Hi all
I would like to start breeding with snakes...

I have noted that most of you guys recommended Corn snakes, Milk snakes and King snakes as good beginner snakes.

Would the same apply when wanting to start breeding them?

I would really like to start breeding..
And would appreciate any advice on getting started out right.
I am not rushing into this.

I would really like to know what to expect more or less.
What age do snakes start to breed at?
Should I handle the snakes alot?
Should I house male and female seperate until mating?

Really any advice would be greatly appreciated.

P.S
I would like to start with something that doesn't get to large for now.

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If you want it badly enough and you are willing to work at it anything is possible, "I want it all"

First you need to decided what you want to breed then research it. Personally, there are some many breeders out there unless you are doing it for fun your not going to make much money unless you have some off the wall morph pop out of an egg lol.

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MARSHA
A man without a woman is a bachelor, A woman without a man is a genius!.

We have enough youth, how about a fountain of smart!

My aim is more at learning about the animal and fun.
If it was about making money I would go for the expensive stuff.

Corn snakes what I have seen go for about R85 thats about $12 so not really worth the effort unless I had 10 or 20 pairs off course..

I would also rather breed with my Ig and Bearded Dragons as there is a much higher demand for them.

I would like to maybe someday open a Reptile shop and have things done the right way as there are so many bad guys out there.

But that is still a long way off.

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If you want it badly enough and you are willing to work at it anything is possible, "I want it all"

Jumping into breeding is a big step - especially as it sounds like you may never have taken care of a snake before.

It would probably be a good idea for you to do some research on a few snakes, then find the one that you think would suit your circumstances best, and buy one, to learn how to take care of it first. Once you've kept a snake or two for a little while, then you'll be better prepared for the challenges of breeding them.

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"Let's eat, Grandpa!"
"Let's eat Grandpa!"

Punctuation. It saves lives.

I have had a few snakes in school..
but never bred..

I was chatting to a guy that owns a local Reptile shop and he said there was nothing to breeding or keeping corns this is why I first brought the question up here..

Cause I also thought I should get one first and then look at breeding them but wanted to hear what everyone else thought if I said I wanna just start..

But didn't really get as much of a responce as I thought.. well lets give it some more time..
But I am also thinking of getting one first..
Any suggestions??

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If you want it badly enough and you are willing to work at it anything is possible, "I want it all"

It's hard to give advice in general. You'll have to decide what sort of snake you want to breed, first: some snakes lay eggs; boas give birth to live babies. (There are pros and cons to both.)
Cornsnakes are a great snake to start with if you want something that doesn't get too big. They are also relatively easy to breed. There is also a wide range of color morphs to choose from.
Once you decide what you want to breed: then you can start researching more deeply. In general it's a good idea to keep the snakes separate.
You want the female to be old enough and have good weight on her. Also successful breeding requires "cycling" the snakes to stimulate good egg production, etc. So you'll have more success if you keep them apart until everything is ready and you have an incubator set up to deal with the eggs... baby boxes to house the hatchlings, etc.
I hope that helps.

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Andrea

Cornsnakes are very easy to keep and breed.
But I think that you are on the right track with keeping one and learning about it before breeding.
You will also have to think about what you are going to do with 20-30 baby snakes.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Hi all thanks for the advice.
I dont think this should be to much of a problem as I have become friendly with most of the reptile keepers and shop owners around my area, and I can not find anyone that has baby corns in stock only full grown ones. and then only about 2 of them.

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If you want it badly enough and you are willing to work at it anything is possible, "I want it all"

I like boas aswell they are gorgeous.


I dont really mind starting with something big I just dont have enough space for something very big at this time.

How long does it take for a snake to get really big?

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If you want it badly enough and you are willing to work at it anything is possible, "I want it all"

Again, it depends on the snake and how much it eats. If you buy a baby; you should expect to be looking at an adult-size enclosure within a year at the latest, especially for females (in many species the females grow bigger than the males).
Try to narrow your choices a bit: find out what type of snake you'd like to keep and then research from there. There are many beautiful snakes; some easier to keep than others -- but each has it's own special requirements. Since (with luck) your snakes could live up to 15-25 years, it's best to find a species you are really likely to stay interested in LONG TERM. Also the cost of breeding and raising hatchlings is nothing small; so you really want to find a snake that you think is worth all the expense, space and trouble.
When I found out that my rainbow boa had a belly full of eggs: I spent a small fortune building a baby-rack, with small plastic tubs for the hatchlings, with heating cables, lighting, hides -- the works! In the end, my female died before giving birth. The eggs died inside of her and were not completely re-absorbed. She got a horrible infection and died. The vet said there was no way to know and nothing could have been done.
So, even though I was prepared and had done all my research: I lost everything. It was hard especially after spending soooooooo much money getting everything ready for the babies.
My point is: it can be a VERY expensive learning experience: so find a species of snake that you really think is worth it.

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Andrea