Breeding balls vs corns

[Dianne]

One other thing: I've bred corn snakes before, and they don't always quit producing when you want & expect them to. One of mine churned out healthy
clutches for about 5 years after just one mating...no joke! So think about it carefully before you take the plunge, there can be "surprises" & no "off" switch.

This is how I got Bullet. I had bred my normal male and hypo female once. She had a healthy clutch of eggs with beautiful hatchlings. Over a year later I was selling the mobile home I lived in and had moved all my snakes to my Mom’s place so I didn’t have potential buyers freaking out. Mom called and said Yin was acting odd, not hiding under her water bowl like normal (hollow dog bowl style), cruising the tank, etc. I go out to Mom’s and take her out, noticing she’s a little thinner than the previous weekend. I pick up the water bowl to clean her cage while I was there and voila...small pile of small eggs. Most had gotten too dry as they had been laid at least 24 hours before, as she had been cruising the tank that long when Mom called. She hadn’t gotten noticably larger like she did with the first clutch, and the eggs were smaller as well. Luckily I didn’t get any more surprise clutches after the one set.

[MR Snakes]

One other thing: I've bred corn snakes before, and they don't always quit producing when you want & expect them to. One of mine churned out healthy
clutches for about 5 years after just one mating...no joke! So think about it carefully before you take the plunge, there can be "surprises" & no "off" switch.

That's scary!

[Bogertophis]

This is how I got Bullet. I had bred my normal male and hypo female once. She had a healthy clutch of eggs with beautiful hatchlings. Over a year later I was selling the mobile home I lived in and had moved all my snakes to my Mom’s place so I didn’t have potential buyers freaking out. Mom called and said Yin was acting odd, not hiding under her water bowl like normal (hollow dog bowl style), cruising the tank, etc. I go out to Mom’s and take her out, noticing she’s a little thinner than the previous weekend. I pick up the water bowl to clean her cage while I was there and voila...small pile of small eggs. Most had gotten too dry as they had been laid at least 24 hours before, as she had been cruising the tank that long when Mom called. She hadn’t gotten noticeably larger like she did with the first clutch, and the eggs were smaller as well. Luckily I didn’t get any more surprise clutches after the one set.

Snakes are fascinating creatures, & find ways to adapt & survive...don't you just love surprises!? I mean, I've never met a baby snake I didn't like, but there's a limit
to how many I want to care for or find homes for; despite that, once I've got them started, it's hard to part with them.

I know what you mean about selling a residence...every time I've done that, I've had to move out first...too many to hide & no other options. No regrets though.

[Bogertophis]

That's scary!

Yeah, & not my only such experience...remind me to tell you how I got into breeding rosy boas for 6 years.

[Dianne]

Snakes are fascinating creatures, & find ways to adapt & survive...don't you just love surprises!? I mean, I've never met a baby snake I didn't like, but there's a limit
to how many I want to care for or find homes for; despite that, once I've got them started, it's hard to part with them.

I know what you mean about selling a residence...every time I've done that, I've had to move out first...too many to hide & no other options. No regrets though.

Well...I do like surprises, and baby snakes. However, I would have preferred to know eggs were coming as I would have set up a nesting box and incubator. Bullet was the only successful hatchling of the three potentially viable eggs, the other two did not hatch. And though I thought he was perfect, he was slightly kinked and ended up with a much shorter life span than normal. I wouldn’t have given the little guy up though.