got it.

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Correct.
But the second P, now that's not so simple...

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Originally Posted by 4theSNAKElady

Omg.....you guys are totally forgetting about that corn python posted on another thread!! :p

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Yea, and they eat yams!