Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is my first year breeding corn snakes. I have an adult pair that have been placed together since March 10th (that is the day the female shed). I see them chasing each other usually late in the evening or early in the morning but I have yet to witness them hook up. Should I be concerned? Any suggestions? I've read a ton of stuff online about breeding but I thought I'd ask everyone here.

I've been breeding snakes for 15 years and the majority of the time I do not see hookups.
The fact that your snakes are demonstrating courtship behavior is good.
Some snakes copulate at night and not all snakes stay "hooked up" for extended periods of time.

Tim

Third Eye

Thanks for the reply, Tim. I was told to look for "purplish gunk" on the newspaper substrate as a sign of a hookup. I haven't seen anything like that. What are your thoughts?

It's actually yellow gunk and I've seen it a few times on newspaper substrate (it would be hard to see on anything else), but I don't see it every time I've had a successful pairing.

Tim

Thanks again, Tim. It's possible that they paired up already then. Hopefully she'll be visibly gravid soon. Until then I'll keep the male with her.

After a few weeks, let the female glide through your hands feeling her belly. You should be able to feel the eggs bump over your fingers. At about 3 to 4 weeksafter breeding she should look "fat".

That's good advice. Even if you can't feel the bumps that are eggs, females will get fatter a few weeks after a successful breeding. It's not the "soft" kind of fat that comes from being overweight, but instead the back half of the snake will have a firmness to it.

Tim

Thanks for the advice. I will wait a couple weeks and hope for the best