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I'm probably missing it but...Information on Breeding

CWall

New member
I did a couple searches and looked back through some pages. I am looking for the very basics of breeding. I'm just interested in how all of it has to take place, what all does the owner have to do, how old do the snakes have to be, how do you know they are mature, blah blah blah. i'm looking for pretty much all information on breeding corn snakes and can't find it anywhere. Can someone point me in the right direction please? Thanks!
 
OK, so it looks like I need to get a book by Kathy Love and it will give me most of the information I'm looking for...anything else?
 
You could.... do a search in this very forum as the threads here contain all the information you asked for already?
 
Well I guess I'm lost...I searched in all forums as well as this one. It's cool I guess I can find the info somewhere else. I realize that you people want us to search first which I did...oh well.
 
I would buy Kathy Love's book, Don Soderberg's book, and look at Sean Niland's website- VMS Herp, in the education section. He has a very good section about setting up new hatchlings, too.
 
I browsed thread titles for you by simply going from one page of threads to the next.

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97014 "How old can a corn start?"

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96306 "Copulation to egg laying..."

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96259 "Non-brumated female breeding reception ???s"

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95717 "What age do they wanna mate"

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95690 "Humidity Questions"

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92073 "How to tell when a corn is gravid?"

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17939 "Jello Butt". I'm not seeing the pictures, but the information is still good.
 
I'm not sure that all of those even have to do with the basics of breeding, but even if they do I'm not sure how I'd know that "jellybutt" had to do with breeding, haha. It's cool, none of those were on my first page of results, I even went several pages deep. Just curious, what did you search for? I tried to search for "BREEDING AGE" and "BASICS OF BREEDING" and "BREEDING FAQ" and didn't see any of the ones that you listed...just saying, its ok though I got the information out of a member that wasn't trying to be a jerk. It's cool I know people are supposed to search...I did, didn't see the info I was looking for, so I asked.

I would have thought that would be the steps to take before posting...not sure what you want from me so I'll just say "thank you".
 
I didn't search at all to find those. I just went to the bottom of the first page of the actual *subforum*.... and hit "next".
 
Interesting...I guess I should have browsed instead of searching...I checked out the first page and thought I went further as well, but I guess not. Thanks a lot.
 
The jellobutt thread actually has some good photos of how to tell if your snake is gravid!

(Or not- the photos have been removed. Which is a disadvantage to using a photo hosting site and linking to it. Those photos were an excellent teaching tool, and had they been stored on the cs.com server, they would have been here forever).
 
See I didn't even know what that meant...I'll check it out. I guess I'm totally ignorant about this stuff. Spiders (tarantulas) have been my thing up until these couple snakes I've got now (corns and ball pythons). Thanks for helping me learn.
 
Here are my thoughts:

Researching the market for the Corns you'll be breeding is a good move as you're new to the reptile world.

Some Corn morphs are very much more expensive than others as they're still relatively rare and sell to specialists/other breeders. These will decrease in price pretty rapidly, as Corns mature around three years of age. If you buy hatchlings with the intention of breeding, you won't be alone. By the time your offspring hit the market, they're unlikely to be selling for anywhere near what their parents cost you. Even so, you probably won't be selling all of them locally so look into internet marketing and shipping.

Some of the cheaper Corn morphs sell better because they're cheaper and so more geared toward the pet market. You can probably sell these locally and not worry about wider advertising or shipping. However, your local market may be limited, depending on how large the population is and what other Corn breeders there are in the area.

If you have a local reptile shop (or shops) and you're confident that they are responsible, you could ask about wholesaling to them. However, this will get you significantly less per hatchling than the shop will then sell them on for. You essentially pay for the convenience of being able to sell large numbers of Corns for minimal effort on your part. Selling direct from your home can be a bit of a pain, with purchasers tramping in and out of your house if you want them to collect.

Know what you want to produce and buy breeding animals that will get you these. Falling in love with an impulse purchase at a show is very common (been there, bought the T-shirt!) but you can end up with Corns that won't fit your plans unless you're very hard-nosed.

Bear in mind that the Corn market can be volatile - there are runs of good years, but also the occasional bad year. You won't necessarily be able to sell all that you breed quickly, so be prepared for longer term housing/feeding of hatchlings, just in case. My general feeling is that the past 18 months have been quite difficult, with many people (including me) still housing/feeding hatchlings that arrived last Summer. With anything between 10-30 hatchlings from one clutch this can be a drain on finances, so keep a bit of money set aside just in case.

A pool of savings will also help with potential vet bills, as in my experience, breeding has been the single biggest reason for my vet visits.

Blimey - this makes breeding sound like a bit of a disaster area! Sorry, I didn't mean it to. However, these are all points worth mulling over as you're doing your research.

Good luck!
 
Thanks bitsy...no problem with the way it makes breeding sound. I've had very similar conversations with folks about caring for tarantula clutches that they cant' get rid of and so on. It's hard to fathom what 1000 tiny spiders look like until you see them and have to get rid of them by selling or giving away.

I don't know that I'll ever breed any, just was wondering sort of how it works and all that stuff.
 
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