If there is space in your incubator, place each newborn in its own small plastic box and leave it in the incubator for 24 hours after hatching. This helps to keep it calm and allows it to adjust to its surroundings gradually. This is a question quite a lot of beginners have because incubators can be quite expensive. However, they are worth the investment because they help ensure the temperature remains consistent.
As with the previous method, place the eggs in secure egg boxes, and then place the egg boxes inside the tank. As you can see there is more work and more worry involved but some snake breeders have managed to make this incubation method work.
Although cannibalism is rare in corn snakes, it is possible in juveniles because some have a very good feeding response. After your snake has left the incubator, consider the following:. Babies will usually eat their first meal days after being born.
Once they have shed for the first time, this signals they are ready to eat. Feed them pinky mice twice a week. Cutting up their meal may help. Alternatively, dangling a pinky mouse in front of them with tongs can help to initiate a feeding response in juvenile snakes. Provide your snake with a small, shallow water dish. If the water dish is too big, there is a chance they could drown in it.
If you see your baby curling up in the water dish, this is a sign they over overheated or there is not enough humidity in their vivarium.
If you intend to keep your babies in a rack setup, you can provide heat to one side of the boxes using a heat cable. If you keep them in a tank, heat can be provided with a reptile heat mat, reptile basking light, and by monitoring ambient temperatures. Baby snakes shed their skin regularly about once a fortnight so they need humidity. To achieve this, place some damp sphagnum moss, coconut substrate or paper in a hide box.
If there is no space for a hide box, place this substrate over one-third of their enclosure. A lot of breeders keep their baby snakes in small plastic reptile tubs. However, if you are re-purposing a plastic box into a reptile tub, make sure there are some very small ventilation holes in the lid. These can be re-purposed from furniture, built yourself from scratch, or custom-made by specialist providers. Essentially, each snake is housed in a plastic box, and these boxes stack on top of each other in racks or drawers.
Heat is provided to one side of each rack using a heat cable. Ventilation must be adequate but equally the racks must fit tightly to prevent escapes. The major benefit of a rack system is the space-saving element, but it can be harder to maintain a thermogradient in this type of set-up. If you know you will be keeping one or more of your snakes, it makes sense to house the snake in a vivarium from birth.
A single hole, to enter and exit, twice the size of the females wides body part, should be made in the top of the box. The size of the box should be at least big enough to house two or three snakes of hot size.
Thin newspaper strips are a great nesting insulating material, as well as offering a lot of comfort for the female snake. Corn snake eggs are usually laid 30 — 45 days after mating, with a 10 — 30 eggs pre clutch. Young snakes may actually lay a low number of eggs. Commonly used incubation materials are sphagnum moss, or coarse vermiculite. These are both non toxic materials which remain damp for long periods.
Incubation temperature for the eggs range between Fahrenheit. This have been proven to be the most beneficial temperature for recently hatched corn snakes.
Bathing Water Bowl — Click Here. Heat Lamp and Guard — Click Here. Reliable Thermometer — Click Here. Climbing Branches — Click Here. Hydrometer — Click Here. Corn Snake Regurgitation. A proper enclosure will either have a screened top or openings for ventilation. Snakes can injure themselves by rubbing their snouts against sharp mesh. A good substrate will absorb fecal matter and stop it from spreading, cover the cage floor to give the snake traction when moving, and be visually appealing.
Aspen is a particularly good corn snake substrate because it allows corns to tunnel and burrow into it. Cypress mulch is also an option, but stay away from resinous woods like cedar, pine, and fir. They have oils and aromas that are toxic to snakes. Another feature essential to a good corn snake enclosure is somewhere to hide. You can either make your own hide box from a shoe box or plastic saucer, or you can buy a fancy one from the reptile store.
Whether or not you use live or fake plants is up to you, just make sure they are snake-safe. Snakes tend to curl around lights and will burn themselves. Happy, healthy corn snakes enjoy a range of temperatures in their enclosure. This gives them the ability to thermoregulate, aids in digestion, and can help keep their immune systems strong. Corn snakes thrive in the same temperature range as humans, between 70 and 88 degrees Fahrenheit. Most homes have a lower relative humidity when compared to the outdoors, which can cause dehydration problems and incomplete shedding.
