Breeding your Corn Snakes

Breeding is something which crosses the mind of all corn snake owners at some point or another and in order to successfully do this, you will need to know some of the basic information.

Firstly, you need to have a male and a female corn which are at least 3 feet long, 3 years old, and around 300 grams in order to safely breed.

When your corns have reached this age, length, and weight, they will need to be brumated (hibernated). When you brumate them you need to mimic the cooling effects of winter and the warming up effects in spring. It is good to start brumation around mid-Autumn. There is no set date, anywhere between October-December will be fine.

As you approach your set date to start brumation, feed the snakes more often than usual. Feeding ceases during hibernation and so it is important to gain an optimum weight before winter. Then, two weeks before you put them into brumation cut off all food. This is so that they are free of all food in their digestive system before the heat is turned off. When these two weeks are up and they are ready for brumation, turn off all lights and leave them alone in a dark place for up to 90 days. Only disturb them to change their water (They will still drink during brumation). The temperature during brumation should be between 50-55 degrees.

When the brumation period is almost up, gradually turn back on the lights. Let them see light for one hour each day for a week and turn the heat back up gradually. After about a week of heat, offer them both a smaller than usual rodent. The next week you can begin to feed them their regular size rodents again.

A few weeks later the female will shed her skin. This is a sign that she is ready to be bred. You can then place her in with the male for the magic to happen! Do not disturb them during this period but stay close and listen for any rapid movements. It is common for the male to chase the female around so don’t be alarmed if you hear this. If the female approves of the male she will then let him breed with her. They can be together anywhere from a few minutes up to a few hours. When they are finished, look for a  yellow goop - this is a sign that they have bred. If they do not breed, try again in a few days.

About a month after breeding, the female will stop eating and about 4-6 weeks after breeding the female will shed her skin. This is a sign that she will lay in the next few weeks.

You now need to put a container that will be big enough for her to easily fit in, inside her enclosure. Cut a hole in the top of it that is about 3 times the width of her and place damp sphagnum moss or another substrate that is soft and holds moisture in the bottom. She should lay anywhere between 6-8 weeks after breeding. If you see her in the lay box laying eggs, leave her alone for a few hours.

When your female is finished laying all of her eggs, carefully take them out of the lay box and put the eggs into a container with substrate that will keep in the humidity - Vermiculite is an example. Put this container into an incubator. Keep the humidity as high as you can. The temperature should be between 76 and 82 degrees. You need to keep the eggs and substrate moist. Spraying the eggs and substrate with room temperature water once a week will help ensure this. Humidity should be between 80-95%.

Approximately 2 months after the eggs are placed into the incubator you may see them indenting. This means that the eggs will hopefully hatch in the next 3-6 days. When they hatch, place the babies into separate containers with a small water dish and paper towel in each. They will shed in the first week or so. After they shed, feed them one pinky mouse. Do this once every week until they can eat fluffs.

Breeding snakes is truly fulfilling. You can not describe the excitement of seeing tiny baby corns sticking their heads out of the egg. Do not expect to make much money from breeding corns as you will probably spend a lot more than you make but it is all worth it.

If you still have questions please drop by the forum. There are always people willing to help!