Small Breeders?

[BHReptiles]

Anyone have 2 year olds breed late in the year? I've got a 2 yr old that's 300g now and I'm wondering if she could go for a late year clutch or if I should just hold off until next spring like I originally had planned.

[Dracoluna]

You could but you run the risk of her double clutching and not being able to handle it. Do you know if it runs in the line?

[BHReptiles]

You could but you run the risk of her double clutching and not being able to handle it. Do you know if it runs in the line?

That's a good question to ask. I still have her parent's names/ID numbers so I'll contact the breeder and see. I have a male who's tub is next to hers and he's really interested in her (or appears to be). He's 170ish grams but he's just as long as she is.

[BHReptiles]

I contacted the breeder and no snake on family tree double clutch on their own. She also says that this particular clutch are pretty robust and were some of her quickest growing babies. My girl's clutchmate actually sired a clutch this season.

[Annarose15]

Am I reading correctly that she is only 300g right now? Reasonable growth rate is ~100g/month, so I wouldn't even be considering breeding her this winter. I have a 650g girl that I've already written off until the 2014/15 season.

Edit - Ignore me completely, I had a blonde moment there. It would have helped for me to pay attention that this is in the "Corns" forum!

[BHReptiles]

Am I reading correctly that she is only 300g right now? Reasonable growth rate is ~100g/month, so I wouldn't even be considering breeding her this winter. I have a 650g girl that I've already written off until the 2014/15 season.

Edit - Ignore me completely, I had a blonde moment there. It would have helped for me to pay attention that this is in the "Corns" forum!

You had me completely confused for a moment!

Yes, my girl is a 300g cornsnake! Lordy, if she were a ball python I would be an idiot to try and breed her! The breeder is pretty certain that she could go and regain the weight quickly. Her only concern was that she may have ovulated. However, this will be my first corn clutch so I'm not really cure what a corn ovulation looks like. But with her just being breeding size, I don't -think- she would have ovulated.

I have a 850g ball python girl that I'm HOPING will be ready this fall. She's slamming rats. I'm thinking about giving my 2600g girl a year off to try and get an earlier clutch. At the rate she's going, I won't be getting eggs from her until August or September.

[Annarose15]

Yeah, I was pretty sure you had more sense than that!

[BHReptiles]

Yeah, I was pretty sure you had more sense than that!

Sometimes, I have my moments but I generally don't fail that epically! I was instructed to feel for follicles in this female (much like with ball pythons). If I feel follicles, it's too late and she's ovulated. If I don't feel them, it can't hurt to pair. We'll see. She just ate a mouse yesterday so I'll hold off a few days and let her poop (usually day 3 or 4 post-meal for her) before I go feeling for follicles.

[Annarose15]

Sometimes, I have my moments but I generally don't fail that epically! I was instructed to feel for follicles in this female (much like with ball pythons). If I feel follicles, it's too late and she's ovulated. If I don't feel them, it can't hurt to pair. We'll see. She just ate a mouse yesterday so I'll hold off a few days and let her poop (usually day 3 or 4 post-meal for her) before I go feeling for follicles.

Hmm...follicles are PRE-ovulation. After ovy, they become eggs (fert or not) or slugs. Follicles can resorb, which would mean there was no ovy and the chance was missed.

[BHReptiles]

Hmm...follicles are PRE-ovulation. After ovy, they become eggs (fert or not) or slugs. Follicles can resorb, which would mean there was no ovy and the chance was missed.

That's what I thought too. Here's what she said on facebook:

Corn snakes will normally shed their skin right around the time they ovulate and are ready for breeding right after that happens in the spring. Whether I brumate them or not, they pretty much ovulate in the spring and lay eggs by late spring or very early summer. You often can palpate the individual follicles inside a corn that has ovulated if you run slightly pinched fingers down her lower body. They feel like a strand of pearls. Ovulating corns don't look like they swallowed a football or anything, but you can usually feel their follicles if you try. If you can feel them on your girl, go ahead and put a male in with her and see if he is interested. It might already be too late, though, unless that interest you mentioned was very recent. Some corns will lay their slugs, and others will reabsorb them. They normally do a fasting period, but if they are not bred well before that begins, then it is usually too late to get a get a fertile clutch.

That was from Wendy Henderson (Wendhend here on the forums). She's got a lot more experience in breeding corns than I do. The only reason I asked about her possibly being receptive is that before I went out of town, I was cleaning cages and threw my male in with her (they are next to one another on the rack and I usually clean racks in rows) thinking both of them were too young to breed. However, the male was very interested in my girl and was trying to court her. That's what made me wonder if she was ready for breeding.