Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my snake is about a year and a half old and i havnt a clue as to how long or heavy he/she is.anyway,id like to start getting some info on breeding and id like some advise on where to start.i have kept reptiles and amphibians for more than 15 years but have never been lucky enough to have any breed.its something i have always wanted to do just once.the first thing i need to do is have my snake sexed. i live in new jersey. does anyone live in or around my state that would be willing to sex him/her for me? if not where should i go to have it done safely?a vet or pet store?what is the general cost to have this done?my second question is,how old should a chondro be to breed? im sure,as with most other reptiles,the female should be a certain size before breeding is safe.but if my snake turns out to be a male,can he be bred as soon as he shows interest? if so about what is the minimum age?im asking because if a male chondro can be bred at 1.5 years,im going to start looking for a suitable female right away,assuming mine turns out to be male.also,how dangerous is probing,i mean can an animal become sterile from the procedure? if so what sex is more likly to be damaged and is there a way to tell the probing went wrong?thanks for taking the time to read my post.P.S. any reccomended sites or books that describe chondro breeding instructions?

The best place to start is to buy Greg Maxwell's "The Complete Chondro". This book has all the info you need in successfully breeding snakes. There is a ton of information in that book that has been compiled from all the successful and nonsuccessful breeding attempts by a lot of different people. This also includes incubation and some info on getting the babies started feeding. That would be the best place to start, but to also do some searching for all the breeding posts you can find here and on the Morelia Viridis Forum and over at Chondroweb.com

I forgot to add that a female chondro is generally considered ready to breed if she is 1k grams and around 4 years old. You might get successful breedings with something smaller, but In my opinion its not worth breeding them at a small size. As for males, they can be ready to go at 1.5 to 2 years of age, but this can vary on the snake also. One obvious way of telling if a male is ready is if its producing sperm plugs. Hope this helps, and definitely pick up that book. Its very simple to read and will get ya in the right direction.
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Mike Bair
Chondro Dreams

thanks a lot,that answered most of my questions except what the sex of the one snake i own is.any ideas where a good place to have him probed?i live in jersey.like i said,hes 1.5 years old and i havnt seen any sperm plugs but then again the shed is pretty much a mess when i finally see it.its usually in 2 pieces and i cant even make out eye caps,let alone a sperm plug.by the way,you mentioned that some males can be bred at my snakes age,but i just wated to add that my snake finally changed colors only last month.is this late color change an indicator that hes a slow developer,and maybe not yet sexually mature?or does this not matter?again thats for the info

I have heard of males attempting to breed at around 300 grams. I do not recall if they were successful or not. As for probing your snake to find out the sex, the best way is to find someone locally and to have them show you how to probe. You can practice on corn snakes if you have them, since if you do screw up, most likely it will be on a less expensive snake. I dont know anyone around that area that I could recommend, but Im sure others on here or on the MVF or Chondroweb forums could guide you in the right direction to find someone locally.
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Mike Bair
Chondro Dreams

hey thanks.i really dont have access to corn snakes in jersey but some areas i can find a garter snake under ever log.some even get kinda large.can these be probed the same way? do you buy the equiptment to probe or can you make it from wire?

You would need to buy the probes from a store. Just about any online store that sells reptiles supplies will sell a probing set. I wouldnt suggest practicing on a snake that you catch unless you already have been shown how to probe. No reason to practice bad habits, if that makes sense. The reason you would practice is to get the "feel" of how a male feels compared to a female. Hope that helps.
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Mike Bair
Chondro Dreams