Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all. I finally got my own name so I no longer have to use my husbands. I was using Scottyo2u and now I am 4goodnesssnakes.

When I was breeding pedigree show rats I not only bred for color and body type but personality. Never breeding aggressive or nervous rats because that trait can be passed on to the offspring.Does the same thing apply to corn snakes? If you breed aggressive corns will the babies have the tendency to be aggressive too?
Jennifer

Not really
but you would normaly get a few in any clutch that are a bit more aggresive than the others, but most will calm quite fast.

iv had kingsnakes that have stayed aggresive right through there lives but i have never noticed that trait passed on to there sibs,well nothing out of the norm anyway.

and 15 mins later this one lets go

I can recall numerous comments over the years suggesting that some fairly reliable folks here feel that this is, indeed, a trait that is IN PART hereditary. I would suggest that so many factors go into making up "personality" that at least some of them would have some genetic basis. Working with/handling snakes properly will most likely always be the biggest factor, but I have heard of "lines" of calmer snakes.

I find it very interesting that a friend of mine breeds Texas Ratsnakes, a breed that has a bit of a reputation, and nearly ALL of his Tx Rats seem unusually calm...despite the fact that he really doesn't have time to do a lot of handling of all the offspring. No, he did not intentionally breed for calmness.

Duffy

Being a ex dog breeder I would say it is more than possible. I have owned and handle snakes and taken care of snakes and some are calmer than others. But there can also be many factors invovled here. One past handling some others might be nerves and or eye site. Exp. I had a dog that was top line breeding that seemed good but I noticed she could not see real well on distance. My albino corn is much more touchy than my normal this could be her eyes or she is a female who can say. Nerveous temperment was a trait that I watched out for when breeding dogs for it was past on. But there again a mom that had that would aslo influance their pups. Now since snakes do not raise their young like dogs do it might not play such a heavy factor. But I am sure some can be past on if you have parents that are nervy at least somewhat. In any litter you will always get a range of temeperments. But one can improve on that by pick the breeding parents with calmer temperments. When i used to breed mice for my snakes the first ones feed to them were the mice that bite. Those that were calm and produce were not feed till they were done breeding. So again I think yes you can and it would be something to keep records on to see if it really did help with a breeding program.

Tamara

that various bloodlines tend to share traits, both physical and mental. Not every baby will show the same traits, but a higher proportion of a bloodline will show traits similar to other family members, just as in dogs or even humans.

I too had a line of white Tx. rats that was unusually calm. I didn't breed for it, but it seemed a trait of that family line.

OTOH, my line of okeetees seems unusually good at feeding and showing pretty colors, but tends to produce a higher than normal number of babies that have some "attitude".

Unless it is a simple recessive trait such as amel, the "look" and "personality" of a snake (or any animal) is controlled by many genes as well as influenced by some environmental factors. That is why I believe that a particular family line may show a higher number of individuals with certain physical or personality traits, but you can't ever predict their exact physical or mental make up with certainty.

However, the longer a "breed" or the same or similar bloodlnes (whether a recognized breed or not) are established, and bred within themselves for certain traits, the more likely each individual will share those traits. That is because carriers of non-conforming genes will be eliminated each generation as they show up, eventually causing them to show up fewer times each generation.

I have seen the beginnings of this logic in my own family lines, and believe it will be more pronounced the longer and more intensively I breed those lines for certain traits.

You are all much more experienced than I am, can you give me some idea of when most aggressive baby corns start to mellow? I have this pure baby Okeetee that is pretty nippy. He's about 8 mo old and I have had him about a month. I handle him every few days for about 10-20 minutes, clean hands, I'm careful. He eats every week. I want to give him as a present to my niece eventually, I hope he calms.