For all you experienced Corn breeders!

[Argentra]

Ok, I have read that female corns should be at least 300g and around 2-3 years old to be bred. I also know that my candycane female is about 2, weighed in at 346g earlier this month (and she's still not on full sized meals after hibernation), and was loosely measured at 3'8".

My question to all you experienced corn breeders is this: When should I start pairing her up? She came out of hibernation on Jan 25 and is now up to weanling size mice, fed every 5 days to get her back to speed. Should I do anything differently with her? Also, she has one heck of an attitude that I hope can be attributed to being hungry. She, and the male I intend to pair her with (my snow) are currently in QT and should be out around March 10th since they are both great eaters and have shed for me perfectly with no signs of other troubles.
Also, HOW should I go about pairing them? The snow is pretty calm, at least compared to her. Should I put him in her tub or the other way around? Or does it really matter?

Sorry to ask so many questions, but I'm a total newbie to all this. Any other suggestions or comments on breeding would be quite welcome! Thanks.

[joepythons]

Ok, I have read that female corns should be at least 300g and around 2-3 years old to be bred. I also know that my candycane female is about 2, weighed in at 346g earlier this month (and she's still not on full sized meals after hibernation), and was loosely measured at 3'8".

My question to all you experienced corn breeders is this: When should I start pairing her up? She came out of hibernation on Jan 25 and is now up to weanling size mice, fed every 5 days to get her back to speed. Should I do anything differently with her? Also, she has one heck of an attitude that I hope can be attributed to being hungry. She, and the male I intend to pair her with (my snow) are currently in QT and should be out around March 10th since they are both great eaters and have shed for me perfectly with no signs of other troubles.
Also, HOW should I go about pairing them? The snow is pretty calm, at least compared to her. Should I put him in her tub or the other way around? Or does it really matter?

Sorry to ask so many questions, but I'm a total newbie to all this. Any other suggestions or comments on breeding would be quite welcome! Thanks.

Ok this is my experiance with breeding corn snakes.I never ever hibernated them.I kept them on a normal feeding and started introducing them around Christmas time.My females were never fed anything less then a rat fuzzy once they reached the size to eat them.I would place the male with the females for 3 days then he would get a break and i offered them both food.You will have no problem telling when they are ready to breed as he will chase her around the cage .The first time i thought she was killing him .You are fine asking any and all questions .If you have anymore just ask away

[Blue Apple Herps]

Ok, I have read that female corns should be at least 300g and around 2-3 years old to be bred. I also know that my candycane female is about 2, weighed in at 346g earlier this month (and she's still not on full sized meals after hibernation), and was loosely measured at 3'8".

Sounds like she's ready to go!

My question to all you experienced corn breeders is this: When should I start pairing her up? She came out of hibernation on Jan 25 and is now up to weanling size mice, fed every 5 days to get her back to speed. Should I do anything differently with her?

By now you could be feeding her normal sized meals to help her pack the weight on. Her system should be all in order. I usually feed my females one large mouse every 5-6 days instead of every 7. Once they've locked up I start to decrease prey size as they get larger. As for when to pair her up, some go right after brumation some don't. I start pairing up after post brumation shed.

She, and the male I intend to pair her with (my snow) are currently in QT and should be out around March 10th since they are both great eaters and have shed for me perfectly with no signs of other troubles.
Also, HOW should I go about pairing them? The snow is pretty calm, at least compared to her. Should I put him in her tub or the other way around? Or does it really matter?

Once they're out of QT, by then they should be ready to go. I usually put males into the females' cages. Though I used to have this crazy male who would go bazerkers if you took him out; so with him I put the female into his cage. Some also put them into a different tub all together so they can check for "evidence" of successful copulation.

Sorry to ask so many questions, but I'm a total newbie to all this. Any other suggestions or comments on breeding would be quite welcome! Thanks.

Make sure you have a lay box ready to go and incubation set up ready to go. I also pair up three times (or three times that I know they locked up). Three locks seems to be the magic number. I put them together then when they're done separate for 3 days and repeat this until there are at least three confirmed locks.

Good luck!

[Argentra]

Thank you so much for the advice! I appreciate every little tidbit I can get.

As for hibernation, I don't intend to do it myself... but I got her from a breeder who does, so she had been hibernated. She was in shed when I got her and shed quite nicely, and ever since has been a bit snotty. I will give her an adult mouse tomorrow night and keep her on that 5-6 schedule. How 'large' should she be before reducing prey size??

I will be getting my supplies for the incubator this weekend and will hopefully have enough time (classes -sigh) to get it put together by next weekend. I also already have the materials and boxes for my hatchling rack. My main concern now is getting those two together and doing it right.

[WestExHerps]

We usually start giving the girls smaller prey when you can tell that they have eggs.......you'll see them plump up at the lower end and if you are careful you can feel them even at an early stage.

[Blue Apple Herps]

I might give them one or two more "normal" meals after the last lock. Then I gradually work my way down each feeding. Some females will stop eating all together though, especially once they're close to laying - so don't freak if this happens to you. You'll see her start to seem "chunkier" over a couple of weeks after she breeds.

As for actually pairing them, cornsnakes are very easy to breed. At this point, I'm sure that if you just put them together you'll see them go right for it. You can tell they're interested because they'll start to twitch.