 |
 |
|
| Home | Collection | Available | Plans | Morph Guide | Forum | Vivarium | Care | Downloads | Links | ||
 |
 |
|
|
|
Breeding CornsnakesWritten by Natalie Wadley Thanks to the author for permission to reproduce this article The BreedingItems needed in this step:
The first and most important point to make is the snakes must be ready to breed. 3:3:3 rule – this means your snakes, most importantly the female needs to be at least 3 years: 3 foot: 300grams in weight. This is ideal and will limit any problems that could occur. Mating ritualCooling of the snakes isn’t necessary; this is usually done by breeders to increase clutch size. Introduce the male and female if they aren’t already. Your female will be ready to breed after her first shed of the year; the male is usually ready and waiting. Your female will emit a strong pheromone, which will prompt the male to investigate. On realising it’s a female that’s ready to breed, he will start courtship. First he will start pulsing; he will then rub his chin along the female whilst lining up with her. He will then push his tail under hers so that mating can occur. There will be chasing, as the female plays hard to get so you may miss some of these rituals. Males may gently bite the head or neck of the female, this is mostly seen in males that are smaller than their mate. The breeding session can take up to 20 minutes if the pair is undisturbed. One mating will usually be enough for a healthy female to become gravid. The gravid femaleThe female is will deposit eggs 31-45 days after mating has occurred. 7-14 days before the female is ready to lay, she will have a pre-lay shed. This is your cue to place a nesting box in her vivarium, separate the male if not done already, and turn on the incubator. The nesting boxThis needs to be big enough to fit 2 gravid females in. Use a tube you can see in so you can keep an eye on your female’s progress. Cut a circular hole in the corner of the lid, cut off and shape bits. You will need damp sphagnum moss or damp course vermiculite to go in the nesting box. Place the nesting box in the warm end of the viv, doing this at the first signs of shed will prompt the female to use it to help her shed and so becomes a familiar place when it comes to laying. Your female will be really active a few days before laying, as though she is looking for somewhere to lay. 99% of the time they use the nesting box you have provided. EggsThe female will lay anytime day or night. The laying process may take 1-2 hours or a whole day in some cases. Once you are sure she has finished laying you can remove the eggs. Egg removalFor this I would use two people, one person to make sure to female is ok and the other to make sure the eggs are ok. You will probably find the female coiled up on the eggs. This is why you need two people as she may keep hold of the eggs as you start to lift her. After 1-2 hours the eggs will have stuck together DO NOT try to separate them, they will die. Transfer the eggs from the nesting box to the egg box in the incubator DO NOT TURN THE EGGS, AS THE EMBRIOS WILL DROWN AND DIE, KEEP THEM THE SAME WAY THEY WERE LAYED. After care for your femaleYour female will be tired and hungry after laying her clutch as she may have stopped eating prior to laying. The first step is to check there are no eggs left inside her. To do this place you hand on a flat surface, palm facing down, spread your fingers. Get you female to go over your fingers, you will feel if there are any eggs left, also try placing silk over your fingers it will enhance the feeling. This method can be done prior to laying, once experienced you can estimate how many eggs she may have. Next, offer your female 1 of 2 fuzzies, she may take it she may not, don’t be worried at this stage. About 10 days after laying your female will have a post-lay shed, and should resume feeding normally after this. If possible don’t place the female back with the male as she may become gravid again. Making an incubatorItems need in this step:
Place your polystyrene box on a flat, stable surface and somewhere it’s not going to get knocked about. The heat mat needs to fit in the centre of the poly lid. Attach it with duct tape; this should stay on all the way through the incubation process.
The heat mat needs to be connected to your thermostat, which is connected to the mains. Preparing the egg boxThe egg box needs to have a lid. You will need to put holes in the box so the external probes can enter, I suggest cutting the hole/s in the corner of the box where the box meets the lid.
Do not make the holes too big, just enough to fit the leads in, too big a holes will cause too much airflow and may dry the eggs too much. The egg box needs to be filled about 2” deep with damp vermiculite. Vermiculite – water mixture3 parts vermiculite to 1 part water. Fill the water bottle with water and place it in the incubator with the egg box. The water bottle is in case the vermiculite dries out too much, so you have water ready that is the same temp as the incubator and won’t be a temperature shock for the eggs if added.
At this point there would be no eggs but it’s the only picture I have showing the water bottle. Now you add the digital thermometer, digital hygrometer and thermostat probes into the egg box, you may need to bury them.
The white lead is the digital thermometer, the thinner black lead is from the digital hygrometer and the thicker black lead is from the thermostat Temperature and humidityThe digital hygrometer needs to read 80-100%, the closer to 100 the better. The digital thermometer needs to read 28-29 degree C DO NOT GO OVER 30 DEGREES C, THIS MAY KILL THE EGGS, OVER 33 DEGREES WILL.
Black one is the digital hygrometer and the white one is the digital thermometer. In order to obtain the correct temps and humidity the thermostat needs to be adjusted correctly. This may take a couple of days to get right so turn the incubator on when the female goes in to her pre-lay shed, so when the eggs are layed the temps and humidity are correct and the eggs can go in. The eggs in the incubator need to be slightly buried. Shut the egg box and the incubator. You will have to check the temps and humidity guages over the next few days as they may vary now the eggs have been added, and so need adjusting. Open the egg box every 3-5 days for air exchange; if the eggs turn yellow after 2 weeks then they have died. Any eggs that do go yellow need to be removed from the healthy eggs. At any point through out the incubation period you notice the eggs dimpling, add some water from the bottle in the incubator to boost the humidity. Waiting gameIf you have maintained a temp of 28-30 degrees C, the eggs will hatch on average 59 days, however they can hatch as early as 50 days and as late as 80 days. 3-6 days before the eggs are due to hatch you may notice dimpling, this is normal, it’s the hatchling absorbing the yoke, getting ready to come out. When the eggs are hatching try not to disturb them too much, they can take up to 2 days to leave the egg. Once all snakes are out you can remove them and put them in their individual homes. Expect to get bitten, it doesn’t hurt, the babies are going to be scared. Once you notice the first egg pipping, turn you heat strip on.
After careItems needed in this step:
Picture has no heat strip in but it runs through the centre of the tanks. You need to get a heat strip long and wide enough to accommodate the individual tubs. You can use clear plastic Chinese containers (make small air holes) to house you hatchlings or the small tubs that pet shops sell their cricket’s in. either of these will be sufficient to house one hatchling each. The heat strip needs to be connected to the thermostat. You need to keep the hatchlings at a temp of 27-29 degrees C. Kitchen roll is a good substrate for hatchlings as it absorbs faeces, uneaten mice are easily found and the hatchlings can hide under it. The hatchlings will shed about 1 week after hatchling, after this you can offer them 1 pinkie mice every 3-4 days. All the hatchlings need fresh water daily, and regular handling (not 24-48 hours after eating) I advise you keep a feeding record for each snake, and as the hatchlings are in separate containers this won’t be a problem. CostIn total everything cost me £174, however this doesn’t include the cost of pinkies, over the several weeks of keeping them, and not to mention the cost of advertising the hatchlings Good luck if you decide to breed, I hope you will be successful, and I hope this guide will help. I do suggest getting other perspectives of the breeding process, this method works for me but may not work for you Natalie Wadley |
||
|
|
ACR Registered Breeder No. 474
Contact us:
© Ian Bradley