Thanks for all your comments. It is helpful to get a broad range of opinions.

I guess I should provide a little background info. My pastel motley... aka Storm was brought around October last year. She was originally thought to be under a year old. Unfortunately in the UK most reptile stockist’s are general pet shops. They tend to provide very very little information regarding the history of a snake. Reptiles appear to be sold as a sideline… normally to draw in customers (especially children) who inevitably end up buying other, less unusual pets. The shop in question has a bad reputation… I think it has now had its licence removed for the sale of reptiles. I would not normally buy any livestock from this store but I figured Storm to be a little unusual.

I have since decided that she was probably a slow eater as a hatchling and most likely born in 2004. She is considerably bigger now than my yearlings and has grown immensely in confidence. She initially used to curl up as tight as possible and hide her head.

She was also sold as a male.

After a quarantine period she was moved into co-habitation with my 3 yearlings. 2 normals (m and f) and one amel (m.) Recently she was observed to be breeding with the yearlings, which after consideration I decided was not a good idea. Therefore she was moved into a 5 foot viv housing my two 6 year old adults (m and f.) At this point she was believed to be a male. I intend to separate my snakes off into pairs in several 4 foot vivs later on in the year.


Last Friday’s eggs are a good indication that she is infact female. Lol.

So the father could be one of 3 snakes.

Jake – normal adult
Tony – normal yearling
Captain Scarlet – Amel yearling.

Jimmy – I appreciate your “2 cents” and it has been very useful. There were a few points that I had not considered regarding stools etc. I think the water between us has divided our views on this. From my experience in the UK it is completely acceptable for Corn snakes to co-habit. One example is the Isle of Wight Zoo… who have an enclosure with a glass front decked out to resemble a potting shed. There are many corn snakes of varying sizes and ages that co-habit in this exhibit.

I admit that when I sell my hatchlings each year I always advise against keeping corn snakes together, especially if the customer is a beginner.

Now I may be out of my depth with this next point and I’m not questioning your expertise but I was quite interested in seeking some further info. In your post you forwarded the following comment
Snakes do not LIKE each other or ENJOY each other’s company.
There is no capacity for snakes to "like" or "enjoy".

Is there any hard evidence of this?

Responsibility – Obviously I am disappointed that I do not know the father. As a corn snake breeder I document any attempts at breeding so that I can replicate the situation if I want to. The fact of the matter is that I was not expecting them to breed at such a young age. My previous experience led me to believe that they generally would not breed until at least the age of two.

I will of course keep you posted and I am like a little boy at Christmas waiting for these eggs to hatch.

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