Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just learned that the Cal. king male i wanted to mate with my female corn will most likely bite her on the neck during mating..thus ruining the mood for her. So my next option would be a honduran male or a pueblan male. Are these males aggressive breeders as well?

I am not 100% on this, but I believe most crosses involving kings/milks and corns/rats use a male corn/rat and a female king/milk. I believe it has something to do with the hemipenis structural differences in the genus. The hemipenises of a male king/milk might damage the cloaca of a female corn/milk. Also, hybridization doesnt just involve a male and female snake of different genus, or even species. Some hybrid breeders need to coax the snakes into breeding mode by introducing to opposite sexes of the same species to get them "in the mood". If not, it could end up like trying to pair a male parrot with a female chicken. Sure, there both birds, one is male and one is female, but thats about as far as that effort will get LOL!!

To answer your question, most king/milk males are much more aggressive at mating biting than corns/rats. They way a male mexican milk grabbed the females neck the first time I bred them was scary indeed. Needless to say I monitored the whole time!! Then there is always the possibility the king/milk will mistake the corn/rat for dinner.

I do not hybridize, but am not necessarily against it to any degree. Different strokes for different folks. As long as the animals are accurately represented, no problems IMO. However, in your case it sounds like you should focus on breeding same species first to get a better understanding of how the whole mating/egg laying/hatching thing works before taking on more complex breeding projects like hybridizing.

The use of a male corn/rat with a female king/milk should also eliminate the male biting issue as most corn/rat males do not exhibit this behavior.