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What was your first successful attempt at getting a pair of snakes to reproduce? And what year?

I got a wild caught pair of Emoryi to successfully reproduce back in 1992...Prior to that I found a clutch of eggs in 1991 and incubated them successfully...I was hooked the second I saw eggs pip.....After that in 1993 I had Calkings and Alterna hatching along with my w/c Emoryi...

I think successful reproduction and field herping is what intrigued us the most with this hobby......I still get excited when I find a snake in the wild and when I see eggs pip.....

I would love to hear similar stories.....
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

The first snakes I ever bred in captivity were Texas long nosed snakes. This was back in about 1987. I had been breeding turtles for a long time before then. I met and learned snake breeding from Brian Box who collected and kept gray bands. I soon after this was breeding a few others in captivity like corns and even a few hots.
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Noah was the first snake collector. ~Eric~

I've got copulation...no real snake breeding though I've bred P. pictus, leopards, anoles, and some other lizards. My savu's mated but never bred, which bummed me out. I've had copulation and egg laying once or twice but no hatchlings.

heh, believe it or not, John, that clutch I found that you hatched out was the first time I ever saw fruits from a labor, several years earlier a rough green snake some Boy Scouts caught at summer camp in June laid 5 eggs in her cage, but someone put the glass cage in the sun and fried them before I could get to them. So '07 was my first year with the Mexican bairdi, Hebbronville splendies, followed with the thayeri, I'm a newbie! I've had garters, waters, and even an atrox give live birth while in my "care" as a kid 30-some odd years ago, but never hatched any eggs!
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Todd Hughes

>>What was your first successful attempt at getting a pair of snakes to reproduce? And what year?
>>

I started working with Butler's garter snakes when I was five years old in 1952. I saw my first babies probably when I was about 12.

>>I got a wild caught pair of Emoryi to successfully reproduce back in 1992...Prior to that I found a clutch of eggs in 1991 and incubated them successfully...I was hooked the second I saw eggs pip.....After that in 1993 I had Calkings and Alterna hatching along with my w/c Emoryi...
>>

I started breeding ratsnakes (and coined the term, Ratsnake Haven) back in 1988. I started with corns, Russian rats, and beauty snakes. Before that I had collected eggs in the wild from ringneck, smooth greens, and milksnakes, which I hatched and released.

>>I think successful reproduction and field herping is what intrigued us the most with this hobby......I still get excited when I find a snake in the wild and when I see eggs pip.....
>>
>>I would love to hear similar stories.....
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>>John Lassiter

I was introduced to herpetology by my father who had collected in the Philipines. I've been doing field herpetology all my life, but never believed in breeding until 1988, when I started with the ratsnakes in an attempt to do conservation with select species. Now I just do it for fun and because I love the snakes. I like to work with species I can see in the wild, and where I can do habitat conservation.

Regards...Terry
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Conserving reptiles by helping to protect habitat...
www.ratsnakehaven.com
www.scenicsantaritas.org

I had an abberant, het albino Coastal phase CA king breed with a chocolate banded, het albino CA king. in 1992. At least half the babies were albinos, and man, it was so much fun watching my first clutch of eggs hatch! For hours, I could not tear myself away from the jug containing the hatching eggs.
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Genesis 1:1

>>What was your first successful attempt at getting a pair of snakes to reproduce? And what year?
>>

scarlet kings. early 90s.

I bred my first cal kings in 1996 at the age of 12. The summer before that I had hatched some eastern painted turtle eggs that I found. Since then there have been hundreds of clutches. Last week I was trying to figure out how many species I have successfully bred. Came out to somewhere around 20. That is only reptiles, and only those that I have actually bred start to finish including some live bearers.

>>>Prior to that I found a clutch of eggs in 1991 and incubated them successfully...

well what were they??? especially fun when you dont know what they are!
cool thread
my first success was with checkered garters at age 10(1977) me with the help of my mom put together a group of w/c, she loves all wildlife and encouraged me to as well. we read, studied and read and setup a HUGE tank in our greenhouse that was quite extravegant now that i look back, anyway we cooled the whole group together about 10 naturally in the greenhouse and come spring fed them heavily observed them daily and then watched thembreed and birth and then released most of the babies, ive been hooked ever since. it was a few years later when i started findin clutches in the wild that i would bring home, some hatched some didnt, of course looking back at how me&mom had them setup (potting soil in the green house setup high to keep warm) its a wonder ANY hatched but many did we had tx.rats,patchnose,coachwhips that we had hatched from eggs found.
i had my first egg layers successful at age 15 from w/c splendida i had raised and cycled from babies, man what a feeling
then life happened was more busy chasing girls then snakes... then mid 90's got back into my snakes and produced my first amel getula oooohhhooooohhhh that was and still is a highlight for me, so cool seeing that amel pip WOW... still is.
and ABSOLUTELY egg hatchin time is "the best" part of it, of course walking up on a 3ft.getula consuming a 4ft.atrox ranks right up there as well every snake keeper/breeder should spend more time in the field,,,,,,,,thomas davis
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Morphs... just like baseball cards BUT ALIVE, how cool is that???

my website www.barmollysplace.com

>>>>>Prior to that I found a clutch of eggs in 1991 and incubated them successfully...
>>
>>well what were they??? especially fun when you dont know what they are!

Sorry.....They were Emoryi Ratsnakes......Later renamed meahllmorum in our neck of the woods....
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

Thomas, you field hound! See, if you'd share some of those nuggets, I could get a better handle on ya! LOL, it's all good, hope to do the Patchnose myself this year, and Longnose!
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Todd Hughes

Todd, it may be a little late to post to this, but long nose are one of my favorites. I used to have several locals. North Central TX and those close to Irion TX are the best. Nice Black and red and less light spotting. But there are some West TX locals that have way more light color and reduced black and red I liked too. Keep me posted on how it goes as I am going to get back into them too.
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Noah was the first snake collector. ~Eric~

Eric, I am keeping the pink west Texas variety right now, they are a chore to start but come along nicely. All the w.c. adults I have had from south Texas do great on mice from the get go, I imagine it would take a heck of a lot of lizards to maintain a large adult, so they normally progress to add wild mice to their diet once they reach size.
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Todd Hughes

The eggs smell like mint right up until a few days before they hatch. The babies are so small they are the hard part about keeping them. You should try to get and breed some pigmy mice. The pinks are way small and are great for starting the small long nosed snakes on pinks after you get just a little size on them. They usualy grow pretty quick.
Most TX LN do well on pink mice. Most west Texas ones are smaller as adults though. You need some of those North Ceantral TX ones. Those get larger and are more ready to eat mice any day. Most of mine could take a weanling mouse.
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Noah was the first snake collector. ~Eric~

Oh, but keep p[lenty of whiptail lizards in the freezer. You may need to scent pinks to get some west TX locals started on them and the hatchlings for sure may need scented pinks at first.
The NC TX ones will take a pink as soon as they are big enough to swallow them. There only problem is getting one small enough for them. Maybe try a pink head at first.
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Noah was the first snake collector. ~Eric~

Thomas, great post. You must have a cool mom! Mine did not like for me to bring snakes home. This is why I started with box turtles back when I was about 9 years old. I got to keep snakes after getting out on my owen.
I have spent countless hours in the field. Love it! All of it!
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Noah was the first snake collector. ~Eric~