breeding problems need help

[Shiari]

You need to separate them, asap. How much do they each weigh? 2 years old is rather young for a female to breed without a very high risk of complications, such as egg-binding which can be fatal.

 

[Christen]

hi i have recently inherited 2 lovely corn snakes, they are about 2 yrs old and im still trying to figure out what kind they are as there is so many types . i have one male and one female both housed in the same tank i was given with them. i have tried to read as much info as i can on them but there are still a few questions i need answers for so any advice would be much appreciated thanks
1. one of them strikes and constricts around the mouse when fed but the other shows no interest when fed so i have taken to leaving the mouse in the tank and leaving it to it is that ok ???

2. last saturday i found them mating and again last night, from what i have read they are not the right age for breeding just yet and wondered will this cause a problem ?

3. since mating neither are interested in feeding how long should i wait to try again and how long can they go without a feed ?

As Megan said they need to be separated ASAP. The male is going to continue to pester her. It is very normal for a snake to not want to strike, some of them just seem to know that there is no need for it since it is dead. However, if they are housed together I would not leave food in the same enclosure. As far as them not eating it could be because it is breeding season or it could be because they are stressed out. Separating may help with the male. It may not help with the female if she is hugely :spinner: gravid (pregnant). Do you know if she is or not at this time? If you are able to get weights on them and if you have pictures of them, particularly the female if you have them, that would be helpful.

 

[joanne25]

thanks for all your help, i dont leave both snakes in the enclosure when fed while one is being fed the other is being handled then i wait a couple of days and then do same again, when i very first got them being a newbie i tried to feed them at the same time, while one took the mouse straight away the other was very uninterested and before i knew 2o mins had past with me holding the mouse in the tank and the one that had just fed came out of now where and took the mouse intended for the other one so i know seperate them when feeding lol.
im just awaiting new doors for the other tank i have aquired so will split asap.
both chomp and buzz(named by my sons) are about 4ft long and i havnt yet weighed them but will, what is the ideal weight for a snake that size?
how will i know if the female(chomp) is pregnant ?
will try and posts some pics as i still dont know what kind they are ? lol
thanks again for all ur help its much appreciated

 

[Christen]

thanks for all your help, i dont leave both snakes in the enclosure when fed while one is being fed the other is being handled then i wait a couple of days and then do same again, when i very first got them being a newbie i tried to feed them at the same time, while one took the mouse straight away the other was very uninterested and before i knew 2o mins had past with me holding the mouse in the tank and the one that had just fed came out of now where and took the mouse intended for the other one so i know seperate them when feeding lol.
im just awaiting new doors for the other tank i have aquired so will split asap.
both chomp and buzz(named by my sons) are about 4ft long and i havnt yet weighed them but will, what is the ideal weight for a snake that size?
how will i know if the female(chomp) is pregnant ?
will try and posts some pics as i still dont know what kind they are ? lol
thanks again for all ur help its much appreciated

First off I love the names. As far as weight it is hard to judge just by weight alone we mostly go by overall body condition which is why I asked for pictures. I have a couple snakes that are the same length and look the same weight but they are about 100 grams different. But the reason the weight was asked at all is because it is not recommended to breed a snake less than 300 grams. They loose a lot of weight breeding. The first time one of my snakes layed eggs I just looked at her and started crying and said "I can't ever do this to my babies again."

For all the reasons you mentioned that is why you don't want to feed them in the same enclosure but once when they are separated it is ok to feed in the tank if that is how you can get her to eat. I like to feed in separate tubs only because it give me time to clean cages without them being in there but I do have a king snake that will only eat in the tank and some snake owners prefer to feed that way.

Please post pics when you get a chance that way we can help you morph and weight, plus we like to see pictures of everyone's babies.

 

[bitsy]

how will i know if the female(chomp) is pregnant ?

I'm afraid the only real way to know, will be when she lays! Some of them get bulky or lumpy in their end third as the eggs develop. But I have one that can drop a clutch of 15 eggs without warning and you wouldn't know she was gravid beforehand. She stays the same shape and eats right up to laying.

 

[Christen]

I'm afraid the only real way to know, will be when she lays! Some of them get bulky or lumpy in their end third as the eggs develop. But I have one that can drop a clutch of 15 eggs without warning and you wouldn't know she was gravid beforehand. She stays the same shape and eats right up to laying.

Thank you some how I didn't even see that question. I am assuming that you have bred her more than once and she still doesn't show? I have a female that I bred last year that I could not tell she was pregnant. I put a lay box in there with her just because she was acting funny and sure enough 15 eggs out of her too. I was kind of hoping that they would show a little more after the first time but at least I know what to expect with her now.

