Reptile & Amphibian Forums

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AIM sn: z10silver

This page is a basic overview of colubrid breeding techniques that we use for our animals. It can be applied to most Colubrid Snakes. It is, by no means, the best, or the only way to breed them. It's just the methods that have worked for us.

GENERAL CONDITIONING
As a basic rule, most Colubrids will be sexually mature within 18 months to two years. As with most rules, there are exceptions. We feel that waiting until the animals third year, to start breeding, is much better for the animal, in the long term, but it's very hard to wait another year to breed that great looking animal that you bought. There are many people that feel breeding too early (2 years) does a great deal of damage to the animal, but that has not been proven. We have found that animals that are not bred until they are 3 years old, are much bigger and lay larger clutches.
Back to conditioning. Any animal that is going to be bred, should be in good health. This meaning, good body size and weight, not sick or been sick in the months leading up to brumation. Animals in less than optimum condition, may not survive brumation. We feed our animals heavily in the last two months before brumation, to ensure that they have enough body fat, to make it through the brumation period.
BRUMATION
Brumation periods can vary for different species, but three to four months is the usual length of time needed for most Colubrids to cycle properly. Again there are always exceptions. Animals from different climates have different requirements. For example, Mountain Kings usually require a longer, cooler brumation, because they come from a colder climate. Honduran Milksnakes can be bred successfully with only six to eight weeks of brumation, but we give them a full three months.
There are many ways to brumate snakes. It really depends on the weather conditions where you live. Here in Southern California we have a problem getting the animals cool enough, again depending on where in So. Cal you live. Here's what we do. Two weeks before brumation we stop all feeding, but keep the animals at normal temperature. This is to allow them to digest all the food that they have in their intestines. They must not be allowed to brumate with undigested food in them. This will result in death from decomposing food inside the animal.
Most of our breeders are kept in Rubbermaid 28 quart boxes. In November we start the brumation process. We turn off the heat and allow the room to cool. Temperatures range from 50 to 75 degrees. This is good for most Colubrids. If you're trying to breed mountain species, you will have to make arrangements for a more consistent temperature. What we do is place the mountain species in a box with a secure lid directly on the concrete floor. This works to stabilize the temperature, when it's hot the concrete keeps the snakes cooler, and vice versa. We have recorded a 50 to 65 degree range in boxes placed directly on the floor in the same room. Consistently cool temps are a must for successful breeding of mountain species.
Now that you have them in brumation, they should be checked once a week, to see that they are not getting sick or losing weight, and that they have water. Even though they are in brumation, they will be active on warm days, and they will need water.
If you do find an animal that is losing weight and looking distressed, you should immediately, but slowly, warm the animal back up to normal temperature, and deal with the problem accordingly.
Other than that, they will not need anything else.

MATING
When it's time to bring the animals out of brumation, gradually increase their temperature until they are back to normal, around 80-85 degrees. Then a few days after reaching normal temp, start offering food. They should be very hungry!!
We feed the females a little more than the males because they're doing most of the work when it comes to breeding. Egg production takes a lot out of the females so they can use the extra food.
For most Colubrids, we wait until the female goes through her first shed, then we introduce the male into the females cage. Some people do it the other way, they put the female in the males cage. I'm not sure if it really makes a difference, but that's just the way we do it. If the female is really ready, you should see her start to twitch, which means she is ready for the male. If you don't see the twitching, it doesn't mean that they won't mate, it usually just means that she may need a little coaxing. We usually leave the males in with the females for two to three days, or until the next feeding day. We repeat this several times or until we see a successful mating. If you are breeding quite a few pairs of animals it is a good idea to have a microscope to check to see if the male has viable sperm. This can be accomplished by taking a sample from the female by gently squeezing some fluid from her vent or by finding some in the substrate.
Don't get discouraged if you don't see them actually breeding. I've produced thousands of snakes from animals that showed absolutely no interest in each other, when I was around. Unless you watch them 24 hours a day, there is a good chance that you are going to miss them doing their thing. When the female goes into her shed cycle again, it's time to get ready for the eggs to appear. By this time the female should be showing signs of being gravid. She will be noticeably larger in the rear third of her body, if she's gravid. Some snakes get much more swollen than others, depending on the species. Another way to check, is to let the female crawl over your finger. You should be able to feel the eggs inside her, as she crawls over your hand. Many snakes get so big that you can count the eggs just by looking at her.

EGG LAYING
When the female goes into her "pre-egglaying shed", she will probably not eat again until after she lays her eggs. This is the time to get her nest box ready and place it in the cage with her. It will also help her shed. We use small shoe boxes for most of our snakes. We cut a hole a one end of the box and put a layer of damp sphagnum moss in the bottom. You must continually check the moss and keep it damp, or she may decide to lay her eggs in the water bowl. Some people take the water bowls out of the cage during egg laying. I've found that as long as the nest box is moist they will not lay them in the water bowl. Once she completes her shed, it should be seven to ten days until she lays her eggs.

