Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have several tanks of corns in my classroom and I thought I had all the snakes seperated by sex. Well, I failed! I found 9 eggs in one of my tanks (actually my smallest snakes). Two were half white and half yellow - Are they lost? 5 were stuck together and I kept them together. Is that correct? They are in vermiculite now. If I want to put a dark box in one of my other tanks because I think I dropped the sexing ball again, can I put vermiculite in it? Thanks for any suggestions.

Brian

I'm curious...did you fail at sexing them? or did you buy them as one sex and then discover they're actually the opposite? Its fine if the eggs are stuck together. You can always try to incubate the 2 eggs that look odd but they might not make it...but you should try anyway. I think if the female was too small, she may not have had the nutrients or energy devoted to developing all healthy eggs. Its not uncommon though for some eggs in a clutch to be bad right from the start. What/Where do you teach? I'm trying to get a biology/science teaching job and have had zero luck. There is just no need/no money for new teachers...I don't care what anyone says...teacher shortages is a big myth. Anyway...I also highly suggest sexing your snakes correctly/properly so you can prevent any mistakes from happening again in the future. Its one thing if its planned but if its accidental, then you can put alot of stress on your female corns. Good luck and let us know how you make out with the incubation process.
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Jason
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You can have 3 people with great skill probe the same snake and get a different response from at least one of them.Nothing is 100% sure.We have all gotten those little surprizes.I would seperate all your corns unless there breeding age and you want eggs....

At least if they have eggs you are then CERTAIN of their gender! Luckily for me the first three corns I bought were all sexed correctly... the females had eggs.... and the male didn't. I think that is one reason I like popping... I think if you get the little "snail antennae" it's pretty certain it's a male. Of course if you don't get them, you say you're "pretty sure" it's a female.... but hard to be certain! Just got two '03 corns and am still trying to decide if they are female or male! By tail shape I'm pretty sure they are a 1.1 pair. Heck, I'm not even sure if they are pure corn... the amel of the pair looks decidedly odd... perhaps a creamsicle? Looks just like Jimmy's hatchlings, only these are yearlings.
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~Sasheena

Thanks for the advice. What about using vermiculite in the nesting box? Is it safe? I teach sixth grade and last year I thought it would be nice to get a class something. I ended up with 4 corns (2 males and 2 females) and they were all in one tank. I seperated them into two tanks at about a year because I didn't want them to breed. A local pet store gave me two more in a tank (owner didn't want - one of these had the eggs)and I thought they were too small to breed and they looked the same sex. I also have 4 bearded dragons now ( 2 males and 2 females)- three in one tank and the other male seperated. A student in my class found an albino rat snake(I think) outside a few weeks ago and he is slowly starting to look better. I want even mention the hamster and two birds. Needless to say I don't have enough room for each animal to have a seperate tank. I don't have a problem if the snakes breed because I will give them to students. I also can't afford any more tanks - I pay for everything out of my pocket. Thanks for listening to my story and again what about vermiculite in a nesting box?

Brian

Vermiculite should work fine. I use sphagnum moss. Its easy to find at just about any pet store. I dont know if you have Kathy Loves book The Corn Snake Manual or not, but everyone with corns should. If you buy it from her website she will even autograph it. I bought one and donated it to the school library at the school where I work. The kids love it. Good luck.
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