 

[bitsy]

I am assuming that you have bred her more than once and she still doesn't show? I have a female that I bred last year that I could not tell she was pregnant. I put a lay box in there with her just because she was acting funny and sure enough 15 eggs out of her too.

Yes - Lilah is a serial offender in the surprise eggs department! I mated her for two years without results and in the third year I was convinced it had failed again until I found a fertile clutch laid next to the water bowl. Next year I was watching out for it but still missed it when I felt for the eggs. Not only that, but she was eating and behaving normally as well. Luckily I had a humid hide in with her anyway this time, just in case.

I think the problem is her build. She's quite short for an adult but very stocky and muscular - her bulk is pure muscle rather than flab, which I assume makes the eggs harder to feel inside her.

 

[Christen]

Yes - Lilah is a serial offender in the surprise eggs department! I mated her for two years without results and in the third year I was convinced it had failed again until I found a fertile clutch laid next to the water bowl. Next year I was watching out for it but still missed it when I felt for the eggs. Not only that, but she was eating and behaving normally as well. Luckily I had a humid hide in with her anyway this time, just in case.

I think the problem is her build. She's quite short for an adult but very stocky and muscular - her bulk is pure muscle rather than flab, which I assume makes the eggs harder to feel inside her.

Ok so I won't be surprised if she does it again to me this year. I think that might have been the problem with my girl last year. Because she is a body builder of a snake too. You can see ever muscle in that girls body and I don't make her work out.

 

[bitsy]

Ok so I won't be surprised if she does it again to me this year.

Definitely be prepared!

 

[joanne25]

buzz and chomp








buzz and chomp
buzz the orange one is a male and weighs 243grams
and chomp the brown one is the female and weighs 256grams
hope the pictures have come out all right had a nightmare trying to upload them but managed to resize them on a website n upload them,
i think chomp is a common corn ?? i could be wrong lol but have no idea what buzz is !! any ideas
thanks joanne

 

[Christen]

You are right Chomp is a classic corn and Buzz is an amel (amelanistic). Very pretty snakes. Chomp is a little smaller than we like to see breeding but we will have to see how she does. Corns have bred that size before and done perfectly fine.

 

[joanne25]

thanks for ur help, really nervous about her having eggs heard there can be alot of probs when they are young and not the right weight would hate to see anything bad happen to her as she is such a great snake very affectionate and loves having her head stroked will hope for the best. so what kind of babies can i expect from a amel and a natural ????.
took a visit to my local breeder yesterday and also got some great advice from him 2, he has also offered to hatch any eggs for me for free (as i dont have any of the equipment) and return any babies, he has been breeding for 30yrs and is a corn fanatic lol while i was there i fell in love with a lavender ghost corn and banana cali king and am very tempted but resisted the urge to buy (pat on the back 4 me ) as i want to concentrate on chomp and buzz at the moment but who knows in the future

 

[Christen]

Good Job resisting the urge. I haven't learned the art as of yet. The last reptile show in my area my husband said I wasn't allowed to go.

If there are no matching hets (genes that you can't see but they carry) then you will get all classics. Are they siblings?

 

[joanne25]

no they are not siblings, does this make a difference ??? or should i still expect all naturals from any eggs she lays.

 

[bitsy]

Might be worth asking the breeder for advice on how to sell the hatchlings as well. With 30 years of experience, he's going to be well-placed to work round the downturn in the market that's happened over the last couple of years.

 

[joanne25]

yeah he did say that he would sell any babies i didnt want for me, on the basis he could keep 1 male and 1 female out of the batch which i thought was quite reasonable. im newbie so i wouldnt have a clue where to start selling them

 

[bitsy]

It's great to have a contact like that. It always pays to think ahead about selling. Feeding a bunch of Corn hatchlings can get to be expensive if you're left with them for a few months rather than a few weeks.

It's a bit odd that someone in his position would want a pair of Normals het Amel when he has the other types of morphs you've mentioned. But hey - don't look a gift horse in the mouth, especially these days!

 

[susang]

To the OP how are your snakes doing any progress, did you seperate them?

 

[Christen]

no they are not siblings, does this make a difference ??? or should i still expect all naturals from any eggs she lays.

No it really doesn't make a difference but if they were siblings then you would know that Chomp carries the amel gene and you would get half and half amels and normals. I would still count on all normals just so that you aren't disappointed but there is a possibility that you may get something else.

 

[joanne25]

i thought that to but he hasnt had any naturals for about 4 yrs he usually has other morphs but he has a few people intersted in them so wants to start breeding them, so it works for both of us the glassdoors for my other viv are ready today so will pick them up and seperate as soon as i get home. im not really fussed what babies chomp has as long as she is ok at the end x