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Female Breeding Weights

R

Robertk

New member
I just joined the forum a couple of weeks ago and have found it to be an invaluable resource so far. My brother and myself are the proud owners of 3 corns (aswell as a couple of boas). We had previously tried to breed corns with a proven breeder we had purchased a couple of years ago but with no success, we subsequently lost that female (old age perhaps) and we purchased an additional two corns (a male and a female), both young adults which we hoped to breed next year.26 days ago the female laid 8 apparently fertile eggs we were surprised but delighted and fortunately we had the setup ready from our previous attempts. I was reading through your section on breeding and eggs etc and came across references to minimum female breeding weights being in excess of 300 grams. Out of curiosity i ran down to the shed and took out the female and brought her up to the house and weighed her, to my absolute shock she weighed in at approx 100 grams ONLY!.Is this extremely rare? Are we lucky not to have lost her?
P.S I have fed her 5 or 6 times since she laid the eggs. She looks healthy - ijust had no idea she was so small for a breeding female.I`d also like to thank all those who contribute to the site it has helped me hugely with the care of my first ever clutch of snake eggs.
P.P.S weighed her several times to be sure and checked the scales were accurate.
 
Is she still housed with the male? The most important thing is to make sure she isn't made to lay more eggs when she is so small. Feed her well and she should do well. But make sure she isn't with a male.

How are the eggs doing?
 
I would say that you are extremely lucky that she didn't become eggbound. It could have killed her. I agree with Sasheena, please make sure she is separated from the male now. You should keep her separated from here on out except for when you intend to breed her.
 
She`s on her own and feeding well.The eggs- - I`ve never bred cornsnakes before or any other egg laying snake (Bred Garters before) but based on the info i`ve sourced online and in particular on this forum i`d say 6 of the 8 are definately still Ok (I`ve managed to see veins in two of the eggs using the candelling technique) and that the other 2 are slightly suspect ( a bit sunken and slightly discoloured -though i`m not giving up on them). I`ve had some difficulty with the humidity -White fuzzy stuff on a couple of them and some green/blue mould on a couple-which i`ve been treating with the listerine on an ear bud/ Q-Tip i read about on the forum.
 
Robert,

great news that she is on her own and feeding well. She was lucky, but it sounds as if all went well. Don't let her near a male again this year.

Good luck with those eggs,

Skye
 
Happy Days

About 2 hours ago the pipping began .So far only 2 have slit the eggs and are still being shy.Out of the 8 eggs 6 have looked doomed for about a week or so -i mean really bad - shrivelled and mouldy but it was one of the bad ones that has pipped first (everybody thought they were no hopers- but we did`nt give up on them). I`m absolutely delighted.Can`t wait to see how many hatch and what those little guys will look like.I`ll keep you all updated.
 
I have had corns lose about 100 grams after laying, and laid a second, at least partially fertile clutch about 2 months later without mating again. Be sure to feed her well, Smaller than normal mice if necessary, just in case this happens to you.
 
Hi Ripper - on that note we did keep her away from the males after the first breeding and we fed her really well- but i think she`s gravid again anyway but she has`nt laid yet and its 21 days since what may have been her pre-lay shed - unless i`m wrong - hope she`s not egg-bound .How do i know bar her appearing gravid and not laying.
 
First, how lonng has it been since her first clutch? If less than 2 months then I wouldn't worry yet. If more, Then tyou may have a problem. I have never dealt with an egg bound snake but, my females stop feeding when they are ready to lay, usually about 2 weeks give or take. For me this is a better indicator than when they last shed. I have had snakes ( between my snakes and those of my room mate's ) lay eggs when they are in shed mode and what seemed like a very long time (I think around 3 weeks) after they shed. So if she is still feeding I think you are ok.

But this is just my opinion and although I am pretty good at spotting a gravid snake I havn't seen yours. My best advice, if you think she may be eggbound is to take her to a vet that treats herps (not all do). Some advice about vets...Just because they say they treat herps doesn't mean that they have a lot of experience with them, ask around. Maybe someone here knows a vet in your area. Where are you writing from?
 
Thanks for your advice ripper.The first clutch were laid 59 days ago and are in the process of hatching now - 3 out so far with a 4th one pipping.
 
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