Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Alright so i have 5.5 ft male and 3.5 ft female corn snake normally in the same cage. I put them both through a one month bermutaion period at 55-65 degrees while they were separated. When the female shed i put her in the males cage just like all the things ive read say to and i didnt see them lock but i wasnt watching too close and i just left her in there for two days. after separating them again this time when i put them together the male started making strange spastic movements around the female that i thought was mating behavior but after an hour of watching them closely i still saw no lock....WHAT AM I DOING WRONG??? also is there a possibility she is already pregnant? and if so how can i kno for sure? please help.

First of all be patient! The jerky movements by the male usually mean he's interested(in my experience anyway).Continue to feed them separately of course and introduce them every few days or so.Sometimes the female may have to shed 1 or 2 more times before anything happens!Good Luck and keep everyone updated! Jeff

Jeff is spot-on with his comments. The jerky movements are typical of their behavior when they become sexually stimulated and excited. Even the females jerk to and many times they will both jerk uncontrolably befor copulating.

As he said, it often takes a while for them to actually follow through with actually copulating. Just give it some time, it is still very early into the season. They will do it when the time is right, and when her ovum are ready to be fertilized. The female's instinctively know when to allow the males to advance and to breed.....simple as that really.

I haven't even introduced anything to each other yet, but will start very soon to see how things respond to each other. The fact that the female didn't bolt away frantically while slapping her tail all over the place is a sign that things will be happening soon.

regards, ~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -Serpentine Specialties

Yeah I have long suspected that this jerking foreplay is even needed to get the female in the mood so to speak. I know some people don't advise keeping Corns together, but I have been doing it since I was a kid, and never had a problem. Most of the time I don't get to see them actually lock up, but they alwyas lay mostly good eggs. Just keep trying like Jeff and Doug said, it will happen!
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I would also like to add that my male is amelanistic and my female is a wild type with unknown backgrond..will the babies all look like the normal or is there a chance that some of the babies could show their fathers traits?

They will probably be "normal" lookin' but, who knows.Jeff

Well, it's like Jeff stated. There is no way to know with any certainty at all, BUT!..amelanism and so many other recessive traits are so common now days, there are literally countless THOUSANDS of normal "looking" cornsnakes out there in the hobby that are heterozygous gene carrier's for at least one or even several of these traits.

So if your female is a het(recessive gene carrier) for at LEAST amelanism, you will produce some amels as well. But if it isn't, the babies will be normal "looking", but could even have other heterozygous traits floating around within their genotype. There is just no telling without knowing BOTH the parents precise genetic lineage.

All you will know for certain, is if none of the babies in the clutch are amelanistic, the female was NOT het for amelanism.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -Serpentine Specialties

thanks for the advice. so now it seems my female is refusing to eat. the previous week she took 4 small pinkys over a full sized mouse but now she wont eat anything. She seems to be very curious and exited...so is this behavior of a gravid female that feels uncomfortable eating, or could she be fertilized and in search of a place to lay her eggs?

*Ryan

Yes, when they get later on in their gravid stage(several weeks after breeding), they typically refuse to eat. Around 7 to 12 days AFTER their next shed (pre-lay shed), they will lay their eggs.

It is important to put a big lay box filled with moistened fluffed-up sphagnum mossin with her well prior to laying, so she doesn't stress about finding a suitable nesting site for her eggs. Just prior to laying, they typically stop crawling in and out of it, and remain there for a day or two until they actually lay their eggs.

good luck!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -Serpentine Specialties