Hi folks *waves*
I was browsing around the internet looking for information on snakes and stumbled upon this forum. It seems like the people who have posted here have lots of experience with snakes and I was hoping I could pick your brains a little bit.

Here's the deal. I have two corn snakes. I have not had them sexed by a vet but from what I have read about sexing I believe that one is a male and one is a female. They're both about 5 years old. I think they may have mated. but I'm not sure if anything actually happened because they did this one other time and no eggs came of it. The difference is the first time they did what I believe is mating they were only about a year old. I guess the first think I wanted to know is how long is it after mating before a female will start to "show" I think she's getting fatter but it might just be wishful thinking.

Also if anyone has any helpful hints what I can do if there are eggs laid I would really appreciate it. So far what I know is to provide a private little box with soft moist stuff in it (I think I'm going to use aspen unless there's a reason not to) Do not separate the eggs if they're stuck together. Do not turn the eggs sideways or upside down, keep them warm and moist (not sure of the specifics required for humidity or temp though) and wait. When the babies hatch wait until they have shed their first skin and start feeding them mouse pinkies. If any of this is wrong please correct me. If you have more info you can give me please help

Hope to hear from someone soon.

A year old is too young for a corn snake to breed, the male may be up for it but the female may not be able to reproduce. It usually takes about 2 months for them to lay eggs after mating so it should be slightly noticable if she's gravid after a month or so. You could try feeling for eggs (letting her slither across your hand and see if you can feel a row of bumps).

If she is gravid she will also become a lot more active, trying to escape her enclosure when she's nearing the time to lay her eggs, at which point you will want to provide her a nesting box if you havn't already done so.

Aspen wouldn't make a very good medium for incubating eggs, vermiculite or sphagnum moss would be much more suitable. The eggs will need to be burried partially in the substrate you're incubating them in. The eggs will change in accordance to humidity, if theres too little they will dimple in, in which case you will need to create more humidity by adding more water (warm water) to the substrate, though if it's just a single egg that's struggling, a trick is to place a damp tissue over it like a little wet blanket. If the humidity is too high the eggs will swell and become hard, the humidity will need to be lowered by exposing them to the air i.e so they are not burried. The lid to the incubator can also be opened slightly allowing moisture to escape.

If the eggs start to grow mould on them, clean the egg daily with a damp tissue.

25-29C or 80-85F are good temps for incubating the eggs at, it takes approx 60-80 days for them to hatch and may take up to 3 days for them to fully hatch out after the first pip.

Hope that helps!

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hiya, totally agree with cat, home made incubators can be made out of poly boxes with a heat mat, we keep a thermometer in ours to ensure correct temp, if they are both still together and u suspect she gravid, take the male out as not too stress the female, if she does lay eggs, take care to keep the up the same way as you find them, they can be marked with acrayon or light pencil, this stops the babies drowning in their fluids, good luck and keep us posted, my males are excited about breeding season already, they are very active and have stopped eating too busy looking for a girlfriend!
if u can post pics up of the tails with clocials (esc spelling) bum openings showing should be able to tell sex for u x

ha ha ha
I've never taken pictures of my pet's bums before. I hope it doesn't offend them. I will do this though.

My camera is not fantastic so I don't know how much you will be able to tell from these pictures. I did one with and one without flash for each snake.

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	norbert vent 1.jpg (45.2 KB, 5 views)
	norbert vent 2.jpg (41.0 KB, 4 views)
	nyoka vent 1.jpg (57.4 KB, 7 views)
	nyoka vent 2.jpg (52.2 KB, 3 views)

Not really that good What I need is a pic of the length of tail from clocoa to tail tip. This is a good way of giving you an IDEA of what you have. It's not foolproof, the only way of knowing for definate is to get them probed. The longer the tail, the more likely it is to be a male. Will post a couple of pics tomorrow, one of our males & one of our females of similar ages and you'll be able to see what I mean.

Get yourself a copy of the Kathy & Bill Love book, Cornsnakes, The comprehensive owners guide, if you can. It's a fantastic book &, in my opinion, every Cornsnake owner should have a copy.

OK thanks. I had read that both length from vent to tip of tail and also how quickly the tail tapers just after the vent were ways to tell.
I have not had them probed by anyone for two reasons. Primarily, it just seems unpleasant. Also there is only one vet in my area that 'specializes' in reptiles and I've been to him. He's an idiot.
Either way. They're slithering all over each other and twisted up into knots so I can only assume they're mating. Or maybe they're just doing it for fun

Providing it's done by someone with experience, it's quick & painless, & causes snake minimum stress.

And youare right in thinking tail length and tapering are ways of getting a good idea of sex, although not definate