Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently acquired two juvenile corn snakes that came to me sharing a tank together - one very pretty okeetee and a snow. I had not separated them until tonight, just now. They are a bit over two feet long, but still quite slender. Both still unsexed, since I just got them.

So, the okeetee just shed earlier this evening and seemed agitated. I was up late, and at about 2 am under their red heat bulb I saw the okeetee making strange, jerking, undulating movements towards the snow and kind of trying to wind around her.

I have no experience with breeding, but this looked to me like he was attempting a hook-up? Or was this something else?

Anyway, if they were attempting to breed, do you think the snow would be too young for it? I don't want anyone to end up eggbound or something. For now I've separated them. I don't want to take any chances. Especially if I'm wrong about them trying to mate, and actually this was some sort of aggression.

Does anyone have any input? Thanks!
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0.1.2 Corn snakes (snow, okeetee, amel)
1.0 Crested gecko
1.0 Golden gecko
0.0.1 House gecko
0.0.2 Chinese tree dragons
1.1 cats
0.0.1 African dwarf frog
8.1 betta fish

They are trying to breed.
It's quite possible they already have.

The males usually exhibit the jerking motion but I've seen female kings do it to - in fact one of my female kings this year lined herself up next to male and started jerking - initiating the courting.

The female will become noticably swollen on the lower half of her body. in about 4 to 6 weeks (earlier if they have already copulated) she will go into shed cycle again, give her a dark nesting box with damp moss for her to lay in - usually it's 7 to 10 days after that shed for her to lay.

2 feet is small but not unheard of. You really should keep corns separate - but if they have bred (and they may have when you weren't watching) what's done is done and all you can do is hope for the best.
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I decided my old sig was too big.

Aah, I'm such an idiot.

I'm in the process of moving right now, and I was planning on separating them once the move was complete. I figured they'd be okay together since their former owner had them living that way, and I assumed they were too young to breed. Live and learn.

Well, they're separated now, and I hope the little snow corn doesn't suffer for my mistake.
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0.1.2 Corn snakes (snow, okeetee, amel)
1.0 Crested gecko
1.0 Golden gecko
0.0.1 House gecko
0.0.2 Chinese tree dragons
1.1 cats
0.0.1 African dwarf frog
8.1 betta fish

Although they could VERY WELL be attempting to mate as the others mentioned, but since you said they were unsexed, another likely scenario, is that TWO males where "battling" each other to prove dominance. Without actually seeing this movement personally, it's sort of hard to tell by words alone EXACTLY what is REALLY going on. Males will seek each other out, and start a jerking, excited movement just as they would when courting a female, the only difference being is, the males will try to intertwine body loops around the other, and try to force the smaller, less poweful one to the ground.

Now if you saw the male actually trying to follow the other, and try to "align" it's tail portion with the other snake from underneath, then yes, it's a sexed pair, and they where attempting to mate.

Sexing the two is easy, and straight forward, ....this way, there would be no guess-work.

best regards, ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

My friend sent me these pics from Virginia thinking that the snakes were mateing but I think it is 2 males doing exactly what you are describing. Cool to see this in the wild. He said they did it for over 2 hours.





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3.2 Corn (Butter-Sunflower '07/Anery Stripe-Ripple '06/Amber-Jack Straw '06/Snow-Casey Jones '06/Amel Motley-Cosmo '03)
0.1 Baird's Ratsnake (Sugaree '04)
1.0 White Oaks Grey Rat (Tennesse Jed '04)
0.1 IJ Carpet Python (Cassidy '04)
1.0 Western Hognose (Samson '05)
1.1 Shepherd mix (Dylan 9yrs, Porter 4yrs)

Yeah, that's exactly what I was referring to!, those are two Black Ratsnakes doing "battle"!

VERY cool shot's, thanks for sharing those!

best regards, ~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"