Sperm retention?

[NI GUY]

I'm starting this thread to try and get as many different peoples experiences
on sperm retention from one year to the next and not double clutching.
I know cornsnakes can hold sperm from one year to the next but under what
conditions? Has anyone ever had it happen when a corn was brumated,or
only when they have been cooled?

The reason I ask is we've bought a pair corns a few years back as het for
a higher end morph here in Ireland.The breeding should have give a 1 in 4 result this year from a 15 egg clutch but no recessive snakes were produced .At first I thought maybe we've got really bad odds and mother
nature just isn't on our side,so I phone the guy that sold them to us.
He seemed to strongly believe that corns can't hold sperm from one
year to the next,then has changed his mind and said they can't when brumated.
Would any one please post any info they have on this phenomenon to
help us shed a bit more light on the subject?Old threads you were involved in
or any of your experances would be much appreciated.

 

[Susan]

The reason I ask is we've bought a pair corns a few years back as het for
a higher end morph here in Ireland.The breeding should have give a 1 in 4 result this year from a 15 egg clutch but no recessive snakes were produced.

You're asking about sperm retention in relation to this mating or to the mating that produced your pair?

I've got some experience with retained sperm, but no personal experience with retained sperm from the previous year. I've heard of and seen the results of long-term sperm retention, so I'm convinced it can happen. I'm not sure about the effects of brumation, but I would say that brumated corns would have a possible higher incidence of retaining viable sperm over those that are just cooled or even left at regular temps. It's a known fact that heat kills sperm, while you can freeze sperm for long periods (years) and still have a high percentage of them be viable after thawing.

I also have personal experience in dealing with the "odds" of producing specific combos from hets. Not getting that 1 in 4 offspring out a clutch of 15 eggs is not unheard of and you may have just had a bad year. Next year, you may end up with almost an entire clutch of the 1 in 4 hatchlings. That's just the way things work.

But contact the breeder of your pair again and get specific information on what and when he bred the pair that produced your snakes, and what and when he had bred the female to before that. That could give you a better idea what to test breed them with.

I had snakes that I had intended to be het butter. Instead, they ended up being just het motley from the mother's previous pairing. It took me a few years of not getting any caramel-based hatchlings from any of the females (I had kept 4) and then testing the one female I still had last year with a motley for me to be sure. And I only got 1 motley offspring from her last year, but that was enough. But this year, Lady Luck balanced all of the damage Murphy had caused. I bred the female to an anery motley male just to produce a few normal and anery motleys. Well, the male was a possible het dilute and I highly suspect that some of the resulting offspring are dilutes - anery and normal! Just some proof for you to try again next year, and to test breed if possible as you never know what you may actually have!

 

[NI GUY]

But contact the breeder of your pair again and get specific information on what and when he bred the pair that produced your snakes, and what and when he had bred the female to before that. That could give you a better idea what to test breed them with.

Thanks for your reply Susan.

I did ask this information from him in the phone call.The corns I have
are amels and he had bred that female to amel based morphs the year
before so there wouldn't be any indication of what hatchlings came from the year before.

 

[NI GUY]

You're asking about sperm retention in relation to this mating or to the mating that produced your pair?

I've got some experience with retained sperm, but no personal experience with retained sperm from the previous year. I've heard of and seen the results of long-term sperm retention, so I'm convinced it can happen. I'm not sure about the effects of brumation, but I would say that brumated corns would have a possible higher incidence of retaining viable sperm over those that are just cooled or even left at regular temps. It's a known fact that heat kills sperm, while you can freeze sperm for long periods (years) and still have a high percentage of them be viable after thawing.

My thoughts too.I work in a cargo department at my local airport and I
see semen being flown in from all over the world from various animals.
There all either frozen or kept very cool.