Monitor the amount of time your corn snake spends soaking. Prolonged soaking can be a sign of illness, improper enclosure temperatures, or a mite infestation. Corn snakes originate in North America and were first noticed in the corn hutches of Native American Indians, where the snakes would feast on mice that came to eat the corn. Corn snakes are still well tolerated in the wild today because they help to keep rodent populations under control.
Corn snakes are members of the large common snake family called Colubridae. That makes them relatives to kings, milks, garters, waters, bulls, pines, and racers. Corn snakes are medium-sized and like to come out to hunt for food around dusk and early evenings. Their natural habitat ranges from fields to woodlands and they can often be found crawling across southern roads shortly before sundown. Despite being so naturally plentiful, the corn snake is highly bred to achieve an additional number of amazing color morphs and patterns.
Corn Snake - Pantherophis guttatus. Written by: PetMD Editorial. Published: December 02, Corn Snake Lifespan Corns that are kept as pets—not as part of a breeding colony—tend to live longer and happier lives than those kept for breeding. Corn Snake Appearance One reason why corn snakes are so popular is because of their extreme diversity in colors and appearance. Banded Banded corns are relatively new and still being developed. Zigzag or Zipper This pattern phenomenon first cropped up in the s in Florida.
Plain and Patternless Corn snakes can also have a plain belly, which is a belly lacking in the checkerboard pattern that most other corns have. Miami Phase Many corn snake phases are named after their native region, thus the Miami Corn. So how do you breed and sell corn snakes? Breeding begins at the start of spring. When a female is ready to mate, place her in a breeding enclosure and mist it to ensure the spread of female hormones.
When the male is placed in the enclosure, he will usually take immediate notice of the female and mating will ensue. Breeding may seem like a straightforward process, but thorough care and preparation are needed to ensure that the process goes off without a hitch, and selling your corn snakes for a profit can be even more difficult.
Breeding corn snakes is no walk in the park. Remember that these are living creatures that need a lot of time, love, and care throughout the whole breeding process to ensure that they remain happy, healthy, and safe.
Like any hobby, snake breeding can be difficult to begin, but once you get started it can be a lot of fun. First of all, consider why you want to breed and sell snakes. A lot of those that try to sell their corn snakes for a profit will be sorely disappointing. Here, you can find an article we wrote about how to breed and sell snakes for a profit in the best way. Generally, breeders are people who have gotten a lot of joy out of owning their corn snake and would like to take their interactions with their snake to the next level.
Breeding corn snakes can be a very rewarding process when looked at from that perspective. Second, consider what you will do with the baby corn snakes when they are born. That is a lot of kids. Where are you going to put them all? Remember that young snakes can eat a lot, and each of those snakes will need a big fat mouse, possibly two, a week.
Those prices can add up quickly. Make sure that you have a good home lined up for your snakes if you do not plan on keeping them all. We will discuss potential places to sell later in the article. Third, remember that breeding could be potentially harmful to the health of your pet corn snake. Introducing two snakes together opens the door to diseases that may endanger your snake. Two snakes that may appear perfectly healthy to us could be carrying any number of bacteria or virus.
Be cautious. Besides that, in my research, I have found stories of one snake simply eating the other when introduced for breeding. These occurrences are very rare, but something you should be aware of. On top of all that, egg-binding is common with corn snakes.
This poses a serious risk to the health of your snake and may lead to serious veterinarian expenses. Remember that all these cases are somewhat unlikely, but you can never be too careful.
I recommend that you check the health of your corn snake before you begin breeding. Breeding is an exhaustive process and if your corn snake is not in tip-top condition, it may get seriously injured.
At the start of the breeding process consider the time it will take to breed your snakes. Usually, after all the preparation and time it takes to incubate the eggs and such, the entire breeding process takes about a year.
Brace yourself mentally, and we can get started. The first and most important first step is to determine the sex of each of your corn snakes. This is a common story.
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