The first baby snakes of the year! WOW!!

[Catherine]

I have been trying to produce stiped corn snakes for years. The only one I produced died young, two year ago and left behind a small number of non stiped babies. I have hopes for their offspring, but that will be years from now.


I have 6 clutches of eggs so far this year. The last two were laid yesterday. There are more to come. However the first clutch was laid in March and I just had a feeling they might be hatching. All of them were out of their eggs and looking very healthy.



Four of the five are stiped and they are colours I have never had before.
This clutch is beyond anything I expected.

This is going to be an exceptional snake. The colours and markings are beyond my wildest dreams.

I can't believe it. Four stiped babies!




Look how perfect they are. I don't even know what they will look like when all their colours come in.

Every year I have beautiful baby snakes hatch and there are usually some that have special colours.
I just can't believe there are four stiped babies in the first litter.

Who knows what else will hatch this year.
Yes I might keep them all, the stripes anyhow.

[Tobi]

Congratulations Catherine     They are really beautiful little things. How old will they be when they get their full colours?

[Catherine]

Usually by a year it is clear what colours they will be. 
Certain things I know. The silver grey ones have no red pigments and they never will. So they will be shades of  grey/brown and even black. A black stripe corn snake would be very beautiful. 
The orange one, I don't know what to expect.
It has all colours, but how dark they will be remains to be seen. I have no way of knowing how much yellow they will have. It is the last colour to come in.

I can't wait to see the other clutches. I have no idea what to expect. I was hoping there would be at least one stripe in all my litters. It is amazing that I have 4 stripes.

[Libby]

That’s awesome! All the egg laying is getting me wanting to start breeding but I’m still a year away from starting. I’m really starting to research this year and getting better at recognizing morphs and breeding ins and outs. Catherine you don’t happen to know about Rainbow Boa Breeding? I know you have a Brazilian that’s around the same age as my Columbians because we got with within 6 months of each other.

[Catherine]

The baby striped corns just shed and they all look beautiful.

This is such a perfect picture with them all lined up together.

The second clutch just hatched, but they are being very secretive so I have no pictures. I am not even sure what they look like.

My Brazilian Rainbow Boa is beginning to look like a female. So it looks like I am going to be breeding Boas. My girl will be three this summer. I will probably put her in with a male next summer. She is not quite ready yet.

Your Rainbows might be a little older so you might be able to breed sooner. Do your snakes live together?  You could watch for breeding activity. I will have to look up how long gestation is. Snakes seem to be pregnant forever. Waiting for corn snakes to lay eggs is a slow business. Waiting for boas to give birth takes even longer. The reptile centre Dumerils boa gave birth and she really looked pregnant. One day she was pregnant and the next day we had a litter of babies. I will keep you posted when I learn things.

[Libby]

Oh cool. They are so pretty!!
Looks like we will be breeding boas at the same time. My boas will be 3 next year as well so no breeding until then. Pretty much all my females are too young to breed except my newest Mojave ball python girl.

[Catherine]

My Brazilian Rainbow Boa will be three this July. My snake is much bigger than another one from the same clutch. The difference is enough for me to think I have a female. I am going to get the reptile guy to probe her. It has just been to cool to take her outside. The one I have has the better colouring so it would be great if I could breed her. There is an unrelated male at the reptile centre. If she is big enough I would try breeding her this year.

This seems to be a good link.

http://blogs.thatpetplace.com/thatreptil...PdHzndFwRM

You will notice how long gestation is. It will feel like forever.

Corn snakes are easy. They don't need to be cooled and they lay their eggs all around the same time of the year.
However the eggs can dry out or mold very easily so it isn't so simple. I use clean peat moss and it has to be just moist enough. I cover the eggs with clean damp New Zealand Sphagnum moss. The container has to be very clean and the incubator has to be warm enough and humid enough. It takes 9 weeks or less for the eggs to hatch.

Then the fun begins. Baby snakes don't eat right away and getting them started eating takes practice.   I ignored my baby stripes when they first started looking hungry. It was hard to wait, but when I finally offered food they all ate right away. Food offered too soon can put them off eating and then it is easy to lose them. They are delicate at first.

Baby Boas are bigger and much stronger.

You are going to have fun when your girls start breeding. You will want to sort out your incubator and make sure it works as soon as the ball pythons breed. No matter how you plan it they will lay their eggs at the worst possible time.
I get egg boxes ready ahead of time sometimes and my egg laying containers as well. You will need a big bag of clean peat moss. It is the best thing for eggs. It doesn't mold and it holds moisture.

I can't wait for my next clutch to hatch.