Reptile & Amphibian Forums

had some corns do it april 1 and forgot if its 3o or 45 approx days till laying.and i think its 45 for incubation. thanks for any replies. Chris

The Copulation date is a variable time line and is dependant on how far the egg follicles were developed when she mated. Corn snakes will retain sperm and will not always mate at the exact time of fertilization. The better and more concrete time line can be based on the post copulation/pre-egg laying shed. After you have witnessed your snake in active copulation, she will go into a prolonged shed cycle. This shed cycle will take a few days longer then normal. Once this shed has taken place then your female corn will lay her eggs (given a proper nest box) within 7-12 days on average. These eggs will then take 55-65 days (on average kept at 80ish degrees) to pip and may take 2-5 days to emerge completely from the egg.
Once the female has laid the eggs, feed her well. She will then cycle back into shed again within two weeks, once she has shed again, she should be fed well to gain back weight she lost from egg production. During this time, she will be receptive to breeding/copulating again! (if my wife would only take heed!). While feeding well and breeding your snake will start to develop another clutch of eggs in her belly, so in a few weeks you will need to start feeding smaller then normal meals. A week or so before your eggs are ready to pip, your snake will again go into a prolonged shed. As before after the snake has shed, she will be ready to lay her second clutch of eggs within 7-12 days. This will be about the time that your first clutch is starting to hatch, maybe just a week or two before then.
It is important to feed your corn snake well in between the two clutches, because even if you do not reintroduce the male to her between clutches, she may still double clutch, whether you want her to or not (it really is not your choice!). So if you do not feed her well she will be super thin after this is all over with.
Sorry for the long reply, I hope this helps some.
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Jim Hopkins "Hoppy"
Hopkins Holesale Herps
Hopfam1@aol.com

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By Gestation period, I am assuming you mean from eggs developing to being laid? I really don't know the answer to that question. I don't know how long a corn snake takes from when it starts to produce the egg folicles to when she lays them. With the sperm retention abilitys of the corns, it has always been hard for me to determine when she starts to ovulate. It is normally about 30-45 days from her breeding shed to laying eggs, so I guess that shed would be similar to a boas post ovulation shed, but in a boa it takes about 105 days LOL!
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Jim Hopkins "Hoppy"
Hopkins Holesale Herps
Hopfam1@aol.com