Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well this is only my second year trying to breed kingsnakes, but I'm starting to love the "promise" of this time of the year.

My Appalachicola shed about 9 days ago. Every couple of days after she shed I've placed her with my Goini male. He was only brought out of brumation when I realized she was blue. He didn't seem to care, he's horny as anything! I've noticed them hook up the last couple of times I've put them together, but only for ten or twenty minutes each time... I was used to last year seeing them hook up for far longer, the one time I put them together. Makes me wonder if I should continue to reintroduce him to her every couple of days until she starts to run away and want nothing to do with him.

Also, about appetites. One of my cal king males was brought out of brumation as I was worried he was getting too thin. He still won't eat adult mice, though he often will dive into a tupperware full of live fuzzies and eat them all. Now that the females are out of brumation and preparing to shed, he's gone off his food. The other male cal king I brought out of brumation, and he refuses to eat, though he hasn't lost as much weight as the other. Once I've bred them to the females I'm planning on moving them so that they are in a whole different room, hopefully get them to forget about girls for a while.

My Goini male, on the other hand, has NOT lost his appetite. I removed him from the female's cage, and fed them both. Both were very hungry and chowed down immediately.
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~Sasheena

Hi im very much so intrested in breeding but i have many questions, if u will tell me...is breeding expensive? and if so how pricey, second...how long have you been breeding? thirdly have you had a difficult time breeding one too five scale? how diff is it? for lets say a semi novice? thnx alot. Mike.P.S. i currently own a Desert King, And A Hypo Brook's, love em both to death!

>Is breeding expensive?

Well you have to have a male and a female adult of the species you wish to breed, and you have to have the right ambient temperatures for a non-incubator shoebox or buy an incubator. Since I just use a shoebox on a shelf for the incubator, it cost 99 cents for the shoebox. Another $2.99 for the bag of vermiculite. I think I also paid $25 for the digital thermometer. Except for the vermiculite those are one-time costs.

Oh, and then there's the 8 pinkies I needed every week to feed the hatchlings once they were hatched.

>how long have you been breeding?

This is my second year, last year was my first. Last year I put two cal kings together, and WHAMMO, they were breeding. Had a laying container in there when I figured was her time, and WHAMMO, had 8 fertile eggs. Sixty days of waiting later, I had 8 squirming little snakeys. Same with my Blotched kings. 8 fertile eggs, one slug. Pitch the slug, and in 51 days, I had 8 little snakeys.

>have you had a difficult time breeding one too five scale? how diff is it?

Real easy to DO, real hard to do all the WAITING. WORTH it for the time of hatching!

>for lets say a semi novice? thnx alot. Mike.P.S. i currently own a Desert King, And A Hypo Brook's, love em both to death!

Well I bought my first snake in fall of 2001. Bred my snakes in the summer of 2003. I consider myself a novice.
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~Sasheena

well thank you for that info sasheena, its very good to kno i can start myself with realatively easy goings, appr all the help!