INCUBATION
There are several ways to incubate snake eggs. Those are determined by how many eggs you have. The first thing is the container, it can be almost anything with a lid, but it must have air holes to allow air exchange. This is critical to the survival of the eggs. We use medium sized clear plastic boxes with a tray inside to hold the eggs. PIC . The tray is filled almost half way with Vermiculite that is mixed 1 part Vermiculite to 1 part water, then there are holes in the side of the tray, right at the level of the Vermiculite. This allows the air in the tray to circulate over the eggs. We then put about 1/4 inch of water in the shoe box, to help keep the humidity up. Our incubator was built by me. It holds 18 of the egg boxes. Now most of you won't need anything that large. For you there is a product called a Hova-bator. It is basically a chicken egg incubator that works quite well for several clutches of eggs. There are also several companies that make incubators especially for reptiles, but they can get a little expensive.
If you have a rack system with heat tape, and a thermostat, that you can control the temperature with, then you can incubate them there. You must make sure that they don't get too hot or cold as the room temperature fluctuates.
Hatch time is dictated by the incubation temperature. At 82 degrees they should hatch in 8 weeks. At 84 they will hatch in a little over 7 weeks. We don't recommend incubation temperatures of more than 84 degrees, because it can result in deformities, more so in some species than others. It's best to keep them at 82, to avoid any complications. Some species require an even lower incubation temperature, such as Indigo Snakes. It's best to incubate their eggs at 75 to 78 degrees. They are very succeptible to deformaties at higher temperatures. it will take 10 to 12 weeks for them to hatch at those temperatures.
When the female lays her eggs, you need to put them in the incubator immediately. Be very careful not to turn the eggs. They must remain in the same position that they were laid in. Some people put a dot, or an X, on the top of the egg to tell the which way is up. Place them in the incubator and bury them about half way. You can try to separate them, so that they are in nice little rows, but that can be dangerous. We leave them the way they were laid. If you must separate them, it should be done as soon after they are laid, as possible. They will still be soft. If they are really stuck, you can spray a little water on them. That usually gets them apart. The advantage of separating them is that if you have one or two eggs in the clutch, that are bad. You can easily remove them, so that they don't contaminate the good eggs.
During incubation you will know if the eggs are fertile or not, within the first week. We never throw away any eggs until there is no doubt that they are bad. We've had babies hatch out of some really ugly looking eggs. Good eggs should be white and full, and plump up a little as they incubate. If the eggs are a little yellow and slimy when they are laid, then they are probably no good, but put them in the incubator anyway. Within a week you will know if they are good or not. If they are bad they will collapse and turn brown or start growing things on the outside. It's best to remove them at that point, because you don't want them to contaminate the good eggs. At any time during incubation you may have one or two eggs go bad. It is best to take them out when there is no doubt that they are bad. Now all you have to do is wait and watch. You should check the eggs once or twice a week, just to make sure that everything's OK. Keep an eye out for what are called Carrion Flies. They are some nasty little flies that love bad eggs. They usually will not bother good eggs, but it's another reason to remove bad eggs from the incubator. They will attack good eggs if there are too many of them and not enough bad eggs for them to lay their eggs in.
Some species will lay a second clutch of eggs in a single season. Some will even lay a third!! We have Cal Kings that double clutch every year, but I also have some that will not, under any circumstances. To get them to double clutch, all you have to do is feed the female heavily for 2 weeks after she lays her first clutch. Then re-introduce the male, and follow the same steps as before.

HATCHLINGS
Now comes the fun part!! Around 7 weeks after egg laying you will start to see the eggs begin to collapse a little, a few days later little slits will start appearing in the eggs. Then, little heads will start poking out. It can take several days for them to get up the nerve to come out, but they do eventually. At this time, if there are any eggs that have not slit, you may want to consider slitting them yourself. This has to be done VERY CAREFULLY!!! What we do is take a small sharp pair of scissors and lay them flat on the egg and try to pinch cut a little strip out of them. DO NOT STICK THE SCISSORS INTO THE EGG!! There are many blood vessels that are attached to the inner lining of the egg. This is sometimes necessary because the hatchling doesn't have an egg tooth or is too weak to break through. I save many animals every year doing this. If you wait too long they will drown in the egg...And that's not a good thing...
So now you have all these little hatchlings squirming around, trying to bite you, which is kind of funny. If you have Kingsnakes or Milksnakes, you will have to make arrangements to keep them separated, because they do have a tendency to eat each other. Many other types of snakes can be kept together indefinitely, but you'll have to separate them at feeding time.

FINAL WORDS
Breeding snakes can be very rewarding, in ways other than money. We enjoy the anticipation of a new clutch hatching out from a new pair of snakes that we haven't bred before. That's why we breed a lot of California Kingsnakes. There are so many different combinations to try. I hope this page helps you to be successful, so you can enjoy that same feeling.

Good Luck!

ZFELICIEN!